{above: a quick video tour of our village digs in orchha, india. can’t see? click here.}
towards the end of our india adventure, we ventured to the little town of Orchha that has a few beautiful monuments and has created a home stay program for tourists that want an authentic overnight stay. we decided on a home stay for one night and made our way up into the foggy hills of chilly Orchha to find our village and meet our family.
to say the stay was a little weird/different/unlike anything else we’ve ever done would be a giant understatement. in fact, i’m not even quite sure where i’d start or how i could really sum up the 24 hours we spent in the village. oh the laughs and silent looks that danny and i shared that day and night. the family was very sweet (at the beginning) but the extreme language barrier took a toll on us after about – eh, 1 hour. so without much to do, we embraced village life and played with baby goats, passed out candy to the runny-nosed village children who wanted to climb all over us, gave biscuits to the stray dogs (my favorite pastime), rode bikes through the hills while dodging cows and monkeys, got invited to – and attended – a village wedding and had drunken party goers banging on our room’s door at 4am.
our view. quite stunning i’m sure on a clear day. fort in the distance.
our homestay digs.
we borrowed some bikes and hit the road to explore our village.
our sweet rides parked outside our chai shop. hot chai on a rainy day is perfection.
the town of orchha on a drizzly grey day
ting got a pack of indian beedies to try out these traditional thin indian cigarettes. meh.
a family street food stall we particularly enjoyed (the family, not the food)
ting was quite the celebrity in town and chatted it up with all the boys & men.
me cruising the streets looking for stray dogs to feed (they break my heart).
dogs… goats… pigs… any animal really.
check out this ultimate watch dog pooch on the roof.
d is really great with kids. we spent about an hour with these little ones.
oh! so the minute we got off the plane in india i noticed babies with dark black eyeliner on. it’s off-putting and striking at the same time. i was hoping for a photo of a baby with the eyeliner, but i got more than a bargained for when a village women handed me her child to hold. it didn’t last long…
dinnertime with the family! we joined them for their meal of lentils on the kitchen floor. that stove is all you’ve got to work with.
as the rain came down, we attended the village wedding. there was a truck stacked with speakers that just blasted india pop tunes ALL. NIGHT. LONG. that’s me getting groovy with the village folks.
the groom between me and danny – he’s covered in yellow chalk stuff that’s traditional. he whispered to us that this was a “love marriage” (not arranged) – we were very excited for him!
the morning after the village wedding, i was invited to arengina’s lifelong home (which doubles as the village beauty salon) for henna application & chai tea.
my view from her tiny twin bed. these are her beauty salon supplies. and yes, that’s a real bird that flew in and landed on her mirror.
while i got my henna, ting hiked to an old creepy tree he’d been eyeing from our home. and then was surrounded by a group of men with axes – who didn’t speak english.
— oh orchha home stay, another crazy incredible india experience for the books. —
