"How is India?"

My friends have sent me a million emails, all with the same question. "How is India?"

It's incredible.
(I'm, also, fine... by the way.)

I must admit that the Cochin stopover was not on the top of my list of places that I was 'most' excited about visiting on this world tour. The edge of Rio, the 'homecoming' in Boston, the Midsummer parties in Stockholm, and the finish in Russia, were on the top of my list. I was a bit melancholy about Cochin. It's hot, there are a lot of mosquitoes, eating the 'wrong' food will make you sick and internet access is very limited. Furthermore I thought that Cochin might be a dangerous place considering the recent events in the country.

But none of that matters. This stopover is amazing. I love this place!

A lot of my excitement comes directly from the people of Cochin who are going absolutely bonkers over the Volvo Ocean Race. When we arrived there were thousands upon thousands of people here to greet us. Like rock stars, we were led down 'greeting line', where every onlooker wanted to welcome us to their city and shake our hands. When we walk around the streets crowds engulf us, asking for our names, our autographs and about our participation in the race. Nightly the race village bulges at the seams to make room for all of the people that come for the exhibitions, concerts and attractions . During the day thousands of people wait patiently in ques of up to 5 hours long to ride on the Volvo 70 sailing simulator, walk through the Volvo pavilion and to get an up close boat view of the boats from the spectator platform.

The local military and police have the race village under tight security and they are all armed with very large guns. However, this does not distract from the local 'karma' that is overtly friendly and enthusiastically welcoming. Although the security is very intense, I feel completely safe here.

I'm looking forward to the next 10 days that we have left to enjoy the city of Cochin. Here are some photos that I took today.

Our boat is well guarded

A local fishing boat cruising down the river next to the VOR village.
We passed hundreds of these boats on our way in to the finish line of leg 2. Needless to say the sea food here is absolutely fabulous!

What's a day in India with out seeing an elephant walk by? Apparently it's a rarity.

-Matt out.