Under Mosquito Nets and Into Tea Plantations

OK... its been a long 24 days.

We stayed in Hampi for a week. The second day we were there the rain let up and I didn't throw up. We took the coracle over the sacred ford... translation = we took a the small, falling apart ferry across the river... We found a cheap place and decided to "move" the next day. On the way back Rue got in a little bit of a disagreement with the boy that collected the fees on the boat.

That night I cut Rue's hair off with my eyebrow trimmng scissors... it took a while and I cried a little. Hey, the last time he cut his hair was a couple of weeks before we started dating... its 2 long years together.

The next day when we got on the ferry, the boy was demanding more money from us than from the locals and also because we had "luggage" aka our packs on our backs... the other foriegners on the 15 foot boat were no help... they tried to guilt us about the actualy value of the money he was asking for and then added... "well tourist always pay more"... We stood our ground on principle... and principal too. Sooooo, the boat turned around and took us back. We were upset but still stubborn. So we spent the remainder of the day... from about 10am until almost 4pm... trying to cross the river without a boat... with all our packs and about 1/2 a liter of water. This is my 15 kilo pack, Rue's pack that has been falling apart since day 2, Rue's guitar and my purse with the camera and IPOD in it. We trudged through mud... Rue built a bridge out of palm fronds and water grass, that I had to be the first to test... It took me a while to get up my nerver but up until this point Rue did all the hard work... and he was already bleeding... He told me to go fast... the crossing was about 5-6 feet wide but we knew it was deep. so i took my first step and face planted into the bridge that was now under water... it was very graceful. Now I was bleeding, so we were even. I pulled myself up to the other side by using the water grass/weeds around me. Rue tossed the bags over and then used the long bamboo stick he had to pole vault across... much more graceful. We both cant remember why but he went back and came across again using the only remaining piece of the bridge... it was probably his way of showing me how it was "supposed" to be done. Keep in mind that this was only about 30 minutes into our adventure... we were boulder hopping and tossing packs and climbing rocks... it was scary and it was hot and everytime we saw a place where we thought we could get all the way across, when we got there we realized it was still too far. and then we back tracked... we probably were about 2km down river when some fishermen I ran into (when I had to again creep into the water to cross and check it out before we tossed our packs)... they told us there was no where to cross and the water was to high and then they made hand gestures that I translated into CROCODILE!!!!!!!!!!!!! they were very worried about me since I was standing there alone sopping wet in my tee shirt and shorts, so one of them escorted me back to where I left Rue. We were really bummed when we decided to go back but we were out of water and options. We still had to cross some rapids to get back to our original side and both of us decided we needed to lay on the rocks and let the water rush over us to cool us off... then we were in a banana field, getting eaten by mosquitos... when we stumbled upon the man with the machete. He was nice enough to lead us to the road where there was one small restaurant to sell us some water. We rested there for a little while and then finshed off our adventure by swallowing our pride and stubborness, trekking up the road back to the coracle... and the 12 year old boy that was still demanding his 30 rupees.

I hope you all enjoyed that story... now I will fast forward. We took a nightmare bus from Hampi to Bangalore... it was a terrible road with meteor crater sized pot holes and a driver that didn't feel the need to ever slow down for them... we were also sitting in the back row.... being tossed out of our seats every few seconds.

In Bangalore we were in touch with our Canadien-Bollywood friends over email. They were down in Alleppey, Kerala and wanted us to come meet them to share a houseboat in the Kerala Backwaters... we said sure... and got on the next overnight train to Kerala. It was about 12 hours on the train. We arrived in Alleppey at about 5am and only had the name of the hotel our friends, Cathy and Phil were staying at... so we went there. It was called Gowry Residence and it was a little compound with its own kitchen, rooms in the main house as well as cabins and a tree house... and they also had many chickens, cats and two resident eagles that the staff would pet. After napping the morning away we awoke to the first reports of the Mumbai attacks. There was a TV in the main house but the Indian news only made my head spin. One of the cats also took to climbing in our window and sleeping in Rue's pile of clothes.

We rented a houseboat for 2 nights with cathy and phil and we were big pimpin... it was a small boat because we opted for a punter rather than a motorboat but it had two bedrooms with their own bathrooms... and we got three very large meals every day... along with tea and biscuits at 4.

After staying at Gowry one more night when we returned, we had nothing else planned so we headed south to Varkala with Phil and Cathy. Varkala is a beach town but the actual beach is at the bottom of some reddish cliffs and the clifftop is lined with tourist restaurants and shops... we had already been spending too much money but here we also indulged in a little beer which although the dollar conversion was about $1.75 for a liter of beer... that was also the cost of a very large dinner.

Next was the train, then bus journey to Munnar in the Ghat mountains that separate the Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. We still had a few days before we were to meet Father Anthony (Marisol's long time friend) in Trichy, Tamil Nadu, so we thought this would be a good middle point. Although the bus trip was only 148km (92 miles) it took nearly 6 hours. Although it was scary at times it was also beautiful... We were in the mountains and the chill in the air and the smell reminded me of Nepal... and also my brief time in Colorado. It was a welcomed change in weather, compared to the sweat filled days in Varkala and Alleppey. It was about 15 degrees cooler. The tea plantations are gorgeous. Munnar. Rue says its been his favorite place in India... I think its mine too. We rented a motorbike there and rode up to Top Station, where we were above the clouds as they cut thru the valleys and the cliffs... there was also beautiful lakes... it was just very very green and peaceful. The second day we started earlier and headed to Chinnar Wildlife sancuary, which was 60 km away... we drove thru some mist and fog and I felt like I was in a fairytale magic forest... but then it started raining... but we didn't mind. We saw many waterfalls along the way and we didn't see any wild elephants but we saw a huge troop of monkeys. We have seen elephants before but they are usually tamed tourist attractions.

It rained harder on the return trip and we stopped for lunch and some hot tea to warm ourselves... at this point Rue was really wet and I was getting there... the worst part of the rain was the last 10 km. A tourist taxi driver waved us down because he needed a push out of the mud so we waved Cathy and Phil down too. That's when I noticed there was two more passengers in the car, Indian tourists. I said something under my breath but Cathy wasn't so restrained. She went right up to the window and said, "What, you aren't going to push?" It was a young couple and the girl was napping in the back seat. Cathy repeated, "I ain't pushing if you don't get out of the car." I think they were a bit embarrassed. But still the girl just stood behind the taxi while we were all trying to push from the front... we were soaked and the man had to tell her to get out of the way. Then he was all cranky because he got mud on his pants... It was a very interesting experience. We had already been observing how the Indian people treat each other, high caste versus lower caste... wealthy vs. poor. Its quite disgusting in my opinion.

Yesterday we said good bye to Cathy and Phil and took another windy bus journey to the other side of the Ghats, to Madurai. We are here now and its warmer but again raining. It is hard now because our clothes are wet and there is no time and no place to allow them to properly dry. So we stink. Its gross but its part of the deal. We take luke warm buckets showers and I have pretty smelling soaps and oil but when its been raining and you haven't seen a drying machine in 4 months... you just have to live with it.

Tomorrow we head to Trichy short for Tiruchirappalli, to meet Padre Antonio and we will see what he has in store for us. Until then, I hope you enjoyed the pics I was able to shrink and upload because Phil told me how to do it.

Peace

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