i can't belive that it's almost May!
time is moving very quickly for me.
It is hard to belive that i have been in India for over a month already, and that i will be leaving my temporary home in less then two weeks!
I Have been having a very good time in Auroville, it is the perfect starting point for my trip since it is a mixture between western cultures and Indian culture.
I am slowly getting used to the unpredictable, off the walls, strange and exciting country that i am in.
Over the weekend a couple of friends and I went on a trip Inland to a city called Thiruvanamali.
To get there we had to ride an ancient, over crowded bus for roughly four hours. The entire time i was enjoying the ever changing landscapes, while my companions slept, and all the other passengers stared at the "wierd white people."
from the coast ( where we started off) we went through small deserts, grassland, some mountians, and ended up in the plains at the base of a large, sacred mountian.
About half way to our destination, we were stopped by a huge funeral procession crossing the road. We were stuck their for about 10 minutes while a partially covered dead body, accompanied by hundreds of very live bodies shooting off guns, playing drums dressed in vibrant colors made their way into the hillside.
When we finally arrived in the city, the three of up were soaked in sweat, completely exausted and starving! But as we started looking for a resteraunt, we realized that nearly all the shops were closed and the streets were eerily silent. we finally found a small stand that sold thali ( rice served on a banana leaf with a variety of sauces and some sort of chipatti bread) and samosas.
once full, we found a guest house with tiny, grimy rooms that went to approx. 400 rupees a night for 3 people ( ten US dollars) which is actually fairly expensive, and promptly fell alseep for about 4 hours.
when we woke up it was getting dark and we could hear more noise on the street. we pulled outselves out of the hot room and found that it was pleasently cool outside. Excited about the weather, we walked a few blocks to the famous temple that the city was built around. I think we ended up spending a few hours in the huge complex being blessed by elephants, monkeys and humans alike.
by 8 pm or so we'd had enough and sought out some ice cream.
before returning to our room, we got sufficiantly lost wandering around a bazaar, where vegetabe vendors were desperate to get rid of their remaining produce.
The next morning we were planning on getting up at dawn so we could climb the mountian and visit its temples and caves while it was still cool. Unfortunatly, we all ignored my alarm and didnt roll out of bed until around 7.
when we finally left it was heating up outside and we decided to get a rikshaw to the trail.
The poor driver didnt understand any english and ended up depositing us at the cities largest ashram. From there we wandered around vaugly thinging about excersize and breakfast, but, once again, most shops were closed. eventually we found a small resteraunt inside another nearby ashram.
somewhat invigorated, we finally found our way to the appropriate trail and picked up a black dog that ended up guiding us through the mountian. The gate keeper walked with us for about 1/4 mile, then demanded 50 rupees $1.25 for some oiled "meditation"rocks that he gave us.
From then on, it was an up hill journey on steps carved out of the rock wall. about half way up, we met a man selling stone carvings of ganesh, shiva, etc.. he told us that our meditation rocks were not real since they were not "iron rocks" so, free of charge, he gave us each a much smaller, more jagged chunk of the real stuff.
After what felt like forever, we arrived at a small ashram where a man in yellow was meditating and feeding the remarkable monkey population, afraid to intrude, we left to visit a cave.
The cave, further down from the ashram, on another steep stone staircase was actually a small building, built around a cave, painted completely white. I guess someone enlightened their mother by touching her forhead inside.
inside we tried not to disturb the mediating men while we painted red marks on eachothers foreheads ( including the dog.) By this time we were getting pretty overheated, and had finished off our water. So down we went on a tiny dirt trail, hoping that it would take us back to the city. Which, of course, it did. The whole time our dog protected us from the guard dogs lying around, the goats being herded, and the cows ( which, of course, didnt really react to our dogs growls.)
Back in the city, we made our way to the bus station, said goodbye to our canine companion, stuffed ourselves with delicious, fried street food, and prayed our bladders would not explode on he ride home.
So now I am back, but begining to plan my trip to kerala on May 8th. My roomate lili and I will be taking a train to the southern tip of the country, then ( in a span of 2 weeks)we will slowly make our way up to the highly cosmopolitian city of bangalore. From there she is going to Bombay. i may return to auroville or go up north to darjeeling.

happy new year!

tomorrow ( april 13th) is the official new year in tamil nadu ( the state where i am living)
it is customary to wake up early, lay out all of your gold and jewels at the foot of your household ganesh( the god of removing obstacles) statue, and look at them for a while. no, i have no idea why, but apparently this past week is when all the good Indian husbands go out and buy there wives loads of gold necklaces, nose rings and bracelets.
it has been a few weeks since i have updated this blog, mostly because whenever i sit down to write something i draw a blank. things are so different here and i am learning a lot. however, i am starting to settle into the way of life, i am not so overwhelmed anymore.
i live in a hostel full of mostly westerners ( Europeans and Americans) and a lot of Asians ( south Koreans, Japanese, etc...) it is amazing how many different cultures are packed into a small building! I am already picking up Spanish slang, English jokes and even some Korean cooking!