Let it Shine!

It is amazing how much adventure and new experiences you can squeeze into a couple short weeks. Within the past 14 days we've made our way to the beaches of the bengal bay, mountains of the western and eastern Ghats, the beaches of the Arabian Sea, and currently are in Madurai. One of my favorite parts of this grand adventure has been not knowing what the next week, day or even hour might hold. Waking up and having no clue where we'll be staying that night or even what town we'll be in or how we'll get to the next unknown place allows for so many things to happen that otherwise wouldn't if we followed a precise plan and schedule. It allows for living in the now, absorbing the present, and eliminates the stress of worrying too much about the future and things yet to come.

         As much as I would like to include every detail about every place we've been and all the things that happened each day, this post is going to focus on one amazing day in particular. To catch you up and for the sake of staying in chronological order I will include all the places and some highlights of those places we journeyed before and after this.

         As you know we were in Bangalore, India a little over two weeks ago. We made a late change of plans to make Pondicherry our next destination. Pondicherry was a nice change of scenery from the big city of Bangalore. It was a smaller beach town and former French colony on the Bay of Bengal. Some of the highlights of Pondicherry included couch surfing with a young Indian guy best described as an Indian version of a Cali surfer, exploring a small coastal village, swimming and wrestling on Paradise Beach, crashing on a moped, and visiting a very cool community called Auroville (very interesting, look it up).

 

           From Pondicherry we took an overnight bus to the famous mountain town of Kodaikanal. Once in Kodaikanal we explored a very cool pine forest, caught some amazing views from dolphin nose and echo rocks, and experienced what it is like to be c list celebrities. The pine forest was full of young Indian students on field trips. We couldn't walk ten yards without being approached for a picture. The monkeys were also cool, and it was rather chili and extremely foggy due to the fact that we were pretty high up in the mountains. We spent a full day in Kodaikanal, departing the morning after we arrived. This is where our amazing day began.

         We set out that morning after a solid breakfast of idly and coffee with the destination of Munnar in mind. Against the advice and opinions of our Indian couch surfing hosts and much of the internet, we decided to try hitchhiking in India for the first time. We walked a little ways down the mountain before finding a good spot to stick out our white thumbs and flash our big smiles in hopes for a ride. Not even thirty minutes had passed before we reeled in a possible hitch. A small fruit truck with an empty bed had pulled over and agreed to let us ride in the back. We weren't sure how far or where they were headed but being that it was a good 50 km's down the mountain until any turns, we were off to a great start! "Three hours my ass!" we thought  referring to an internet post saying it would take at least three hours to get a ride, and very difficult at that. So there we were riding in the back of a truck down a mountain in India with big smiles on our faces waving to Indians as they passed by waving and smiling themselves at the sight of a couple white guys just chilling in the back of a fruit truck coming down the mountain. We rode for a little over an hour until we were finally dropped off at a bus stop in a small town at the base of the mountain.

         Still high off our first Indian hitch we decided to try to reel in another one. We walked through the small town until we were on its outskirts and found another promising spot along the highway to stick out our thumbs. This time it took slightly longer to reel in a ride but still within thirty minutes. This time it was a big one. What I can best describe as an Indian trucker pulled over in a big old faded red sort of dump truck. Due to the fact that our destination was pretty far away and because it made for easier explanation, we would just tell the drivers the next town on the route towards the destination we were headed. We explained that we were headed towards Theni (pronounced like Tenny) He smiled and gestured for us to get in the cab. We climbed on in the spacious cab and introduced ourselves as we headed off towards Theni with big smiles on our faces, proud and excited at how well hitchhiking in India was going. We tried to make sure he was going towards the same town and eventually understood that he was accept he was pronouncing Theni correctly. We tend to mispronounce nearly every single town we go to and this town was no different.  The driver smiled and corrected us each time we mispronounced the name obviously very humored at the way we were saying it. It was a back and fourth of Joe saying it like (ten eye) almost in a country accent, sounding close to the way Forrest Gump would say Jenny but with a T instead of a J. Once we figured out we were referring to the same town only we were mispronouncing the name it was all good. We made what little conversation we could with the driver and enjoyed our ride towards Theni. The ride with the Indian trucker remains as one of my favourite so far. His big old red truck was adorned with Hindu religious items and pictures. We sat in the spacious cab enjoying the ride listening to the Indian music playing loudly through the speakers. When I woke up that morning I could not have even imagined such an experience would happen that day but it did, so did many more, and we were loving it. The trucker was able to get us all the way to a town just before Theni. He dropped us off at a bus-stand just like every ride we get does. We said thank you and the driver gave us the "Indian Head nod" and a smile and drove off.

          

       

  (The Indian Head nod or shake rather is an interesting action or gesture we have observed that pretty much all Indians do. They usually do it when saying okay like when they understand something or approve of something. It looks very similar to someone shaking their head and shrugging their shoulders like they don't know so it was very confusing. At first we couldn't tell if it was a yes or a no or an I don't know. We have come to the conclusion that it’s like a head nod yes and is often accompanied by an "okay". It can best be described as when a bobble head shakes its head side to side. Just an interesting funny observation we've made that I bought was worth sharing. It’s very cool to see how not only the spoken language but also physical language and gesture meanings can differ.

        

         Anyways, the Indian trucker went on his way probably still chuckling to himself at the way we said Theni. We walked less than a couple hundred yards before finding another spot to catch another ride. Within five minutes of holding our thumbs out we reeled in another one. This time, a small fruit truck driven by a young man about Joe's age pulled over. We explained we were going to Theni, pronouncing it correctly this time. The young man gave us the Indian head nod and helped us load our packs into the back of the truck. We crammed into the cab of the truck where my leg quickly fell asleep. We were able to make a little bit more conversation this time, as the driver spoke a little better English. Not the most comfortable ride but definitely enjoyable. I can't remember his name, as Indian names are often difficult to even pronounce let alone remember so ill just say our friend. Our friend got us all the way to Theni where we were once again dropped at a bus station. With a little help from Google maps and some locals we made our way through the city towards the highway that led to Munnar. Theni turned out to be a good-sized city and we were walking for over an hour before getting out of the taxi zone. We made some halfway efforts to catch a ride but to no avail. We decided to walk a little farther where we saw a sign. It was a sign, a good sign, a green sign. On that sign were strange letters I could not understand. Below those strange letters it said Munnar. Heyoohh! We were headed the right way! As long as we were going in the right direction it was always a win.

         We were maybe halfway to Munnar, if that at this point. We turned and headed up the highway that pointed to Munnar. We walked a few minutes and found another good spot to thumb it. Not twenty minutes passed before a small truck pulled over, just like the first one. We hopped in the back and off we went. Riding in the back of the little trucks is always very fun because we get to stretch out, enjoy the view, and wave to all the people passing. It also makes for a funny scene when you have to pee and you attempt to pee off the back as it’s speeding down a bumpy road. This truck took us a good ways until the next small town. We exchanged Indian head nods and continued on our way. We walked through this small town as some young children followed us saying "photo! photo!" We stopped for a quick photo shoot with our young fans then continued out of the city.  Once again we found a good spot and stuck out our thumbs. We reeled in another quick ride, this time in a car. One of the men in the car spoke English well and told us he had just come back from visiting California. We conversed with him for the short ride to the next town at the base of another set of mountains.

        

         We were dropped at the bus-stand yet again and continued our march to Munnar. A long windy road up a very tall mountain lay ahead of us. Nightfall would be coming soon. We were contemplating finding some trees to set our hammocks up for the night. We decided to give it one more hour before calling it quits for the day and bedding down. The cars and trucks coming up the mountain weren't very frequent and usually full or just taxis. We would walk a little ways then thumb it for a few minutes then walk a little ways more and thumb it for a few minutes and continued to do so for nearly an hour. We were close to calling it quits for the day when we saw a SUV approaching. We flashed our biggest smiles and stuck out our most welcoming thumbs. As the SUV approached we realized it was completely packed full of Indian men and their luggage, so we gave up on that one yet it still pulled over where we were standing. Several Indian men all got out. It made me think of a bunch of people all crammed into a little clown car. We knew they couldn't fit us into their car but realized they just wanted a break to stretch and most importantly take a bunch of photos with us. One man approached us and explained he was a lawyer and gave us his card. We've amassed a good collection of random Indian's business cards by now. He seemed to be the main guy or leader of the group and the rest of the men seem to almost be like his entourage. We explained that we were trying to get a ride to Munnar. As we were taking one of at least a dozen pictures with them Joe quickly stepped out to try to wave down a passing truck. One of the men in the entourage happened to be a police officer and was for some reason in full uniform and armed. He waved at Joe to stop as if we shouldn't be doing that. The lawyer then explained that his Police officer friend was going to help us get a ride. We weren't sure if he was going to send us a taxi or a patrol car or another friend or what. As the next car approached up the mountain the police officer took a firm stance in the middle of the road holding out his hand halting the car in front of him.  He talked to the two men in the car who had two empty seats in the back. We still to this day are not sure if the officer forced the men to give us a ride by threatening them or if they simply agreed out of generosity or just a little of both. It all happened very quickly. Before we knew it we were in the car riding up the mountain towards Munnar. We introduced ourselves to the men who appeared to be a few years older than us. One of them was a sort of big guy who introduced himself to us as Shine, the other had an Indian name I couldn't remember but they were both very nice guys who seemed more or less happy about giving us a ride as well as a chance to talk to us and practice their English. They were both from a small town in Kerala, the state we would be crossing into at the top of the mountain. One of its motto's is "Kerala, God's own country." Joe said that, and they told us they were Christian flashing the rosaries around their necks. We continued up the mountain but soon pulled over to take a break. They of course got a couple quick pictures with us and we continued on our way up.

          It was dark by the time we got to the border atop the mountain. We made some small talk about our families and what we do back home and stuff like that. "You know Bob Marley?' they asked at one point amidst a long period of silence. "Yes, we know Bob Marley." we replied "We like Bob Marley" they explained. We thought this was funny then it went back to riding in silence for a while. We rode for a couple hours winding down the mountain.  We eventually realized we had missed a turn towards Munnar and that we were headed to a different town. Shine explained that we were headed to a town called Adimali before Munnar. We eventually made it to Adimali where our new friends gave us two options. They said we could give them all our money or we couldn’t and they would kill us. Just kidding! There options were that we could take a bus from Adimali to Munnar or we could go to their town called Thodupuzza and stay with Shine for the night. I’m not sure what your mom told you as a kid but mine always said to ride with strangers and always accept when they offer to take you to a town you have never heard of and stay with them for the night. In all seriousness Shine seemed like a genuine guy and knowing we could have a place to stay and a free meal sounded a lot better than taking a late bus and not knowing where the heck we could stay.

        

         The ultimate influence in decisions like this come down to the fact that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and it’s the best possible way to meet new people and experience the culture and life of the people firsthand. We accepted Shine’s generous offer and headed toward his small town with his friend. It was another couple of hours before we would reached Shine’s house. He explained to us that he lived in a house with his sister, brother in law, and five children, two of which were his own. He explained that his wife was teaching in Australia and that he was an engineer here.  As we got closer to his house he asked us what we liked to eat. We named off a few of the Indian foods we liked and he called his sister up and told her to prepare a meal for us. They were clearly very hospitable people. We finally arrived at his house around 9:30 p.m. We removed our shoes at the door and came inside where we were introduced to his sister, Shiny (yes it’s a brother and sister named Shine and Shiny), her husband, and all the children. The only name of any of the children I can recall was Shine’s son Steven. It made me think of Nacho Libre and the character named Steven because of the way Shine said it, and also the fact that with his mustache Shine slightly resembled Nacho Libre and lived in a small village and was Catholic and what not. Anyways after meeting everyone we were shown to a room we could share and showered up. After showering the stank of a days worth of hitchhiking in India off, we sat down for dinner. Shiny brought out plate after plate of food. She had prepared a big plate of idly, a big bowl of rice, fruit, sambar, and several other dishes. I thought, “How can we eat all of this” then I remembered Shine was a big guy and would have no trouble finishing off what we couldn’t.  After eating until we were stuffed full of delicious Indian food Shiny brought out yet another plate. It appeared to me to be some sort of chocolates or fudge at first. “Buffalo liver?” we politely declined. No chocolates for me.  After dinner we sat down with Shine to get his opinions on where our next destination should be. Large pictures of Jesus and Mary adorned with giant rosaries and lights hung over our heads. After establishing Vagamon as our next destination we went to our room to sleep. I lay there for a bit trying to comprehend what all had happened that day and how we had ended up in Shine’s house nowhere close to our original destination. What an adventure the day had been.  That morning we were on top of a mountain in Kodaikanal where I was thinking we’d be taking a bus to Munnar later that day. It’s crazy how things work out like that.  It was a day I could never have imagined and surely won’t forget. I am confident we will have many more days like it as long as we just keep winging it!

         After waking up at Shines he took us to a bus-stand where he made sure to add us on Facebook before we departed. He helped us find the right bus towards Vagamon and off we went. The Indian buses are a whole other story in themselves I might tell you about later.

         We made it to Vagamon, which turned out to be very similar to Kodaikanal with way less tourists, lots of tea growing, a nice pine forest, some very cool waterfalls, and a cool mountain that we hiked up and lay on top as the foggy cloud cover engulfed us. It was a very peaceful place.

         From Vagamon we took a bus to Kumily/Tekhaddy where the Periyar National Tiger Reserve is. There we got a room that backed right up to the forest. We hiked up yet another mountain. We  also went on a guided “Bamboo rafting/ trekking tour through the tiger reserve. We saw some monkeys, lots of birds, wild bore and bison but no tigers. Our legs also got covered with tons of leaches as we were the only people in the group who wore shorts for the trek. Big mistake. Other than getting soaked, my blood getting sucked and my phone breaking it was still very fun.

         From Thekaddy we went to Allepey (Allapuzzha). One of the best parts of Allepey was the boat ride we took to get there. The boat was basically a school boat for the children who lived along the lake. It made for a fun ride talking to them along the way. Once in Allepey we visited the beach, seeing the Arabian Sea for the first time. It had a very nice beach, and I took a picture with an indian guy who put his hand on my butt for the picture. Very awkward…  that’s the second time that’s happened. Not sure what it means…

         After Allepey We didn’t have a very precise destination, just that we wanted to head south. We had a similar day to the day we met Shine. We had trouble hitching it but did catch a ride with a guy in a banana truck, which was cool. We eventually got a ride with a cool guy about our age that took us to Varkala beach where he was headed. It was the nicest beach we have been to so far, and there were lots of Europeans there.  We climbed a couple coconut trees and watched the fisherman pull in giant nets full of fish from the shore.

        

We hitched from Varkala to Trivandrum where we were planning on hitching farther inland but we had a few setbacks that led us to decide to go to Kovalem, a very nice beach town similar to Varkala. There we celebrated Thanksgiving by eating a lot of Chapattis and other delicious Indian food.

          

         We took a bus from Kovalem back to Trivandrum where we eventually caught a bus to Madurai. Something happened in Trivandrum that potentially could have messed up our whole trip but by some miracle all turned out good. I'll share the story of what happened in my next post. Anyways, we took an 8-hour train ride to Madurai where we will be flying out of to Sri Lanka. There is a huge temple here, I took a cows horn to the back the other day, and yesterday we visited a cool Gandhi museum.  We’re currently staying in a hotel located on “poop corner” as Joe has named it. pretty smelly but we cant complain. Life is good and we are blessed.  Tomorrow we head to Sri Lanka. I am very excited for what the next few weeks in Sri Lanka might hold, and hopefully will have some more cool stories to share with you soon. Until then, much love and peace out!