Oct 2006

So today, I am at the beach. To get here you have to get on the main highway. Haven't tried going all the way to Pondy yet on the scooter, getting to the beach has been adventure enuff for now. I got ran off the road by a HUGE truck(didn't fall, just skidded),got stuck,dodged massive mud lakes, potholes,people,taxis, bicycles, cows, motorbikes,goats,rickshaws,dogs,mud and mud. I made it and after about a week, i have become a pro. I will be tackling the very popular motorcycle next, all the older french ladies drive them to the grocery and back. I think i'll try it.

The beach is apart of the Auroville community and is really nice. It has a thatched roof cafe, guest houses(one which has A/C) toilets, changing rooms and guards so that you don't get harassed once you are there. On the way here i passed the cute indian boy's shop that i bought my beach shawl from yesterday. he kept saying that we were getting together today but i just waved at him when i passed by.WE don't necessarily have to do anything for one.AND he had on,pay attention, black,corded,acid- washed jeans that tapered at the bottom. he was barefoot so i wasn't forced to see what kind of shoes he was going to sport. I can't get passed those jeans, i'm shallow.I think he had them on today but I was going very fast on the scooter and only got a flash of his pant.

the beach is great. the french men have on mostly speedos, one european lady had on a make shift-thong(i refuse to elaborate) but the indians wading in the water fully-clothed makes up for it. The wind is blowing just enough to keep the flies at bay and the water is cool enough to be refreshing, but there is a very strong undertow, so i didn't swim out far. I saw some dogs, but no goats or cows. there are alot of guys surfing and i think everyone is out and about b/c it finally stopped raining for a minute. a german man just showed up and is trying to fly one of those huge " kite-surfer" kites. he directed it the wrong way and hit a group of indian boys on the beach. i am glad he's not actually trying to surf w/that thing.

The sleeping pills really helped Benjie and I thru the airplane-taxi ride to "Hotel Bright". Benjie has already rearranged the furniture for our benefit and I might add that it looks lovely.Our bags have been put away in their cupboards but the fireplace doesn't seem to work, neither does the tv. The flourescent overheads were not my first choice,however they DO work and lend a certain jen a sais quo to our accomodations...

So we thought we were going to the gov't tourist bureau. the owner of "hotel not so bright" called a driver for us and he took us to some alley full of rickshaws and dawgs(later we found all the roads and alleys look like that)Naive me kept nodding(which kinda means "no", but not the stupid grin on my face) and saying "yeah,yeah,yeah, that sounds good" and "oh, what a beautiful family". Benjie finally elbowed me again for the thirtieth time in the past thirty hours and mouthed "SCAM,SCAM". I couldn't understand at first then the switch flipped on. I wasn't giving in to this con, lonely planet taught me better than this! anyway, we only got scammed out of some rupees for a driver for our first day in india. In a city of almost 14 million people, I was overwhelmed but Benjie kept elbowing me and by 1:30 I huffed at the driver, " I am hungry, no, i don't want to go to that other restaurant and i do NOT want to see the red fort today!"He did have air-conditioning and all but we were really on a wild goose chase to a bunch of random retail shacks.
"lil' lamb" even told us that he was getting fifty rupees if we stopped at this one place.
Later, i took a nap and then tried to go to some local bazaar but we didn't even make it 1/2 way there when some auto rickshaw driver who called his "taxi" the black helicoptor b/c all the other 999,000 taxis had yellow tops charmed us into going to another blessed store. ( i got some facial tincture) this rickshaw ride was one of the coolest things i have ever experienced. the sun had already set and we zoomed thru the city
streets entering different smells like rooms in a lively home. we saw a man get off his bike in front of us, pee off the sidewalk, hop back on and take off. only two cows, but they had huge horns,Christian Bale(an actor),women w/ babies blowing kisses, and knocking on the plastic window of the "auto",people playing frogger across the streets,Indira Gandhi's compound, my life flash before my eyes, our driver screaming" we're crazy", then I screamed "YEEEEE HAWWWWW!", Benjie covering his glasses and grabbing the three duvets he bought before they fast-pitched out of the doorless rickshaw and so much more! you too could all this if you would just come visit me!

just getting acclimated. benjie started hating our room by the third day. so did I.