Exciting Weekend in Pondi

This weekend we went to Puducherry (Pondicherry) with all of our UTHSCSA group (3 met up with us after exploring another city) and 3 other students (2 from Australia and another from the states). We had prearranged for a driver for the weekend earlier in the week. It is much safer and less hassle plus it ends up being only around $15-20. Any way of course our driver shows up late and our "spacious" vehicle ends up being only a little bigger than a CRV that is supposed to hold 8 of us and all of our luggage. Needless to say we made it work. Three of us were in the back with these fold down seats. We headed out on our 4-5hr journey. While still in the city limits we pull over on the side of the road and the driver starts talking to Vasi (our Australian friend who speaks Tamil, the language spoken here). Apparently he did not believe that we requested an a/c vehicle (all 3 girls there said that they had made sure to request a/c) and he doesn't want to run the a/c unless we pay him more. Even speaking the language she has no luck and after speaking with the manager she still has no luck. We had two options go home or pay more (driving 4-5hrs with no a/c here is not an option, well at least not for us spoiled westerners). We gave in and paid more and so he continued on.

The ride was beautiful but rough. The scenery was so green and tropical. Closer to Vellore there were all of these massive rock formations that would jut out amidst the greenery it was quite spectacular. We also passed quite a few rice patties where the were groups of women working; all in their saris. The rough part was the roads were paved but not the greatest with frequent pot-holes and speed-bumps in the villages. Kathryn, Erica and I were in the back which meant that our head were in close proximity to the roof. Our heads became very familiar with the feel of the roof by the end of the ride, especially Kathryn's. In addition, all drivers in India are crazy as I've described before and our driver was not very smooth as he swerved and slammed on his breaks.

When we called during the week to book a hotel all of the places said that they were booked. In talking to other students who had been before they all said it would be no big deal. So rolling in to Pondicherry, at what was probably close to 9pm, all we had the name of a guy who worked at a hotel (that we didn't know the location of, only the name) who was a contact some other students had used when they came. Luckily we found the hotel and the manager was very nice and since they were booked he called all around to other hotels to help us find a room. No luck. He recommended a place called French Guest House where he thought there might be rooms. We roll in to the heart of Pondicherry. It is a pretty crowed place with bright lights every where. We finally find the"French Guest House" and it looks pretty sketchy but we go ahead and send the Indian/Indian looking girls inside to check things out. They think the place look decent enough and it's 2000 rupees (exchange rate is like 38rs to the dollar) total a night for 2 rooms each with their own bathroom and a/c. Each room was actually 2 separate rooms with a double bed in each. It was "perfect". We headed out for dinner. We were very excited about food without Masala and having some wine. The food ended up alright but in the whole restaurant there were only 3 glasses of white wine left and 1 bottle of red. Oh well, we still managed to have a great girls night out!

The next day woke up without much sleep as the beds weren't the most comfy and our bed didn't have a top sheet and so I was so cold. I even had my hoddie on with the hod up and I tried to roll up in the sheet bc I was a little afraid to sleep on the matress under the sheet. Breakfast was awesome! There was a french bakery and I had an awesome doughnut and then got a chocolate croissant for lunch! After breakfast we went shopping. It was kind of funny because unlike Vellore, Pondicherry has quite a few western visitors, most of them very hippie looking Europeans. Walking around with Kathryn with our blond hair and blue eyes we actually looked like we fit it, kinda. I bought a very hippie looking skirt which I later changed into that made me fit in even more :) We also walked around some of the French quarter which was very pretty and strolled down the coastline. There really is not much beach where we were. I think that much of it was wiped out by the tsunami. It was still really nice to see the ocean and it was so blue.

On Sunday we visited Auroville which is a community outside of Podicherry that was created to be a utopian society. Here is the quote from the website to give you a better idea: "Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity." It has been around since 1968 with currently around 2000 residents from around 35 different nations. There is also this huge golden globe structure in the center which is quite impressive. In the center of the globe there is a room for meditation. They also do quite a bit of sustainable living research there. It is quite an intriguing place.

After all the excitement we made it home exhausted and in need of a good shower ;)