Day 12

So I am tired and the internet is slooow.
Hena and I left around 8 am for Auroville- four hr trip in an open air bus- we were covered in dust.
We got off the bus at the wrong stop because the conductor had misunderstood where we wanted to go. So, we caught a local bus and got off closer and caught and auto who waited on us while we were in Auroville.
In Auroville we watched two videos on the founding of Auroville and the purpose of the community. CORRECTION: We had lunch of spinach quiche and tandoori chicken with roast potatoes. Also to drink we had hibiscus juice to drink- very, very sweet with a sour aftertaste, but good.
We also viewed the outside of the Matrimandir, CORRECTION: visitors are only allowed inside after passing these test things I guess...

The land the town is on was completely barren 40 years ago and they have over time afforested the land and it is lush now with lots of trees and grass and such. NOTE: Cati are used as fencing- very effective in my humble opinion.

Once the auto had returned us to outside Auroville we caught the local bus to Puducherry. Hena had to buy a new shirt in Auroville store in Puducherry because her's was so dirty by this point from the road dust.
We walked around and saw the Sri Aurobindo Ashram first- which allowed no pictures inside. This place has a shrine for each of the two founders of Auroville- Aurobindo and "the Mother" There were flowers EVERYWHERE. I wish I could have let you see them all. The mausoleum was covered in an elaborate pattern of fresh flowers. The entire ashram was impregnated with a wonderful spiritual feeling. There were people praying and meditating agaisnt almost every wall.

Then Hena and I walked down a couple streets to the Sri Manakula Vinayagar Temple, dedicated to Ganesh in his myriad of forms. The inside of the temple did not allow pictures so I'll have to describe it. There was a lot of gold on the walls and some of the statues. There were hundreds of different forms Ganesh has taken on through out Asia over time. Also outside the temple is an elephant, named Lakshmi, who blesses the temple goers. I was blessed by her- it was quite a thrill to have this enormously powerful animal delicately touch my head. Hena took a video so when I can I'll upload it.

Next we walked to the beach by following the breeze off the water to find the Gandhi statue. However by the time we got there it was dark. I don't know what it is about me not being able to see a Gandhi statue during the day, but I can't. On the board walk we saw a kid with a pet monkey. But he wouldn't let us take his picture. We saw the old lighthouse. Then we walked down a little further to see the memorial for WWI soldiers, then Gandhi, then Notre Dame de Agnes.

After we left the beach we walked to Satsanga, a French-Italian restaurant. On the way there was this dog that kept following us until he flopped down in front of someone's door, so we assumed he was home.
I had steak with mushrooms and french fries. Yummy, yummy. After that we caught an auto to the bus stand.
At the bus stand we got the run around. Go to the other side of the compound they all said. We found our bus by almost getting hit by it and asking the driver where the bus to Chennai was. LoL. so we caught the bus back and took a called taxi from the bus stop to the flat.
So here I am writing this tag line telling you all that I will endevor to post pics and vids tomorrow before we leave for Kanyakumari- southern tip of India- where we will have no internet. After that we head to Kochi where if we stay over night we'll have internet other wise we won't have internet until we arrive in Calicut. So don't worry- we're not dead- just out of touch.
: ) May your life be as exciting you can stand it to be!