First week of Independent Travel

I know this jumps back a bit, but I realized that I promised you I would inform you of my time ont he Arabian Coast, so here it is.

As we touched down in Kochin (hot spot of the southern state of Kerala), it was pouring rain. We didn't know really what our plans were past the night that we had booked at the home stay in Fort Kochin, about an hour from the airport. The five of us got really lucky and jumped in a cab with another family that was headed the same direction. As the rain hit hard on the car, we made our way to Fort Kochin to our home stay. Upon our arrival, as per usual in India, we were informed that our reservation had been booted and they had no room for us. They offered for us to stay in their brother's home stay, and after trying to communicate to the non English speaking driver, we found our way to the Ark Home stay. While the air was humid here, were happy to be steady after a very long full day of traveling.

As a group, we had decided to save money on food by cooking our own breakfast. This, of course, meant that we needed to go out in town and find some food for the next morning. After talking to our home stay/temporary travel agent, we found our way to a grocery store. As we were walking down the main street, we were approached by two gentlemen that wanted us to be in a "bollywood" film. I, of course, was skeptical about the offer and told him I was not up for getting up that early. The next morning, I decided to sleep in and when the rest of the group had returned from their morning walk, they told me they were approached by the same man who asked them the same thing and gave them his business card. They informed me that we would need to call soon, as the bus would leave for the set in two hours. After seeing the excitement in their faces, and having the owner of our home stay call the guy and set up a deal for us to get paid, I decided to indulge and grab my stuff and head onto the bus. After an hour's drive we arrived at a private resort and walked a few yards to a private beach were there was indeed a full on Bollywood set in action. We were asked to do a number of dance scenes, but basically I was paid to enjoy the Arabian coast, get to know some European travelers from England and Australia, and eat free food. I must say, it was truly and amazing day as I saoked up the sun on the Arabian Coast.

At the end of the day, we went our to dinner with our new European friends and woke up the next morning to go on a 7 hour back waters boat tour. After seeing the amazingly beautiful back waters and how those people use the few resource they have (mainly coconut and shells) to make everything from rope, to food, to some clothing, we made our way back to Fort Kochin in just enough time to see the traditional Kataculli dance of India. As they told the story of a God and Goddess love gone wrong through brilliant hand and body movements, we found our way back to the home stay (hotel) in just enough time to catch a few hours of shut eye before we woke up early the next morning to start on the 5 hour drive to Munnar ( inland) to spend a night in the middle of the rolling Tea Farm hills. Munnar, needless to say, was amazingly beautiful. It had rolling hills for miles and on the way we even had the chance to stop and wash Elephants int a river. After washing these majestic creatures we had toe opportunity to ride them. I must say, it is an experience that I shall never forget. To feel the warmth of the Elephant ear brush up against your crinkled toes, is a feeling that truly has embedded itself into my heart's memory.

After returning from Munnar, we decided to head south to the beautiful beach town of Varkala where most of the tourist in Kerala go. At first, I was weirded out by the idea of seeing tourists as we had spent the last two months with nothing but Indians. Even though I was skeptical of the whole thing, it turned out to be an amazing experience. We sat on a not so crowded beach on the Arabian Coast and swam in the Arabian Sea. I could not believe it. Me, Aukeem A. Ballard, had gone from Tacoma, Washington all the way to the Arabian Coast. I couldn't help but just sit there and stare for a while sometimes. The first night, we decided to go to a popluar restuarant and ended up having a dance off with some people from Ireland, England, Australia, and France. After spending a considerable amount of time hearing their stories and exchanging contact information, I made my way back to our bamboo hut "hostel" and woke up to the rolling sound of the waves of the Arabian Coast crashing against the northern rocky shore. I spent yet another day on the Beach writing in my journal, listening to music, and swimming int he Sea.

That night was our last night of travel and since we had to get up relatively early the next morning to catch a train and then a plane to meet up with the rest of the LC group in Bangalore, we had decided that it would be best to pay the owners what we owed them for the two or three nights. That morning at around 7 am, I was woken up by our friend that was traveling with us and staying in the next room over that we had been robbed while we were sleeping. At first, I thought it was a joke, but was quickly brought into reality as we walked out and saw our things thrown about and scattered in the alley next to the huts. As we gathered our stuff and quickly checked for our identification documents, I went back to check my things. Now, usually I can spotted by my red back pack and my orange hooded sweatshirt. Usually, that same red backpack is with me always. This night, I decided to put all my luggage together, up against the wall. It turned out that somehow, it was the only piece of luggage to remain untouched between the two rooms. Out of some miracle, my camera, ipod, flash drive, and money had been the one set of valuables out of the five of us to be spared.

After gathering ourselves, we used the money I had left over to grab breakfast, a cab to the train station, and a lunch before the plane ride to Bangalore to meet up with the rest of the LC group. Needless to say, the four other people I was traveling with were heart broken over the loss of their memories in the form of journals and pictures, but they were determined to not let that one instance spoil their amazing experience on the southern State of Kerala. As the saying goes, Oh the Places you'll go...

time to catch up

hello dear friends,

I know it has been some time since last I wrote and for that, I apologize. Internet usage is few and far between in a land that is still trying to figure out how to develop. At any rate, in the next two weeks I hope to catch you up on what has been going on with me and some of the experiences I have had that have stuck with me. A few of them shall be contemplative, but most will be descriptive of my journey.

After we left Varanasi, the holy city, we set out on a series of adventures. We did not stay in one set place like we did for the months of September and October, but instead moved through Bangalore, Ponukonda, Nagraholi, Mysore, and the BR Hills. In Bangalore we had the opportunity to learn about the part of India that is developing at a higher speed than the US, which was interesting to say the least. After meeting with a software company, it was insanely interesting as we stepped foot onto a completely different part of India. It was almost as if we were stepping onto the a mini Microsoft campus, which if you're familiar with is really nice and really modern. The interesting part about this was not only the switch in scenery, but also the switch in mindset. As we met with the head Human resources manager, a few new employees, and one of the founders of the company, I found myself diving deeper adn deeper into the questioning of my own life style. While there were many things that stuck with me, one of the main things was the seemingly lack of realization the employees had about the two different India's. This term "two different India" is used to show the difference between the one third of the peple that are in poverty here and the two thirds that don't. It was clear that these workers were indeed part of the latter group. When asked how they went about dealing with the two worlds, they simply said that " it is how they have lived since the beginning of their time, so it was not complicated". While I cannot blame them for this as I too have thought to myself that it's just how things are, I still couldn't help but contemplate the amount of things that I had ignored in my life. The injustices that I let fall to the waste side for convenience, or because it's just been the way it's been. However, I walked out of the day long discussion and presentations with a keen eye towards justice and a new necessity to keep asking questions.

Oh the places you'll go!