seashores, orphanages, spaniards... and heat

Last I left you I had just arrived in Mammallapuram after a 15 hour journey from Ooty. I was living in Mammallapuram like a queen. In a two room room paying 175rupees (4US) a night, when two friends had stayed there the previous week and paid for 650 for a regular room. Why do I need 2 rooms you ask? To do my yoga in the morning without bouncing my head between the wall and the bed - and because it was the same price as a regular room. The place had beautiful gardens and porches and a nice rooftop restaurant where I enjoyed writing in my journal and reading my book (Kiran Desai's - Inheritance of Loss - highly recommended - winner of the Man Booker Prize and it's about India).
After two or so days of being badgered by shopkeepers - as the whole road of the hostels and restaurants are lined with shops - they relented and just shouted out a friendly hello. Which made it much more pleasant to walk around, and a lot easier to to go in when I so desired.
It was nice having Julie around (the danish girl) for company during meals and sporadically throughout the day. Mammallapuram is a tiny place on the shores with lots of beautiful temples, lots of fisherman, tons of good restaurants and hang outs, and great shopping. The atmosphere is so laid back and it's so hot, that you can spend days there not doing much of anything - which I did.
On the third day Julie and I happened upon some Australian looking Spanish surfers who we met for dinner later in the evening. Turned out to be eleven of them doing a project they had started called Smile n Surf in India. They had spend 6 months fundraising in Spain, getting surfboards, and raising money and then they came to this little town for a month to work in an orphanage and give local kids free surf lessons. They set up a surfboard rental (with the donated boards) at the hostel with proceeds going to the orphanage. Among them is a doctor - giving his services, a photographer documenting, a videographer, a girl who started a nonprofit in spain, and a bunch of good hearted people.
They also did some work in nearby villages and the following morning we piled into the open back of a truck - like a group of migrant workers - loaded on a ton of rice and headed out to a nearby village where we began distributing it to the families, and toys to the children. It was a great experience, and incredible to really get to see how people in the rural areas live.
A few days later they threw a big party for the kids and I fell in love with one of the children. Some of you know I want to adopt a child one day (in addition to having my own - this may be news to you mom and dad). And this experience was incredible, made me feel so much stronger about doing so. I fell in love with one of the children who fell asleep with his head in my lap and I just kept looking down at him and thinking he was so beautiful and wishing there was something I could do for him.
The orphanage is really corrupt and the owners pocket all the donations - 100,000 rupees was donated recently for the purchase of land... 90,000 was pocketed by a few individuals and 10,000 was actually used for the orphanage. Not all the kids are actually orphans. They don't get fed well - think of Oliver Twist. And there's sexual abuse there. There's a German journalist whose gone 8 times "to volunteer" and is finally ready to publish her findings. She's extremely brave as the owner has ties with police and the mafia.
On one of my last days there I bumped into a British guy named Richard who I had met in Ooty and we rented two bikes and rode through the town going to the temples. He was a good guide, as he'd been living there 3 months working with a nonprofit and had seen some of the places before.
Other than that I went climbing on slayim (that's hebrew) those big rocks that make the jetty's in the sea. And I thought of Linds (Davis) and how you'd have enjoyed that adventure with me. It was a little scary - not to mention it started off with harassment from some local man who I successfully told to get the hell out of there.
I could have spent so much more time in Mammallapuram - exploring - as I had taken it easy the first few days, but I felt like it was time to move on... so along with a British girl I met there named Sofia, I took a two hour bus south to Pondicherry.
This is long so if you're tired go take a break and come back later... because I'm still going.
The short trip to Pondicherry was interesting - the guy in front of us kept feeding us from his snacks, and we had a theory that he was giving us his wife's share. He refused to take no for an answer until Sofia waved the still uneaten banana in front of him. Then a young couple next to us offered us ice cream (that they bought at a stop) which apparently is dangerous in India because there are so many blackouts (a joyous occurance if I haven't yet mentioned them - especially when you're out in the street and everything goes dark) - that it melts and refreezes and may be contaminated. Which is okay for me because I can't eat it anyways - oh lactose ( I know there are pills and I thank those who have advised me on the issue but the lactaid gives me different stomach problems).
Contrary to my preconceived notions Pondi (as its called) is quite large. The shore is beautiful as those big black rocks replace the sand to form a very unique shoreline. You can sit on those but there's no sand to walk barefoot on.
In my adventures this morning I saw a bakery called hot breads. And for those of you who know India - India doesn't do bakeries like we know them. No croissants, or breads, or pastries. Only really sweet really heavy indian snacks that involve no dough. So imagine my surprise when I walked into find an abundance of fresh baked breads - a whole assortment -even whole wheat, and fresh baked croissants, chocolate, plain, apple. I walked out with a chocolate croissant - so happy I didn't even care where I was going and almost got run over by a motorbike.
Next I went into the most amazing supermarket I have seen in India - they have peanut butter, chocolate silk, and anything else you can possible desire. I was in one of the aisle's pondering the endless options when I turned around to find Zafrir - an Israeli friend who had been at the ashram with me standing there. If I thought I finally had a day of independence (after all I am travelling "alone"). I was somewhat mistaken. What a pleasant surprise!
I was stalked by a 12 year old girl on her bike who followed me up and down the road no matter how many times I changed direction until I told her to stop following me.
Tomorrow I make a 14 hour trip back to the west coast, back to Cochin to see about a guy (in the words of Good Will Hunting).
love
Roni