Lost in the Half Hour

Hello sports fans. I'm back in India and somewhat bewildered.

My story begins last week when I set out to get a visa. That was an adventure on its own and not the subject of this missive. But the point is, I had to go to Houston to get it and have pretty much been on the road since. It's been a scramble to get myself ready to come here even before the travel

The trip itself (Dallas to San Francisco, to Hong Kong to Bangalore and now to Coimbatore) wasnt bad. We got stuck in a long layover in Bangalore though. 7 hours in the airport in the middle of the night. The first 3 hours we were given bad info from the security guy and spent it waiting outside. It wasnt bad, but by then we were starting to run out of steam.

But at last we caught our flight and ended up at the hotel. It's quite nice I must say. Better than some of the others we've stayed at here. I like Coimbatore as well - its more laid back and friendly than some of the other cities we've visited.

Yes, yes Steve. But what about the monkeys?

Ah! Well, we got here, met our contacts and took much-needed showers. At that point it was only about 11am on Sunday. What to do now? We went to the travel desk and arranged a trip to the local waterfall. it was a pleasant ride; we got to see some of the countryside- bamboo, lumbering and some rice paddies. The area is flat but ringed by small mountains on several sides.

We arrived at the station and waited in a long line to board a bus that would take us to the next phase. 

There were some humble food stands and vendors and that was where we saw a small troop of monkies. They were fun and sporty, even the locals were tickled. There was a lot of attention paid to us as well. People shaking our hands, inquiring where we were from and welcoming us to India.  

 So, we board the bus and take a bumpy ride up a thin road. From there we debark and walk the remaining half mile or so up to the waterfall. The scenery is pretty and there are some unsual clouds clinging to the tops of the neighboring hills. We see the waterfall, which is nice and all, but then we start hearing hooting and hollering.

Ah ha~ the natural beauty is only half the reason to come. Most of the tourists are dipping in the lower half where the stream pools up.

 We hang out and continue to provide diversion to the kids and then feel its time to walk back. On the walk back down we feel some sprinkles. Refreshing! Guess those clouds held some rain.
Hmm hmm hmm. So we get back to the pick up point and see that there is a good-sized line queued up for the buses. We fall in as the rain starts blasting us good. It's raining hard and the buses that show up arent quick in coming.
Finally, an open-backed truck pulls up and they mob it. They squished in like sardines: 9 deep and 5 wide easily on the back. Now the lines have broken down into a mob and the ranger is yelling at people to line back up. People are getting restless. Another set of buses come and go and we are closer still to the front when the truck come back.  Now the question: do we push through and get on or wait?
My sporting side says Go! How awesome would that be? But I see there are able-bodied young men in line with us that are looking at the ride with measured caution. Sit tight they say: no reason to get on that dangerous thing. No reason except awesomeness.
But I think it through and decide against it. Another bus comes and we fight our way on. There's 40 people in a bus built for 12 so thats fun too.
We get back to the parking lot and find our driver in the downpour. Suceess!
He takes us to a temple next and I wish I had snaps, But- no pictures allowed.
Why? Because awesome elephant painted with the Vishnu stripes inside the stone temple, thats why!
He was great~ you give him an offering- he takes it with his trunk and blesses you with a touch on the head. The temple was excellent too with murals on the ceiling and lots of iteresting sculptures.