The bands on the move again. After a few days in Varkala, we needed to press onward to get to the east coast of India. Again the trains would be our chariot and the route would mean two overnight stops. One in Kanayakumari where the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, and Indian ocean all meet. Its supposed to have crazy sunrises and sunsets. Then to Madura, a temple town. And then take a bus to small town India.

Last Varkala Sunset

We have been towing our suits around to every town we have been in, always saying we are going to mail them back to the states but it never happens (the suits are the brown bags below).

Our Gear

We are slowly realizing that nothing in India really happens on time and thats ok. This train was almost an hour late and on top of that the class of service we bought (3rd class AC) wasn’t even offered on the train. So we just hopped in the sleeper class. Which despite its name is one of the lower classes. And of course the train is packed and about 100 degrees and humid. Somehow we managed to miscommunicate and chuckles hikes 5 cars ahead and I stow my bags in a car. Then we had to double back with all of the gear and reconnect. Was taxing on the nerves and the sweat was positively soaking through.

The Car

Eventually the train started to empty out. And again, nothing in India is as printed. Our 2 hour trip was more like 5, but eventually we settled in. As we went deeper into the south, the lushness of the environment increased. There was water everywhere, and the sun was doing amazing things to the colors.

Lush

As the train rolled through Trivandrum, it emptied almost completely. It went from about 100+ in a car (which should have no more than 72) to about 5 of us in our car. I liked how the area looked empty.

Vacancy

We also have to introduce you to Mary. She is our empty Mirinda bottle and held our window open: we tried to be sure she had a good view of all of the action.

Mary

As the trip went on, it started to rain. I liked the way the raindrops clung to the bars.

Poppins

We rolled into Kanayakumari in darkness and with no hotel room to stay at. We did it once before, we can conquer again.

More later