The south! The beach!

I have finally reached the beach. I am in Mamallapuram, or Majabalipuram, there are actually 2 names yet neither of them roll off the tongue. This place was badly hit in the tsunami, but it has been rebuilt rather well I think, there are a couple of tributes and memorials, but it seems to have progressed pretty well, it is a tourist town, but there are not that many tourists! Apparently, basically my whole trip has been one month too early, as all the locals here say the rush will come end of november. Ah well, it does make it pretty quiet and peaceful here though, and upon checking into my hotel (by candlelight, literally, the power is an on and off thing again) I made my way to the rooftop restaurant, I was the only one there and my waiter was playing sax jazz and had an afro. First afro I've seen on an indian and pretty darn hilarious. I knew I was at the beach scene though.   My flight a few days ago to the south was blissfully uneventful, totally on schedule and even getting a prepaid cab into town was a breeze. The breeze ended there however, literally and figuratively, though the whole time in Chennai was a veritable monsoon. It is wet, sticky and hot here, but not as hot as the north. The people look very different and are at times, nicer and a little more tactful than up north. I have heard this is because generally speaking there is more money in the south. However, I can't say I was a real fan of Chennai. A pretty huge city, it lacks the charm and architecture of Calcutta, and some of Delhi's manic colorful "splendor". And gone are the sidewalks, and its a free for all. Sometimes India can be a little much on the senses, the horns on the autorickshaws and buses especially are just piercing to the ears, they are high pitched and make you jump out of your skin. If you add monsoon rain to the equation, it is like the straw that broke the camel's back. I had trouble handling it yesterday, a day where everyone and everything seemed to be conspiring against me. I was staying in this rather odd but full of history/personality colonial house type of place, I was on the top floor and basically had my own cabin like place, with my own rooftop, sounds cool but was kind of eerie, felt a little like I was camping, and the room was about 5 times the size of a normal room. The fan was in the middle of the ceiling so the bed was placed under that and virtually floating in the middle of the room. It was odd. And kind of bare, hard to describe. Big windows with shutters and bars that looked over a leafy courtyard, very pretty. But I came home one night and I heard meowing and I nearly had a heart attack when I saw a stray cat had come in through the window and was sitting on the desk! just staring at me in the dark, its eyes aglow!  I'm a little leery of stray animals around here so I just ran downstairs to see if the guy could help out but he was sleeping on the floor of the office, it was nighttime and this is common practice, and after waking him he just told me to get it out myself. And nodded his head in that ever so common and sometimes frustrating motion where you don't really know what they are saying. helpful. i managed to get the cat out but closed all the shutters!   I had set up an autorickshaw guy to take me around town yesterday, was supposed to pick me up at 10 and when he didn't show I ultimately left to go to the museum, figured I didn't want to pay all that money anyway, and told the guy at the desk to tell him i left cuz he was 20 min late. Well then I went to the (rather odd) museum, filled to the brim with stuffed animals (real ones) and embryos and fetuses preserved in formaldehyde... lovely... came for the paintings but of course that wing was shut down! And I went to the museum bookstore, and then I hear my name and I turn around and theres the driver! Somehow he had figured out I'd gone to the museum, driven across town and basically stalked me, wanting my business! When i told him it was too late, almost 12, he held out his hand and demanded 50 rupees. Why?? I said... he said he'd driven across town to find me! I was like, but you were half an hour late! And I just told him to go, when i got out 30 min later he was creepily waiting for me and demanding money. I hightailed it out of there on another rickshaw and refused his offer to take me to he bus station 20 km away. no thanks. the stalking was super creepy!   so... that was chennai. but i did go to a really really fancy spanish restaurant, a tapas place of all things! they had cocktails on the menu that were 10 US dollars! insane! too much for me to afford so i just had some garlic mushrooms and nachos but it was an odd experience.   Anyway I took the bus to mamallapuram yesterday, and went to the rooftop restaurant and ordered an absolutely fantastic spicy fish curry. man the food is good here in the south! good dosas too, crepe like things stuffed with potatoes and masala spices.... excellent. and knock on wood i haven't been sick in like 2 weeks. awesome. met a cuban girl who was just fantastic and a great conversationalist, hadn't met a girl like that in a while. she was travelling with her french boyfriend and they live together in Barcelona. Further proof (as if i needed it) that I will, without a doubt, move to barcelona for a year or so of my life, further down the line. Everyone I meet that lives there is amazingly cool, open minded, bright personalities, and they sing the praises of barcelona, and i fell in love with it when i visited 4 years ago. Im starting to plan one of the next trips and im not off this one yet! haha... but i certanily have met people around spain and france a lot this time, and im thinking live in barcelona, meighan visit you in paris, take you to my friends vineyards, scoot around spain a little and visit morocco finally... we'll see what happens with time.. gonna be a coupe of years i think. Anyway she invited me to join a bunch of french travellers they'd met and i basically had a second dinner with all of them!   this morning i did a yoga class with a couple of the french girls... it wasn't earth shattering. The guy just kept chanting "inhaaaaaallllle, EXhaaaaaaaallllle...." going up in pitch with his voice with each word, don't know if it was supposed to be relaxing but it was annoying as hell! And I'm the least flexible person ever, but thats no news. Ended up buying Myself! a real and good quality silver bracelet today that i didn't need but it is something i will have forever, it is actually good, got it for half the price he gave initially, because he told me he figured we'd become friends, talking in his store. his stuff was soooooo pricey! unfortunately, the real stuff really isn't as cheap here as id hoped. but i did pick up a pretty skirt for 2 dollars so not too bad.   my day was spent visiting monuments and temples that are really pretty amazing here, the monuments are naturally existing huge rocks, like huuuge boulders, one is called krishna's butter ball and ill post a picture but it is this rock that i tried to look like i was pushing up the hill, cheesy but gotta do it. And had some amazing sweet and sour fish curry today by the beach! Some even better beaches coming up in my trip in the next couple of weeks i think, I'm really looking forward to it and it didn't rain today, but i think it is pretty common down in this part of india.   I think this was kind of a dry, rambly blog, more of a log of events, but writing here is a way I really feel like I am talking to someone! The couple left today unfortunately but i am going to try to hook up with the french girls for dinner. Tomorrow off to Pondicherry, high french influence there... all these french! and apparently a really really decent cup of coffee I will try. Im becoming hooked on the very sweet creamy chai that i detested when i arrived here, thought it was too sweet and now ive sparked a sugar addiction that id never had before! think ive put back on the almost 5-10 pounds  i had dropped in the first couple weeks here! ah well.   Ok im going now. Please comment if you can or send me an email cuz im in the mid-trip semi-slump and miss you all. BTW my ticket home (well to florida) is on Nov 25 now, i think 2.5 months is just right for this trip, anyway ill arrive  just in time to cook (or not?) a turkey with chris, though im super sad i will be missing another thanksgiving at home, but then boston dec 5 in time for mom's 60th! so boston folk, ill be around dec 5-xmas tryin to do odd jobs and maybe a couple caroling gigs. Started looking online for nyc apts just for kicks on craigslist! Getting excited! But for now, more walks on the beach!!