10 rupees / hour

The amount that I'm paying for this internet cafe sums up a surprising amount about this country - that is, there's alot more to it than it initially seems. Although 10 rupees is unbelievably cheap - converts into roughly 25 cents - I'm evidently paying for much more than just to use the internet for an hour. In actuality, I'm paying to use the internet with two kids staring over my shoulder every couple seconds reading what I"m typing, and asking me to take their photo. The expression 'getting more than you pay for' - which, don't get me wrong, far more often includes pleasant surprises than unpleasant ones - sums up alot about the experiences of a foreigner in this country. Probably an even better example of this can be seen by sitting down in a rickshaw and, after marveling at the ridiculously cheap price that you're paying for a 5 kilometre ride, finding out that the driver had every intention to make pit stops along the way at emporiums that pay him a commission to try and convince you to "look around for 10 minutes". It takes a little getting used to, but it's definitely an adventure.

As you've probably noticed, I haven't made any blog postings since a couple days after I arrived. This is due to the rather unfortunate fact that I spent the first 2 weeks of the semester working terribly hard lying on a beach and trekking around a rain forest coffee plantation. Oh, quit your whining! I know most of you haven't done any schoolwork since the semester started, anyways.
If there's one thing that I've discovered in my very limited blogging career, it's that I much prefer writing about abstract ideas / absolute nonsense that recounting all of the interesting things that I've done in the day. Therefore, if any of my blogs suspiciously resemble something that's been cut-and-pasted out of an e-mail to my mom, your gut instinct is probably pretty accurate. However, I am also aware that I have a substantial group of loving friends who care about how I'm doing (or are at least really good at making it seem like they do). So I'll do my best to record some of the more interesting happenings of my excursion.

As I already mentioned, I spent a bit more than 3 days at a rustic-but-comfortable retreat on the coast of the Arabian Sea. The logic behind this arrangement was that we had to 'unwind' after a long trip - good enough for me! Although, unsurprisingly, I spent a lot of time lying on the beach, we also had the chance to visit some of the villages, and even play a bit of cricket with the locals. Speaking of cricket, these people are absolutely RABID about the sport. The Indian national team is playing a test series against Australia right now and, due to various controversies revolving around alleged racisim and refereeing bias, amongst other things, there is a pretty large amount of non-so-subtle animosity towards the Aussies here right now. Dual citizenship has never served me better!

From the beach retreat (it was in a place called "Turtle Bay" in Karnataka state), we moved on to spend a few nights at an organic coffee plantation / retreat centre. It is located in the Western Ghat mountains in the rainforest, about halfway between Mangalore and Mysore, and made for beautiful place to "rough it" for a couple days. Bucket showers, snakes, and rats-in-our-cabin combined (see Jared W.'s blog at http://jaredmotherindia.blogspot.com/ for more details on the latter), it turned out to be a pretty unique getaway, at least for a sheltered Western kid. The owners produce a number of crops, including coffee and pepper, in an ecologically sustainable manner, and run a getaway business on the side. It's really a great operation, and offers encouraging examples of eco-friendly agricultural alternatives. If you're interested, they have a website at http://www.rainforestours.com/ .

From there, we moved onto Mysore, the first place where we'll be studying. I've only been here a couple days, so I'll write more about this place in my next couple of blogs. I will say that the people here are very friendly and hospitable, and show a real desire to get to know us, and learn more about where we came from. Case in point: as I was walking down the street the other day, a man walked out of his brick-making yard, and randomly invited me to check out his operation, which he enthusiastically described as he gave me a tour. He proceeded to invite me back tomorrow for lunch, which I expect will consist of cuisine native to Goa, the state that him and his wife are from. Despite the continuous stares and occasional giggles that are directed towards us as a group, we really have been treated with a great deal of respect and friendliness - more than I've experienced in any other country that I've traveled to.

Undeniably, even a few rupees starts to mean something to a poor traveling student, and for that reason I'm going to check out of this cafe. E-mails are welcome and appreciated - I'd love to know what's going down back in the Great White North. Namaste for now.

- Tom