Greetings from 5800 feet!

We have made it to cooler climates... thank God! It was probably the longest trip of my life but TOTALLY worth it. I didn't even sweat last night while I was sleeping, it was amazing; even if I was sleeping on the hardest bed pad ever, kind of like camping and sleeping straight on the ground.

Getting here was exactly the adventure I thought it would be. Or exactly the rodeo I expected. The train ride was about 25 hours long. Luckily, our bus was waiting for us at the train station. This was a minor miracle as we did not expect that to go so smoothly. We loaded our tired group onto the bus to go to the hotel. Our driver/tour guide asked if we would like to site see or just go straight to the hotel. The resounding consensus of the group was to please go straight to the hotel. We were all desperate for showers after sweating through the past 25 hours in close quarters. (I will have to expand on the train ride when I have more time!). The driver nodded his head and off we went. We asked how long to the hotel and he answered with a mischievous smile, "5 hours." We laughed along with the joke and kept smiling (as we usually do when we don't understand anything that's going on).

5 hours later we arrived at the hotel. Seriously.

Sooooo, 30 exhausted, sweaty, smelly, dirty hours later our group of 16 (and one baby) rolled into Mannar. It is absolutely beautiful here. We are sitting high on tropical mountains covered in Tea Estates with a patchwork of green covering every hillside. It is a cross between the mountains of Central America, Dominican Republic, and (Liz thinks) a Swiss town. (Mark and I tend to disagree with her comparison but we'll go with it because I can't think of anything better). The air is comfortably humid and cool as we sit in the clouds. Thunder rolls over the mountains. The colors are so vibrant as they are everywhere in India. I swear, this entire country is Technicolor. Our teachers are so sweet. They haven't traveled before so for most of them it is their first stay in a hotel, etc. They are so excited to see a landscape so different from what they have ever seen before. Its amazing to see all of these things through their wide open eyes. I forget how cynical my perspective is sometimes and it's so nice to be confronted with their wonder. The first time to see a mountain. The first time to see a waterfall. I'm humbled by the beauty I've seen in my life that I've taken for granted.

I meant to keep this short but I write like I sneeze... once I start I can't stop. I know I'm gushing but I'm so thankful to be here. I'm so thankful to be with my sister and Mark. I am so glad to be having this experience and can't imagine being anywhere else right now.

Namaste from the internet cafe.