Once we got higher in elevation it almost seemed like the jungle was encroaching so far into the already narrow road that I bet if cars didn't drive for even 1 or 2 days it would disappear entirely. Trees and grass and vines were reaching out toward the pavement, probably trying to get a bit of sunlight through the dense forest behind them. It was raining pretty hard but it wasn't at all scary like when we drove back from Ooty, it was beautiful. On the way we stopped to pick up some beer in hopes of creating some sort of a fun memorable 4th of July experience for ourselves the next day. Upon arriving at the liquor store there was a huge line of men going down the alley waiting to make their purchases. Note I said men, no women were in line at all. Our tour guide took us to the front of the line where we cut all the men. I got a lot of nasty but disapproving looks from the men waiting. I suggested that it wasn't fair for us to cut the line but the tour said it was okay because we were women. I really felt like it was more likely that we were allowed to cut because were Americans or because were tourists because on the way out one of the men in line made a firm comment at us, "this is MY country." I knew we should have waited in line but our tour guide firmly insisted so we went along with it.
Finally we arrived at our hotel which is literally in the middle of the Indian rainforest, right on the banks of a river. Kelsey and I went to our room only to find the biggest spider of my life just chilling on our back porch. It was literally the size of Kelsey's hand.
After we let out enough high pitched little girl screams some staff came and tried to catch it. At this point we learned that in addition to looking absolutely terrifying Mr. Spider could also jump. Greaaaat. They eventually caught it with a broom and after a confusing argument between Kelsey and I as to whether or not the man should kill the spider he just brushed it off the porch into the bushes. (I'm sure you guessed I wanted it dead, but Kelsey insisted...you can see how the man didn't know what to do especially since he probably only spoke Hindi) After that experience were definitely going to put up the bug net. It took some creative handiwork since there were no hooks but we utilized our resources (rubber bands and twistie ties) and rigged it up pretty well.
Next we went for dinner at the hotel restaurant where we experienced yet again the Indian culture's lack of concept of timeliness when it took over an hour to get our meal. That little setback was soon entirely unimportant as we received our favorite Indian dishes; Chipatti, Chicken Masala, Vegetable Curry, and rice. Yummm. I went back to the room before Kelsey and went into the bathroom to brush my teeth. I casually glance up to my right and about 5 inches from my face is yet another HUGE spider. Now I can handle bugs as well as the next girl but huge jumping spiders is just too much for me. Huge freaky spider number TWO was just as big but with shorter legs and a fatter, hairier body which only increased my hatred for him. I ran to Kathryn and Michelle's room trying to say spider with a mouthful of toothpaste. Mr. Spider catcher man came back again to save us. I tried to explain to him that our window wouldn't shut and that's probably how the spider got in but he kept repeating, "yes, window shut, yes." After repeatedly telling and showing him that the huge electric cable coming in through the window was not allowing it to shut, I finally gave up. At this point I was so grossed out and tired irritated I just crawled under our net and passed out.
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