A Day of Relaxation and Shopping

12/12
Today was the first day of the whole trip we didn’t have to set our alarms, and naturally I still woke up around 8am. Oh well, I can’t really complain when the day was mostly going to consist of laying in the sun some more in lovely Mamallapuram.
After breakfast, Clara, Arielle, and I walked along the coast of the beach for about 2 hours, which was really nice and relaxing. The beach here is pretty empty, except for the annoying fishermen who always want us to come along for a boat ride. So it was nice just walking along the beach and enjoying the lovely breeze. We didn’t realize until a couple of hours later how strong the sun actually was at the time, and Clara and Arielle got some pretty hilarious tan lines.
For most of the remainder of the day I laid out by the pool trying to even out the weird tan I got from the day before. In the afternoon I got a neck and shoulder massage which I was pretty excited for because the beds in this country have really been screwing them up. It was a 30-minute massage for 450 rupees (which is about $9, definitely the cheapest massage you’ll ever find), and it wasn’t the best massage in the world, but it was probably worth the price.
I did a little shopping later in the day as well where I got a few nice things. I got 2 pairs of sandals from a shoemaker on the street that knew my size as soon as he saw my foot (which was great because they were European sizes and I’m totally clueless about that). I got a pair of strappy gladiator type sandals that he customized to fit my feet, which was pretty cool because I’ve never had that experience. I also finally got some hair products at one of these shops; my hair has been so dry on this trip and I haven’t known what to do about it, so this was seriously a saving grace! I also got some aloe because I got seriously burned today ☹
For dinner we went to an interesting restaurant. There were little fire pits on the table that we could grill our own skewers on, which included vegetables, chicken, shrimp, and more. The food was good, but it was annoying that we had to pay a set price for a buffet too when I definitely don’t eat that much food (we weren’t aloud to order off an a la carte menu because Devraj told them how many people we were, so that was pretty annoying). Oh well at least the food was good!
Tomorrow we’re heaving off to the next city, which is Pondicherry. I don’t know exactly what we’re doing there, but I know it’s supposed to be beautiful and relaxing and we’re doing Yoga apparently. I’ve never had a real yoga session before so I’m definitely looking forward to that!