Our last day in India. :-( How time flies!
We spent the morning packing everything up, while watching the final episode of "The Amazing Race".
Dad and I scootered to a gift shop near "5th Avenue Bakery" to pick up 3 roses and a card for Mom and "L", being Valentine's Day and all.
At home, Dad prayed for "L", My sister, and I. We bid everyone good-bye and climbed into the city cab, which was 15 minutes late, making for some anxious moments.
The city cab took us on our last ride through Hyderabad. "L" argued about the driver asking for Rs. 3 extra for the bags, saying he was late, which should cancel it out. We didn't win.
At the terminal, the computer systems were down, so all airlines were processing boarding passes manually.
Dad and Mom waited for us in the designated waiting area, for which they paid Rs. 50 each to be there. The door to the outside pickup/dropoff curb was all that separated them from the waiting area, which showed how little those Rs. 50 got them. To boot, a waist-high metal rectangle barrier kept us from them and from being together. We could only talk from across the 10 or so feet separating us. We were allowed to step through the 10-feet-or-so space via a little pathway, but were still divided by the fence itself. I was rather put off by what appeared to be a shameless, pathetic way to make profit off parting people's emotions at the airport. Even so, we made the most of our last few minutes together.
We boarded the airplane, heading for Sri Lanka. It was a short 1.5 hour flight. It took much less time for us to get through the airport, after the bus carrying the deplaning passengers dropped us off at the terminal. The terminal was absent the tsunami relief activity that prevailed on our journey in. It took hardly any time to get our assignments at Blue Oceanic Hotel. The hotel van drove 20 minutes to the hotel. The same staff that met us there before were there to greet us again. They remembered us. I gave the bellhop a Rs. 100 tip (makeup for not giving him one the first time), after he led us to our room. After settling in, "L" and I went down to the beach. It was dark, save a few lights. The stars and night sky created an almost-canopy effect. A beached catamaran silhouetted itself against the faint, eerie glow of the ocean waves. It was beautiful.
