Day 2 started mellow. We woke at 7 am and went to the beach. Laid on the sand until 8 am when the Beach Cafe across from our room opened. Had french toast and some pretty amazing coffee. Afterward we'd noticed alot of traffic and foreigners driving in and out of a side road that led away from the ocean so we decide to walk up it. What an excellent choice. First we come upon a handmade clothing store, where Mark and I pick up some nice light weight local style pants to wear instead of jeans and some lightweight shirts. I also got a pretty amazing blanket and still spent less than $20. Everything here is so inexpensive. Our meals have averaged around $8 total for all four of us. We continued about 3 kms up the road stopping at amazing shops making and selling on site hammocks and drums and wood carvings and more. Ended up in a little one block district that had an ATM and internet. Hung around there exploring shops, having tea with shop owners, and just enjoying the relaxed atmosphere. It's a small village so it was much more peaceful than the city and the people were great. Found some comfortable handmade on the side of the road sandles, which all three of us guys ended up buying a pair of. Meander back down to the room and decide to go swimming. We go down to the beach and swim for a few hours and just enjoy the lovely temperature of the Bay of Bengal and the warming sun. It's been in the mid to high 80s everyday and while it feels hot, considering it was -20 just two weeks ago in Denver, we're all loving it. My fear and anxieties have been fully replaced by adoration and amazement of this country. I find myself exited to see more of the country, but at the same time I almost just want to buy a plot of land here, build a little hut, buy a rickshaw and become a taxi driver. Words can't describe how amazing it is. We've been eating much less than usual, but never feel hungry. We've been walking about 8-12 miles per day, but don't really feel too tired (except Mark when he hurts his foot). Anyhow, so the beach gives us a great time to relax and contemplate on what we are doing and our lives. We head back from the beach and go into Pondicherry to look for somewhere to eat and I want to drop into this bar we found to see if we can meet up with any other Adventurists. We walk around for about an hour, buy a bottle of rum to drink on the beach later, and finally head into the bar. We order three big Kingfisher beers to share and just as we are about to finish them, in walk Ben and Peter our friends from Portland and LA that we met at breakfast yesterday. Order more beers and in walks Robin, another Adventurist that I met in a hotel lobby while looking for rooms yesterday. Needless to say, we all decide to drink more beer and order some food. Have some really amazing lemon honey chicken and we go through about 20 or so beers. Midway through this group of brits that we saw at lunch time walk in. This is a group I want to talk to as it's one guy and 5 or 6 cute girls, including one brunette that looks like Diane from Train Spotting. But end up just saying hi as we're leaving as we're all tired and maybe a bit drunk. Brit falls asleep in the Rickshaw ride home and we all crash out pretty quick. Sleeping has been a bit interesting as the mosquito nets kill most of the circulation from the fans and the mattress is slightly better than the ground. I've found that I've been having some of the most vivid dreams of recent times though oddly enough, and Brit said she's experienced the same. I usually wake up when all the prayers and music fill the air around 4 or 5 am. Today I got up and went and sat on the beach and watched the sunrise over the ocean. It was brilliant. I can't wait to see what the rest of this adventure holds for us! - Grant