Jog Falls

Today, me and seven other girls in my group took a trip to Jog Falls - the second largest plunge waterfall in all of India! While our day started early (7:15am), the van ride was long (about 5 hours), we got a flat tire, and squeezed four people on a 3 person bench, each and every minute was worth the final destination:

Once we ate a light lunch, we began the 1,400 stair descent to the base of the falls. Holy cow! I had no idea how tiring it would be. As we wound our way down on the switchback staircase, I found myself thinking that the view had better be worth all the sweat and exhausted muscles. Here are a few shots taken on the way down:

Notice the babies using parents' tails as ropes....I am sure they were not amused!

I wish I could truly put in to words how breathtaking Jog Falls was, especially from the base. Our group spent close to an hour taking photos, wading through the water (and being overly cautious since there are tons of leeches), and enjoying the breeze and mist off of the falls. After walking closer to the landing of the waterfalls, I found a nice dry rock and relaxed for a few minutes. I also took that time to mentally prepare myself for climbing BACK up the 1,400 steps.

We were told looking upside-down at the waterfall made it that much more "epic". So we did.

Here's my upside-down shot.

While gracefully ascending the stairs again, well....who, am I kidding. Trudging up the stairs, aching for water breaks, sweating profusely from every pore of my body, and looking alarmingly red-faced to Indians since my skin is so pale, I stayed determined to plug along for the top. I chose to keep my vision focused on the two to three steps ahead of me so a) the incline didn't seem as bad, and b) to keep my eyes out of the number of remaining steps etched into the stone. When we were nearly at the top, there was a pleasant surprise for us:

Can you spot the rainbow??

From there, we flopped back into the van, looped around to another lookout point, and then proceeded to the coastal town of Murudeshwara. Initially, our plan was to visit the beach for perhaps twenty minutes and then grab an early dinner. None of us knew that right next to our destination was the world's SECOND largest statue of Lord Shiva! So, of course we walked up the two flights up stairs (grudgingly) and took some time to stare in amazement at this massive statue. If only pictures did it justice at how gigantic the statue was. Lord Shiva (sitting cross-legged with a cobra) stands a modest 130 feet tall. It was perched on the edge of the water on a perfect afternoon weather-wise. The sun shone softly and the sea breeze was just enough to be comfortable. It was a welcomed break from the downpours we deal with almost every day back at Manipal.

What a view. Mental note taken to visit this town for a beach vacation if I return to India!

Lord Shiva statue. Compared to many other Indian statues, this was built "very recently". "Older" statues typically mean 500-700 years old.

At this point, my camera battery died and we were itching for some food. We meandered down the hill to an open-to-air restaurant for masala dosa, lime soda, and vanilla ice cream. What a perfect end to an epic, exciting, and fun-filled day!