Our weekend trip to Kerala

So for the weekend, our whole group of classmates plus 2 others from Oklahoma went to Kerala. It is on the other side of India from Vellore, and we have all heard it is beautiful. When we made theses plans we were supposed to take a night train there, but there were no spots because one of the schools here in Vellore just had a graduation so apparently they wanted a trip too. After a lot of researching, Dinesh and our travel agent, Joseph, found a travelors van that seated 14 people. So we hired a driver and made the drive from Vellore to Kerala. The drive was only supposed to be about 12-13hrs but it took and additonal 3-4 hrs because the driver was terrible. When we finally did arrive in Kerala, it was breathtaking. So beautiful and serene. One of Dinesh's friends, Manish, had provided a houseboat for all of us to float down the backwaters and just have a fun, relaxing time. It was amazing. The food was delicious as was the scenary Apparently, it is one of the top 50 things you should do in your life! I have now done 2, this and the Taj Mahal! We enoyed each others company talking and eating and playing car games. The next morning we had breakfast and then left the house boat to go to Manish's house which was in the city. There we toured a little bit and saw some areas that had been damaged by the Tsunami a few years ago. The next morning we were treated to a new experience, an ayurvedic massage. It is definitely not what you get in the states. what happens is that they give you just a loin cloth to wear and then you lay down on a wood table. A lady came in with a bucket of some herbal oil and just started to rub me with it. By the end, you are oily and in pain because she uses a lot of force. But it was definitely a good experience, but i do prefer my depp tissue massages back home! We were sad to leave our getaway but got on the road because we had a long journey. As I have mentioned before, driving in India scares me. It really does, and the driver who had been hired for our trip was awful. Unfortunately, about 80 km outside of Vellore, we awoke to to screaming and crunchind noises. We were is a massive accident. We believe our driver fel asleep. I had been sleeping along two chairs so when the accident occured, I fell down between two rows. I was freightened. I had no idea what was going on. The next thing I saw was my friends Swamy's face flying over me. Thankfully, he didnt go far. He was alright and heled me out from beneath the two rows of seats. Everything was a mess and the front of our van was replaced by the back of a truck. The whole front row was obliterated, but thankfully no one had sat there as Jami previously had. It is a miracle. Cristina was sitting in the second row on the side of the accident and awoke to find the truck mere inches from her face. She experienced chest pain and shorness of breath. Chris, who was sitting directly behind her, could not initially be seen. We removed the chair that Anne had been ejected from to find him unconscious and unresponsive. This is where I almost freaked out. After a few minutes he awok but disoriented. Swamy was starting to lose vision and began passing out. There were villagers observing what was going on, but no one came to help us. I started to yell for them to open the back door but they didnt understand. I tried to gesture but nothing. Claire was able to get out of the driver door somehow, and I think it was her that opened the back door. Kevin then bent back one of the chairs so that we could get out, but the front windshield was on the ground surrounded by shattered glass. Chris and Swamy's head were being supported by Anne and Jami, repectively, to ensure no C-spine injuries and Dinesh was examining them. The rest of us sat along the road side. We were so scared. Things are different here. No one called the police or a doctor for us. Drivers just honked as tehy came along so that they could get by. Thankfuly, 10 min late, a passerby stopped and called an ambulance. It was about 30-45 min until we got an ambulance, but it wasn't an ambulance equipped to do anything. We all piled in and told them to take us to CMC Vellore. The three serious students were seen in the emergency department, and that is a different entry, and in the end everyone is okay. We all have some sort of bruise, scrap, pain, and whatever else, but we are just so grateful for the way it happened because we are all safe and alive.