Day 9: A Fort Amongst Clouds

Plan: Visiting Raigad Fort

Today we woke up early, WAY early, 4:30AM to be precise. A rickshaw was waiting for us in front of the hotel at 5AM and we headed over to Lazy Rock, where the other students from the OMG exchange program are staying at the moment. Unfortunately, we didn't have the exact address, only the streen name and area. We circled around once and asked a few people awake at that hour before finally finding the place. After waking up the guard at the gate, we made our way in and said hello to everyone. They have a nice place for sure but we're definitely happy with our location: cheaper, closer to the college, and with more to see and do around us. We all headed to the gym where the bus was scheduled to arrive at 6AM. At 6:20AM, as other members of the trip began to arrive, we found out the bus was actually scheduled to arrive at 7:00AM... C'est la vie. We killed time chit-chatting and walking around. Inside the gym I saw a posting for the trip we were taking and finally knew where we were heading. Cara, one of the girls, had told us about this trip organized by the gym they attended, but they didn't know anything about the details of where we were going. It turns out we were headed to Raigad Fort, about 4 hours away to the north. The fort was Shivaji's capital during the 17th century. It could be reached either by hiking to the top for 2.5 hours over 1475 steps or by using what they call a ropeway (a gondola). The fort and its surrounding buildings was spread over several acres and there would be a lot to see. We all got as excited as the early hour would allow for. The bus finally arrived and we headed on our way!

I was definetly excited to be hiking again and Yan was more than willing to accompany me! It sounded like a perfect day :)

We were in a comfortable coach and had no complaints there. We slept some of the way and enjoyed the scenery the rest of the time. Along the way, we stopped at a mountainside waterfall to look down at the view of the surrounding countryside and take photos. We then had an unscheduled stop when one of the wheels of the bus began to loosen. Luckily there were more waterfalls and beautiful scenery to be had. I had the opportunity to get a little wet scaling one of the waterfalls and we also saw a wild monkey running across the road. After about 45 minutes the wheel was fixed and we continued on only to stop again soon after for a small lunch. Moving on from there, we stopped AGAIN in a little town for dinner! Surprisingly, these Indians seemed to eat more than us. We did take advantage of this stop to walk around the main street of the town we were in, where people were clearly not used to white tourists. We saw a little temple down a side street where there was a gathering of people and they kindly invited us in to take a look. A memorable moment came when Julian and I were snapping photos of the crowd and one of them pulled out his cell phone and took a photo of us. That would actually happen a lot today. For example, at the fort, two men were travelling together and one of them asked me if I could take a photo. I reached out for his camera assuming he wanted me to take a photo of them but he quickly clarified, no no, he wanted a photo of him and I together. The other members of our group would also ask us to pose in group photos with them.

We continued on, stopping only one more time to pick up three men and their spare tire. We gave them a ride to their truck and our driver refused to take their money as they got off the bus. As the bus made its way up the mountains, we questioned whether the bus would make it, and based on the looks of our Indian friends, we weren't the only ones! Somehow, some way, the bus did survive the journey and we finally made it! We were a little disapointed that it was now too late to hike up the mountain, because it would be dark soon after we made the trek up, and then we wouldn't be able to see much. So instead we took the ropeway and were definitely glad to have done so as the views from the little cage we sat in were spectacular. As we made our way up, I didn't know which way to look, snapping photos of every view at every angle!

At the top, we had to pay once again, another foreigner fee, before visiting the fort. All these extra costs were well worth it though as we walked around, gazing at the ruins and surrounding mountains in wonder. What we saw made me think both of Macchu Pichu and Ireland, because everything was covered in green moss. Our guide told us a little about the history of this place but it we would often fall behind, snapping photos and taking a closer look at the view from various escarpments. We were in a truly unique place, sharing the space with the clouds passing through. In one moment, the view of a stone towers could be completely covered by clouds. Very challenging for photos, but also adding a certain serenity to it all. Finally, after several hours, as the sun began to fall and rain started falling on us, we started making our way down the mountain. We hurried a little as we didn't want to get caught in the dark (there was nothing to light the path and very few railings to keep you from falling off the mountain). The rain began falling harder than at any point so far on our trip and the steps became more and more slippery. Emilie slipped and fell on her knee at one point, leaving her with a big bruise. She marched on though and we made our way down just in time, walking back to our bus with only moonlight and fireflies to light our way. We all clambered unto the bus, wet and tired but very content, ready to sleep the whole way back to Pune.