Lonawala is about 2 hours out of Mumbai on the main Pune road. As we were off to Dubai for the long weekend (Gandhi Jayanti on Tuesday so a public holiday and no school on Monday and Tuesday) we had to be at the airport at 4pm. As the coach was due back at the school at 4pm Conor's teacher said I could come along on the trip in our car with Ravi. We could then leave early from Lonawala and go directly to the airport. Luckily Shannon (my good ol' Texan friend here) was chaperoning the trip too and so she came in the car with me and we had a natter and a gossip.
One of Conor's teachers has a weekend house on the outskirts of Lonawala and so all 3 classes descended on her house before setting of on the hike. The weather was disappointing though-the clouds didn't lift so the hike was shortened because we couldn't see all the children! The hill was steep and slippy and I think it was the first time some of the children had ever walked in the countryside! We had a few tears and a few falls but I'm sure it was character building.
The person who had the best time was Ravi! When we got back to the teacher's house he told me that they had a "very good arrangement for the drivers". They'd been given breakfast and were looking forward to mutton and chicken for lunch. They were also watching a "very funny" Hindi comedy film on the caoch video. It was difficult to drag Ravi away when we had to leave early for the airport!
The children got very excited about the crystals they could find on the hillside and some of them came home with water melon sized chunks of rock! There were also loads of furry caterpillars that we had to avoid as they make you itch if you touch them.
It was a great day out and made such a change. As you drive out of Mumbai you can feel your spirits lifting as you see all the greenery and lose the traffic.
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