Matheran

We couldn't get tickets all the way back to Mumbai but managed to get two hours outside to Panvel. So I opened trusty guidebook and tried to figure out what might be interesting around there. I came across Matheran, a hill station outside of Neral. We did the beach, so doing the mountains seemed perfect.

Ah to breathe clean air. While it took a lot of 4am local train transfers and a really precarious taxi ride wherein Noah and I both sat in the front seat and the driver shifted between Noah’s spread-eagle legs—Matheran is a bastion of peace.  No cars are allowed up so porters and horses await the decrepit taxis at the entrance. I always feel conflicted about porters, especially having ones that are twice my age and half my height lug my bags for me, but he seemed really eager and I guess it’s good honest work. Noah and I realized that we are too chicken shit to really enjoy riding the horses up. At first I expected some sort of safety lesson or “do’s and don’ts” for the ride but the guy just hoisted me up and that was the end of our communication. I kept worrying that the monkeys would spook the horse and I felt really bad for it every time the wrangler hit him on the haunches.