Kanyakumari, aka Cape Comorin, is at the tip of India, where the three bodies of water surrounding India meet. There are many pilgrims who, every morning at sunrise, after a ritual of songs and chants, jump into the water. They believe that this sacred water will wash them of their sins.

From Kovalam, we took a train to Kanyakumari where, at the train station, we met Tino, a German traveller also in the city to see the famous sunrise ritual. We set off together and found a guesthouse. After settling in, we went for supper and to walk around the local bazaar/market. Many of the stores sold the same things and we found nothing worthwhile.

The next morning, we woke up bright and early to watch the pilgrims perform their ritual and throw themselves in the water. Not far from the mainland, there are two islands that can be seem from the place of the sunrise ritual. One is a giant 40 meter statue of an ancient Tamil poet, Thiruvalluvar. The other island houses the Swami Vivekananda Rock Memorial honoring a guru and a social reformist who both spent time on the island in 1892. Both islands can be reached by ferry but since we did not have much time, we were only able to admire the islands from the mainland.

That same afternoon, we took a train and headed north towards Madurai. The train ride was only 5 hours so we did not put money towards reserved seating and we just took the regular class, as we always do. For some reason, the train was either overbooked or there were a lot of people who were on the train but had not bought a ticket. Either way, the train was completely packed and we were stuck standing with our bags packed like sardines for the entire trip right next to the bathrooms, which smelled absolutely awful. On top if, there were quite a few cockroaches near the bathrooms, which made the journey even more unpleasant. Despite the smell, the packed train and the bugs, there was a woman who was sleeping curled up in the floor between the two bathrooms. Every time someone wanted to use the toilets, which was often, they had to step over her. It was a very long 5 hours and we were quite happy to finally arrive in Madurai!