Kuch toh hain!!

Last weekend I had a chance to visit Mystery Spot and Santa Cruz beach boardwalk. It was on a Saturday and the plan was to leave early [at around 8], which only meant my weekend sleep had to be cut short! I realized it was worth it! :-)

First things first, Mystery Spot is a place in Santa Cruz, where a strange phenomenon is noticed. Magnetic poles are reversed, and uphill seems downhill and vice-versa. For example: A water-bottle kept on a plank of wood kept at 45 degrees to the ground, rolls towards the higher end [against gravity] and rolls off the board! Neat isn't it!!

We did experience a little dizziness when we neared the mystery spot centre. And an absolute loss of balance. I, for one, could not even move one step without a firm grip on the side-rail. It was totally disorienting. Add to that, the optical illusion that comes with the leaning wooden cabin [which is built surrounding the mystery spot] and people leaning against it! Not able to picture it, then check this out.

Here are some pictures, where our guide, explained the phenomenon. First one's the rolling bottle one and the next the heavy pendulum which can be pushed easily on one side and difficult the other side.

There is also an apparent increase/decrease in height as one progress from one side of the mystery spot to another.

In this pic below, if the height difference b/w two people standing on opposite ends of the horizontal of T will be, say 1.5 ft, and then the two people exchange their positions, then the difference is, say 1 ft. And that's different right? :-)

This is some of the info I gathered from the tour. No one’s been able to exactly figure out why this happens and there are a few theories.

To get a better idea, try Google. :-) Or better still http://mysteryspot.com/.

Excerpt from the above Official Mystery spot site:

“Some speculate that cones of metal were secretly brought here and buried in our earth as guidance systems for their spacecraft. Some think that it is in fact the spacecraft itself burried deep within the ground. Other theories include carbon dioxide permeating from the earth, a hole in the ozone layer, a magma vortex, the highest dielectric biocosmic radiation known anywhere in the world, and radiesthesia. Whatever the cause is, it remains a mystery.”

After a scrumptious lunch of lemon rice and curd rice, which Jayanthi had packed for us, we headed to the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk.

This place is colorful. It has an amusement park next to the beach, complete with a Merry-go-round! :-D

The rides looked pretty scary. I totally detest roller-coasters and the sole ride I took here, reinforced it.

Some snaps of the lively boardwalk and some of the rides.

This place doesn't boast of good vegetarian food [not considering the loads of ice-cream and other junk food shops], so best option would be to pack food and go.

The ride to Santa Cruz from San Jose is very nice, reminds one of the Western Ghats. But definitely not more beautiful!

Some more snaps and post ka THE END!