Mummy's Bamboo House

You can't swing a cat without  hitting a festival here....always drums and colorful characters full of life dancing down the road. Here is the front of my home for a few more days...I dwell on the top right, no hammock unfortunately. Ceiling fan though, cold water shower (hot not needed at all) and a small balcony to hang wet clothes. All this for Rs. 600 a night (about $15.00 US) it is a pleasant place to stay. Dani (Mummy) is a great cook as well.

AcroYoga

Here I am in an acroyoga class, flying with Kamraj, the teacher. Despite weighing about 120 lbs, he is very strong and it shows you how much about yoga is balance...what a great time.

No inappropriate comments please!

Varkala

This is a Keralan performer in a temple festival that went right down the street in front of my hotel..all parts are played by men (easy to tell!) Quite the sight as they all danced and drummed down the street.

The expression shows how I felt as well as I missed my train stop in  Varkala as I was busy wrestling my backpack down from the rack. I had to ride an hour more to Trivandrum, buy another ticket ($1.00) and come back to Varkala. It was midnight at this time and as I dragged my backpack around to try to find a ladies car on the train back I thought of how to describe the smell of the train station...it is like the worst breath you have ever experienced, plus a warm rotting smell rounded out by the odor of old pee. I was not a happy camper but stayed as cool as possible and eventually made it to my destination...Mummy's Bamboo House...pictures to follow.

Back to sea level

I am now on beautiful Cherai Beach in Kerala right on the warm Arabian Sea...missing my gang at the retreat but ready to move on. It's a change to switch to traveling alone after spending almost 2 months with a large group of people. Indians are not what your would call beach people..ladies go swimming fully dressed. There are a lot of tourists in this part of Kerala, mostly Europeans who do not swim fully dressed. I am getting used to being stared at and asked my name, mostly by children who laugh hysterically when I tell them.  This is a big fishing area where some fish are still caught using Chinese nets, shown above. Not a shabby place to be at all...I send warm ocean breezes to all of you wrapped up in down at home..really! Tomorrow will be a backwater boat tour through the fresh water canals right outside my hotel...the island is like a long very narrow finger with fresh water on one side and the sea on the other.

India can be complicated

Ok, India is wonderful, crazy, colorful and complicated as well. Today I wanted to mail a box of gifts, textbooks, etc. home as not to drag it with me on the rest of my travels. I found a box at the retreat, packed my box and brought it to the post office via a tuktuk. Luckily my driver was with me as the post office refused to mail my box...I thought we would just slap more tape on it and goodbye! My tuktuk translator said I would have to bring it to a tailor to be sewn up in a cloth bag. Off we go to a very nice tailor who does not have the time to sew it up but puts strapping on it and sells me some fabric for rs.100 ( $2.00) We then zoom off to another tailor who makes the bag on his sewing machine, fitting it perfectly and hand stitching it closed with a big needle...Now we zoom back to the post office where everyone there is in on the job of mailing the package. Much gabbing ensues where everyone weighs in on how to label it, etc. then there is a panic as I don't have an Indian address. Eventually the box is labeled with a blue magic marker and put on a desk in this totally  non-automated primitive office. I am then moved to pray over the box as some workers laugh and the head guy says "you need to pray to God". I ask them to be careful and am now hope my box arrives or there will be no gifts for anyone... keep an eye out for it Mom, I sent it to your address! By the way, it only took 3 solid hours to get the job done.

School days

Today a group of us went to the local school for a yearly festival. Sorry, forgot the festival name but our group, the community, parents and locals were honored with a delicious lunch and puja (prayer) ceremony. Inside a tented shaded area an altar draped with garlands was set up. Incense was burning away, there was drumming, singing and dancing...quite spectacular. A blinged out baby wearing eyeliner posed for me...her Mom was delighted when I showed her the picture. We were mobbed with kids who wanted us to take their pictures...the uniforms were adorable. The girls must wear their hair in pigtails...most were looped and tied. Very friendly, articulate kids who knew quite a bit about the world and were very interested in where we were all from. I asked one boy why his English was so good and he told me his favorite American tv show was wrestling! Despite that fact his English was impeccable.

A man was cooking the small fried breads we had for lunch right by the serving area in a giant cauldron of bubbling oil. The kids were patting them out and he flipped them into the boiling oil and then fished them out with a big spoon. Kids deftly avoided the splashing oil as they stepped by him. I laughed to myself as I imagined the scene in the U.S....a fiberglass shield with a sanitized man behind it, permission slips needed to watch the cooking! A different style of living  ;-)

Saying goodbye

I't's hard to say goodbye, but if you have the chance to see the person again it is much easier...this morning we said goodbye to our lovely Pooja. She's from Delhi and is an amazing friend. She helped me in getting my train tickets, airline tickets and setting me up in my hotel in Kerala. Pooja is a host for corporate functions, launching new products, etc. so she has to learn about the products so she can be articulate. She is very bright, beautiful, a modern Indian woman who is getting married in March. Luckily she has invited us all to the wedding and I think I can make it! When I decided to come to India I said to myself...I wish I could see an Indian wedding. It will happen!

People from l to r, front row
Kasuye (Japan) Brigitte (Italy)
top row, l to r
Kirsten (Germany), Diana (Mexico), Pooja (India), Courtney ( U.S.),Kerrie (Australia), Me, Ilse (Belgium)