Taking off on our own...

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Dr. Ann & Dr. Betsy say good-bye to our tour and take off on our own...

After ten incredible days of visiting temples, markets, and more temples, each more spectacular than the next, we are now bidding farewell to our tour group and planning our trip into the wildlife sanctuaries and parks of southern India.

Our last day with the group, we attended a holiday party with a family in the city of Madurai, where the annual Pongal festival is ongoing. This harvest festival is a big deal, with pilgrims coming in from all over the state to worship at the HIndu temple in Madurai, which is thousands of years old, carved entirely of granite, into the most intricate assortment of gods and goddesses, animals.

Everyone has their houses decorated with sugarcane, and there is even more chaos than usual in the streets, with horns honking and music blaring. Everywhere you can still elements of the Raj, but the Tamil culture dominates all. A typical lunch is an assortment of hot curries, and a serving of rice, and many chutneys, all served on a banana leaf. The custom is to eat with your hands, but we have not adopted that custom quite yet! Seems we are always washing our hands, and contrary to what I preach in the US, we are drinking only bottled water! Don't worry, I won't keep up that habit when I return home...

We have two more nights in Madurai. We are moving from a hotel in the bustling city to one out in the country with many creature comforts. This will be our well earned retreat after being bounced and jostled on our bus through the country side for days on end. I've attached a few photos of our travels to date....

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Photos

Children fascinated by binoculars
The children in Tamil Nadu are amazingly beautiful and curious. They ask to have their pictures taken and want to see the image afterwards... they also have loved looking through our binoculars.

Cows on the beach
Cows are welcome everywhere...even on the beach.!

The Shore Temple
The Shore Temple at Mammalapurum creates one of the most beautiful sights we've witnessed in Tamil Nadu

Village guardian
Every village has its own guardians to keep away the evil spirits...

Our bus
This is the bus we have travelled on with our tour for the first ten days of the trip. It has been quite an experience, and we are amazed by the skill of our Tamil driver...

Building a house
We watched this house being built in one of the local towns...

Bare bottomed at the temple
One of my favorite shots at the many temples

Dr. Ann observing birds at a temple
Beautiful green parrots found homes in the nooks and ledges of the great granite temple, and Dr. Ann was right there to observe them!

Dr. Betsy with the Banyon Tree Guardian
This wonderful Tamil woman (left) has lived under a 400 year banyan tree for 36 years, serving as the protector and guardian of the tree. That's me crouching on the right, trying to fit into the picture....

Rhesus monkeys crossing the road
These monkeys are common in Tamil Nadu. This bunch gladly took handfuls of roasted cashews from us and stuffed their cheeks with them. Cashews are one of the crops on Tamil Nadu.

Dr. Betsy partying with a Tamil family
See me in the back? This group invited our group to their house to celebrate Pongal with them. It was a wonderful day we will never forget...

Terra Cotta horses
These ancient and irresistable critters are all over the place. The funny thing is, we haven't seen any horses in Tamil Nadu at all!