A bird's paradise

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Whew! It's been a packed 3 weeks - sorry for the lousy non-updates! We are now in the very far south of India, in the state of Kerala, enjoying our "luxury" portion of our trip - recharging our batteries, one could say. Kerala is beyond beautiful. It's worth googling "Kerala backwaters" to get an idea of what I mean. It's as if God himself took a step here and his footprint filled up with a calm, even sheet of clear water. The water is flat as can be, for miles and miles. We are staying in the backwaters and it's so interesting to see the way of life here. Homes sit in narrow strips of land between canals and water-logged rice paddies. Men in long, narrow, dark-wood canoes slowly drift by, propelled by long bamboo sticks. Thatch-roof houseboats glide along the water. The land is covered with coconut trees - in fact, the word "Kerala" means land of coconut trees! It's awesome. For 2 nights we're staying at a resort on the water that has a pool and a hammock and night-time AC! It is HOT here - really really hot. We took a houseboat ride a few days ago - we had our own houseboat with just us and 3 crew members - our own private chef and everything. We got a basic simple model and just floated through those canals for hours. We also slept on it, surrounded by the protection of a mosquito net. It's been refreshing.

I did manage to finally get sick here. About a week ago, I came down with a UTI, and it's been a huge ordeal. After 2 airport doctors, a sketchy pharmacy, 1 strong pain pill to survive a plane flight, and 2 different rounds of meds, I think it's under control. We flew here to Kerala from Delhi, where we were just passing through. To get to Delhi, we took a train ride from Rishikesh. There is a policy here with the railways - if your train is late, it stops just before the station and waits for all the on-time trains to bypass it because they get priority at the platforms. So, with a plane to catch and our train over 2 hours late, we sat about a kilometer from the train station waiting to get in! Finally we loaded up our packs, and took off to walk to the station! It was crazy - just imagine Paul and I (me in pain from my infection) stumbling along in the mud amongst train tracks, hoping to God that we would not get hit by a train, straining under the weight of our huge packs. Amusing if not a little scary, but we're still here to tell the tale. 😊 We spent about a week in Rishikesh, and it was amazing. We stayed in 2 separate ashrams and I fell in love with the second - called "Parmarth Niketan". When we arrived in Rishikesh, we were a little apprehensive because our original ashram had a really weird aura about it. In the evening, we took a little walk on the shores of the Ganges when we saw a huge crowd and heard music. We came to watch and found that it was the world famous Ganga aarti ceremony in which the guru of Parmarth led devotional music and lights were offered to God on the banks of the sacred river. We also found that it was the second to last day of the International Yoga Festival, held at Parmarth. So many distinguished spiritual teachers were there, being honored right before us! We decided to join up with the festival for it's last day, and it was a rich learning experience.........

Stay tuned for further recollections about Kerala, Rishikesh, Dharamshala, things we're taking in and learning, and resulting thoughts - about life, culture, and religion.....

I will write in the next few days - things are about to slow down for us, so please check soon!

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Photos

houseboat
This is a deluxe edition version of what we had

feast for a king
The food in Kerala is unique - fat grain rice, lots of coconut and pineapple, fruity-spicy curries, and of course lots of fish

view from hotel
The people fish in these narrow and decorative canoe-like boats. They are propelled through the backwaters by a very long wooden stick.

dragon!
There are a lot of bugs in Kerala

bible verse on wall
A big percentage of people in Kerala are Christians. The religion has been here since the first century.

beautiful church
We caught a portion of the service here, but of course couldn't understand what they were saying.

st francis church
This church was the first European church built in India - presumably in 1500 by Portuguese franciscan friars. I had the privilege of interviewing the rector.

kathakali makeup
Kathakali is an ancient Keralan drama form that uses a lot of expression, dance, and loud costumes/makeup and usually (if not always) presents on religious topics. It is very unique and beautiful! We attended this show in Kochin. Here, the actors are putting on their makeup (this takes a few hours).

kathakali main character
Aspects of the vivid makeup and costumes mean something about the inner character of the person who is being portrayed; for example, a green face usually represents a hero.