Greetings from Cochin!

It's 5:30 and this city is awakening. I started to hear about five different birds at 5:00, it is a riot listening to them all. The Muslim call to prayer has also begun. We arrived last night by three taxis after our bus began failing just outside of town. Another future site for offerings by our bus driver! We went for a walk along a bit of a boardwalk along the Arabian Sea with another gal on our trip who grew up in Detroit, and we were soon drenched in sweat, and it was 19:30. This is the warmest, most humid location we've been in yet. Back on Saturday, we were headed to Kerala. Saw a couple wind farms. Along the roadsides, we saw painted cows and goats for the holiday. We stopped to see the cows painted with multi-hued polka dots; Ganesh gave the farmer wife three pens for her children, and she was so pleased. We see goat herders everywhere. Then we stopped to see a man and wife making bricks. He mixes the clay and red sand. She takes buckets of this mix, tosses handfuls into her 6-brick wooden frame, pats them firmly with their ARK stamp, pulls away the wooden frame leaving them to dry in place for ten days and moves to the next set. The bricks will be oven baked for many hours and then taken to market. And she was wearing a beautiful sari while doing this. They will make 500+ each day. None of the exciting sights we have told you about have been 'staged'. We began to drive into the mountains. Forgot to tell you we were barefootin' in the Madurai temple Friday. Google to see how gorgeous they are. As we drive along the roads, a lot of Indians look at the bus with their hand waving. It is so touching to meet their eyes and return their warm waves. Even the goat herder in the middle of a field waves. At lunch outside Thekkady, we met a bicycling tour group from Great Britain riding from Pondicherry. One woman had a 'North American' accent, so I asked where she was from. Originally from Vancouver, Canada, now in Brisbane. She is a recent widow, sold her house, now on a world tour by herself. That takes some guts! Since it was the third day of Pongal, it is the day dedicated to the animals, especially the Bulls. In Cumbum, we stopped at the temple to see bulls donated to the temple by farmers. We were taken personally by the festival manager to see the Royal Bull, all dressed up with no where to go. We were given permission to leave our shoes on, but we were not allowed into the temple, only the temple grounds. Anyways, we all took a big bunch of corn stalks to the pen in back and fed these stalks to some of the hundreds of Bulls in there. Then we took wild tuk tuk rides back to the bus. More scared than others we have taken. When I tell you about these activities, I don't mention that we are always greeted by the throngs of Indians around us. Namaste, namaste! On to Periyar wildlife sanctuary. We traveled steep winding roads, great job by our driver, Panil. Our hotel rooms were individual buildings spread over the side of a hill. Lovely. Our adventure to the forest was a challenge for someone like me who will trip going up stairs! We had to cross a little river STANDING sideways on a bamboo raft. No railings. Then we trekked through the woods. Saw squirrels, birds, elephant footprints and poop, different monkeys. Then back across the river. Spice farms are everywhere, and we were shown about ten of them growing. We both got massages that night. We also saw a young man doing classical dance. Have I mentioned they drive on the left side in India? On Monday we awoke to the sad news of the death of Allan's brother Pete after a prolonged illness. May he rest in peace. On towards Kochin. We passed teak forests, fields of pineapple, rubber trees, miles of tea plantations. Tea plants are grown on the hillside, kinda terraced, but it has got to be terrible on calves and quads. Saw many tea pickers. Saw beautifully-colored flowers on trees. Lovely mountains. In Kerala there are more Catholic Churches, Orthodox churches than temples or mosques (St. Thomas landed here in 1 AD and converted the natives to Christianity. In Erumely, Ganesh got very excited. Just in time! There were many young males beginning their pilgrimage, Sabarimala pilgrimage circuit. The baby god lord Ayyappa was created by two male gods. He was kind, some story about getting tigers' milk to elderly people. He was befriended by a Muslim Suffi. Anyways, young men wearing only dotis and splashed with colored powders begin by fasting. They enter the mosque chanting and dancing to drum beats. They back out of the mosque and continue down the street to the temple where their 48 km pilgrimage begins through forests and seven mountains. Of course we joined the celebration. We wore headbands that looked like crowns and walked and danced with the crowd. I am telling you, every day is an adventure. Within thirty minutes we were in the backwaters. We got on a substantial house boat covered with a rattan roof and enjoyed lunch while on our three hour boat ride, admiring the homes and fields. The day is awaiting. We will sweat profusely and enjoy every minute of it. Loving India.

Painted cows everywhere for the festival