Greetings from Mysore!

We were still hot and sweaty a couple days ago in Cochin (Kochi) on the Arabian Sea. On Tuesday Ganesh took us to seethe Chinese fishing nets. I was surprised to see how they worked, dropping the net in the water and pulling ropes to raise the net and its catch of fish. So we all took turns lowering and pulling. Amazing how rest of the world lives! We visited the church where Vasco da Gama was first buried; his bones are back in Lisbon now. Back at the hotel, we saw a sari-wrapping demonstration while we got our hands henna-ed. Then we danced to Indian and American tunes with the sari wrapper and a cute male housekeeper. An observation I had while standing on the outside hotel steps overlooking the pool waiting for my henna to dry: two veiled Muslim women walk past the open gate to our hotel, a motorcycle zooms by, five goats of assorted shades meander past. Dorothy, we aren't in Kansas any longer. The 'girls' in the group (2 Californians and us 3 Michiganders) went together to a home-hosted dinner at the lovely home of Oscar and Jeanette Rozario. They are Catholics of Portuguese descent. We met their college student daughter and Jeanette's 98 year old mother who eats fish every day of her life, no meat. Their son works in the travel business and their neighbor is our hotel manager. We talked of a variety of subjects. They do a lot of home hosting, and they enjoy their American guests. Their street is in a gated community and is very clean. Ok, so I haven't mentioned it before because it is just a part of this incredible India, but there is a lot of trash laying around. That's all I'm going to say about that. On Wednesday we visited the Jewish synagogue from the mid-1500's. The community is very tiny now, but it was a large thriving community under the Maharajah's protection. We skipped the hotel lunch and joined the Californians for a Greek salad and pizza. The 47 year old owner used to be a French and Italian chef on cruise ships; he also was a U.S. army cook in the Middle East. Later we boarded a little cruise boat to see Kathakali dancers. Men are painted and costumed and perform expressive dances. Then the dancers left us and we cruised another hour. Then we were dropped at a different location and followed Ganesh for about ten minutes until we reached a temple festival with about six elephants. Mixed feelings about these elephants; newspaper articles talk about their poor treatment. Ganesh tells us again he likes that we are up for adventures and don't complain about walking, etc. Early 5a.m. departure for the airport on Thursday, enroute to Bangalore. We say farewell to our good driver Panil and his assistant Arun. Nice new airport in Bangalore and the temperature is 68 degrees at 10 a.m. The British used this city as a summer resort. We have a new bus, driver and assistant. By the day's end, we still haven't had the bus blessed... We had about four hours of driving to Mysore. Drove past granite hills. Went to a cocoon market (silk). Indian cocoons are white, Chinese are yellow. Throughout our travels, we see homes and buildings with a painted evil face to ward off the evil eye. It seems we drove through more cities than villages, but still you see oxen on the road pulling their heavy carts. We saw an ostrich walking around our lunch restaurant. We had an hour to rest at our hotel until 7 pm when we were headed to the market. We drove by the market, but of course Ganesh had another adventure for us. After a year's absence, a show had returned to the Lalitha Mahal palace. We sat on lawn chairs and faced the palace. To the accompaniment of music, vocals and assorted sounds, a light show was presented on the palace and surrounding temples and buildings. It was a marvelous show and we were fortunate Ganesh had discovered its return. Back at the hotel, Ganesh had arranged for a birthday cake for Priscilla, one of the Californians and the youngest in the group. The girls had much merriment. This morning we may enjoy the pool for a while. This part of our tour is sadly coming to the end. Let your adventures begin here in marvelous India!

Chinese fishing nets

Members of our group (including Maddy) demonstrating how to use the nets

Anne's henna right after completion, needs 1/2 hour to dry and then it flakes off

Maddy's henna - a work of art

We saw two Kathakali male dancers get dressed for their performance of a traditional story about a demon and a doomed princess (don't ask me anything else about this story cuz I really didn't understand it!)