The last time we wrote we were nestled in the little mountain village of Kodaikanal. Since then we have descended from the glorious respite of cool to the scorching seaside city of Kochi. This means we have left Tamil Nadu and are now in the state of Kerala. Moments after crossing over we noticed a change in scenery- Kerala is India's cleanest state. The night we entered Kerala we were staying in Thrissur, on the night of some famous festival. We were on the 7th floor of a beautiful clean hotel and when night came, so did fireworks!! We ran to the nearest window and craned our necks as we saw them blasting into the air, one after the other for about 30 minutes. They were glorious, beautiful, wonderful. we felt like little kids at christmas. it was awesome staying in that hotel- we always felt like the uninvited guests to some party or another, which always took place in the banquet hall on our floor. everyone was so nice, always asking us where we were from and what we were doing there. they also had some "american" food we had to try after weeks of curry...carmen once got a burger with a cherry on top!
From Thrissur we went to Ernakulum, or Kochi, where we are now. It is like India's Seattle or Vancouver; where the city is built on separate islands. we are always hopping on ferries. we went on a tour of the backwaters here, where small villages are built around an intricate set of canals that are centuries old. it was amazing and also awkward, as we canoed by people washing their clothes or themselves...we also heard a group of kids yelling to us and as usual we smiled and waved. a girl told us what they were saying to us from the bank of the water...
"jump in!! we'll keep you!!"
it was so cute and i'm sure we were both tempted too!!
Last night we saw an amazing theatre performance which involved intense dance, sign language, facial expressions, crazy make-up and lots of bells.
on sunday we went to a massive catholic church for mass in a language we didn't understand...it was beautiful and so traditional and then we climbed this huge tower that was full of all these massive murals of the life and times of Jesus and his disciples.
The time is flying by and we are running out of time to see all the stops we wanted to before our tour! Tomorrow night we leave for Gokarna and we are so excited to chill out on the beaches there.
Love you all,
Marcie and Carmen.
3 comments:
Thanks to you I've Googled some of the place names you mentioned. Absolutely fantastic scenery. The vibrant colors ~~ and I can only imagine the scents that abound. It will be interesting to see how these wonderful experiences will affect your future paintings. Be blessed and safe.
what i would give to trade places with you for an afternoon! the culture! the experience! the wonder! jealllllllllllllllllous.
Wow you guys this sounds BEAUTIFUL! I love the part about the fireworks and the festival - you must have had so much fun! And the little kids who want to "keep you!" Tell them you've got people waiting for you back home... :P
Love you and miss you - we are living this adventure vicariously through your blog, thanks for the beautiful post.
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