Here are some of the photos from the reception …

One of the classic tourist expeditions in Kerala state is to ride around the backwaters. These complex group of canals looks is made of thin strips of land, rice paddies, and a few bridges. It’s a very relaxed life that is centered entirely around the water.

We hopped on a bus up to the mountains and visited tea and spice plantations.

We came down from the lovely mountains into the sweltering heat of Kochi, a commercial center and vibrant mesh of old and new Indian culture. Here we visited the oldest English church in India, the palace of the King (where we ran into some Chicagoans living 3 blocks from our old house), checked out the Arabian Sea…

…and even took a boat tour for a few hours to check out the thriving fishing industry. See the guys bartering for the boatload of fish?

That night we attended a traditional dance/story-telling event called Kathakali where we saw part of the Ramayana acted out. The costumes & makeup were truly amazing.

The long day of sightseeing rounded out our trip. The next day we had to say goodbye to Mom & Dad :( We sure shared a lot of wonderful memories with them, and enjoyed seeing India through the eyes of people who had been here before!

We have now crossed in to beautiful Kerala state: great roads, the highest literacy rates in India, and famous tea, coffee and spice planatations make this one of the most desireable parts of India. Before we get to enjoy all the beauty though, we had to make it through the strike!

That’s right! As we cross into Kerala we learn all taxis, restaurants, and hotels are closed from 6 AM to 6 PM to protest a 4 rupee increase in the cost of a liter of petrol ($1 = 45.45 rupees). Wonder what they would have done with about the gas price hike that came after Katrina! Unable to proceed to our hotel, we took a bit of a detour and visited the Wyanad Animal Sanctuary. Like a safari, we traveled down undeveloped roads in our SUV scoping for exotic animals, and boy we found them: wild elephants, boars, two types of monkeys, deer, bison, birds of all sorts, and HUGE bee hives – the honey of which we got to taste as locals, covered in bee stings, came by with their harvest.

Following the stike, and a fabulous night in secluded mountain cabins by the water, we all took a hike up to visit the tea plantations. On our way back, we chatted with these washers…

Here is a view of the terrain as we left the mountains and tea plantations and headed to our next destination: Kochi.

From Goa, we moved on the heavenly Dubare Inn. Sitting up in the mountains, right next to a river, Katie and I had a cottage next door to Sandy and Bob. From our front porch, we would watch the river and receive incredibly attentive service (even by Indian standards) from the Dubar Inn staff. It was during our first afternoon there that we got our first taste of the elephants. Kicking back for our four o’clock tea break, two mahouts rode and elephant up to the river and proceeded to cross over to the elephant camp. It was a spectacular beginning. The next day, we rode a boat over to this elephant camp, run by the Karnataka state government and got to bathe, ride, and watch the elephants being fed.

Next door to the Dubar Inn was a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva. Two teenage boys walked us over there and described the meanings of the temple, the lifestyle of the priest (who lives right next door to the temple), and the rituals that are performed within the temple. The priest was very friendly and walked us through eating some food of the gods and drinking some sugary water. At the end Bob, Katie and I had red dots on our forehead and a slightly confused look as to what really happened in there.

The next day our outing was to the ‘Golden Temple,’ part of a stirng of Buddhist temples that mark the path of Buddha from northern India to Sri Lanka. This temple also had a monastery full of monks ranging in age from 5-75. It was quite a sight to see some of the teenagers whipping about on motorcycles in their orange and red robes.

It was at the temple that we met a very friendly couple from Bangalore and Prshant helped to explain to us more about the meditation and spiritual aspects of both Buddhist and Hindu temples. He even read Bob and Sandy’s palms and had them both pegged! Katie and I are looking forward to meeting up with them when we go to Bangalore.

On the way out we had some fun!

Overall, we loved the Coorg region. Cool, no spicy, and yum yum food with lots of time for tea breaks. Take me back there any day.

This was in Miraj, to be fair, we had just finished a long day looking around the big Wednesday Market and were waiting for our train to Goa that left at 11pm.

The market was great fun with tons of kids, hot peppers, spicies and produce.

But, soon enough, we were off to Goa. Goa is a former Portuguese colony famed for its awesome beaches and all-night parties and is a favorite winter vacation spot for Europeans out to have some fun.

Seeing as it was the monsoon season, our experience on the beach was pretty quiet. We walked along the beautiful sandy beach to a restaurant Brittos where we enjoyed great fish curries and watched the waves roll in off the Arabian sea. It was a perfect place to be when the afternoon rain hit, we just ordered some caramel custard and waited the rain out!

Our hotel had a pool which was quite lovely for cooling off in the afternoon and a great place to meet new friends.

Our pool friend Hannah from Sweden joined us the next day to visit Old Goa, the heart of the Portuguese colony. Filled with chuches and cathedrals Old Goa was abandoned in the late 1700s and now lives on as a tourist haven. We did see the Basilica of Bom Jesus famous for holding the remains of St. Francis Xavier. St. Frances Xavier’s corpse is a heck of a celeberity and supposedly continues to grow hair and have his finger and toe nails grow as well. They take his body out nce every ten years to parade it around the main square, but many years ago a woman bit off his toe and they keep the body inside the coffin now. Look, you can see it thorugh the window!

The second clinic we visited took place in a small cement building that housed the local government & other civic organizations when not in use by the clinic. Women & children were packed inside its small walls waiting for immunizations for their children: polio, tetnus, etc…

Some of the many innovative community health programs that take place under the experitise of Dr. Rabentish include a loan/grant program for women to purchase goats or bullocks to use for milk, breeding, and other sources of income; working with communities to build latrines & safe water sources; using lay health advisors (trusted members of the community who receive training and a small honorarium) to educate villagers on hygene, contraception, and even AIDS.

This scene below — two nurses administering an immunization to a small baby in its mother’s arms — totally reminded me of my time in the batays of the Dominican Republic.

Sorry for the short post: we’re off to catch our train, but will be sure to write more in the coming days!! Can’t wait to see all the wedding guests soon!!!!