Christmas Eve, 6:15 pm Greetings!! On Wednesday we went about a half hour taxi ride, to the Anjuna Flea Market. Or Hippie Market, as it is mostly called. It is only on Wednesdays and is quite a show. The largest I certainly have ever seen, hundreds of vendors on the beach and off...great people watching!

Today we went about an hour ride with a tour group to the Sahakari Spice Farm. We were greeting with a bindi being put on our forehead and a beautiful flower lei.
Lemon grass tea and cashews and off to take an elephant ride!! Catherine's dream came true! We rode a 14 year old elephant, smaller than the other one, that was 48 years old. Then to a stream where a third elephant lay in the water waiting for us to scrub her. When I say water, well I'm not really sure what it was. Upon coming closer, the smell was overwhelming and I think it basically was wastewater...
We scrubbed the elephant then two people at a time got on the back of her and got a "power shower" About 4 litres from her trunk were sprayed full force over her back on us... needless to say we kept our mouths and eyes closed. It was quite something, cold water as well but dingy brownish, yellowish, gray in color... sorry hope you're not going to eat Christmas dinner after reading this!! We had that done about 5 times, the elephant handler had a twinkle in his eye when we got off, cuz he did it to us more than anyone!! What a character! After the elephant ride we went back to the eating place where we had fried potatoes, bread and a drink. Then off on an hour long tour of the spice plantation. There was everything growing there: cinnamon, cloves, tumeric, cardommon, cashews (not in season yet), allspice, nutmeg,
etc... We got to smell each spice and try to identify it.We ended the tour with a ladle full of citronella water (cold) being poured down our neck and back.. it felt wonderful, as it was quite hot! Back to the eating shelter AGAIN where a fabulous buffet meal was waiting for us. We began the meal with a shot of cashew fenny. It's an alcohol made from cashews. There is also coconut fenny. I had tried both the other night, as our dinner waiter here at the hotel couldn't believe we had been here a week and not tried it. The stuff one gets in a bar is much more harsh than what we had today. Either way it smells like paint thinner and burns the whole way down. Well down the hatch went the fenny and then on to a fabulous meal of: fried prawns (in cornmeal and many spices), rice, curry chicken, curry vegetables, dal (lentils in curry) squash, cooked cabbage with a wonderful coconut dressing, watermelon, pineapple, a marzipan-like thing and icecream!!! And now... we have to go eat again!! The tour was great, many close calls in the van driving too and from.
A lady from England was sitting across the isle from me clenching the seat and saying "Blood 'ell" every time we had a near death experience... it kept the humor in the whole situation!!
We are off to dinner at 9:00 (yawn!!) to a restaurant that has a sword thrower and
flame eater for entertainment!
Wish I could post pictures as we got lots today but don't worry, we'll do them soon.
Merry Christmas everyone!! Sandy