Sunday am the 24, I think! From Kovalem, SE coast of India.

A post script from the last blog. Didn't mention that western style toilets are few and far between when traveling in India. All hotels have them but most public toilets are the "squat" kind for women. A square piece of porcelein set in the floor, with two notched spots for one's feet on either side, and a hole... who knows where the waste goes in the hole. That is why you can imagine our shock when we had to go into a squat toilet barefoot.


On Thursday, C and I stayed back and didn't tour the Ghandi museum and anopther temple. C's cold was worse and mine isn't much better. We were in Madurai.
On Friday we woke to tons of bites all over us. Mine are huge welts and we are determined they are bed bug bites. (still as of Sunday, mine are huge, burning and itchy, on my arms. neck, and face mainly. Friday left Madurai. Finally got a better van and driver who knows where he is going and speaks Hindi. 4 1'2 hours to Kanyakumari, the very southern tip of India! Lunch then C and I walked down to the ocean and a market area. The shops were selling trinkets and souveniers similar to "South of the Border" if any of you know that! Pretty funny! All of the group walked down there around 5:00 to watch the sunset. It's whre the Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean all meet. We climbed up a huge circular tower about 8 stories high, I'd say. It was spectacular. Huge waves crashing on the rocks below us. Tsunami didn't hit there but still a very rocky beach area.
Saturday, left Kanyakumari for Kovelem after going out on a ferry at 8:00 am to see a temple on a small island about 1/8 mile off shore. The ferry was just what one reads about when you see they have capsized... Very old, lumbering thing but rode the huge waves surprisingly well. We all put on old style over the head life jackets and the boat didn't get overloaded. In fact the atmosphere on the boat was quite festive! We saw small fishing boats (again similar to the pointer, long and thin, pointed at one end, deep V hull) with engines similar to a weed wacker or leaf blower powering them. Some had blue tarps as "sails" and when they went with the wind, they were flying, UP on top[ of the wave then crashing down, looking as if they would capsize at anytime... and one main sitting on the point of the boat unphased by it all! The line to get on the ferry was about a quarter mile long!
Back to hotel for b'fast and then on van to Kovalem around 11:30. Arrived Sat around 4:00 in Kovalem. Went to beach for a swim. Beach is small, lots of shops and restaurants on boardwalk above, which Ranjeet (correct spelling) says is new this year. Water is so warm, waves huge... still lots of trash on beach... water relatively trash free. Love to all, Sandy