Arabian Sea – R&R

We arrived in Kochi on Friday evening.  It’s been a very busy 4 weeks and now we have a few days to rest and go on a houseboat to celebrate our anniversary!  The weather is about 32 – 35C in the day…very nice, but the humidity is at 90%.  Our clothes hang out for 24 hours and still are wet.  For now, we are eating yummy food, reading, going for walks on the beach, swimming in the pool and retreating to the A/C room when we need to cool down. Tomorrow we are heading in to downtown Kochi to do a bit of sightseeing – The oldest cathedral in the nation is there as this is the area of India that was colonized first.  Kerala is known for SPICES, so we hope to go to a spice market too.

The place where 3 seas meet….

DSC01067What a view!  There really are three different colors that come together…. three seas meet… Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean, and the Arabian Sea.  This is Kanyakumarai!  The waves were strong and there were signs cautioning people not to attempt to go out swimming.

 

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Ghandi Memorial

Just off the coast was a huge statue – 133 ft tall… the famous Indian poet Thiruvalluvar.  The statue took more than 5000 sculptors to build it and honors the poet’s 133 chapter poem – ‘Thirukural’.  Quite frankly we have never heard of him, but all young people are very familiar with his poems as they have had to memorize them in school.  Nearby was also the Ghandi Memorial  which house some of Ghandi’s ashes.

 

People waiting for help each day.
People waiting for help each day.

We stayed just 30 km away with some YWAM friends.  Every day there were people at the house waiting to see Jamie for medical help.  I became his assistant once again to check blood sugars and listen to the many needs of the people.  We were busy each day with speaking opportunities and were blessed to take one day to drive to the nearby waterfall as well as take the drive out to the sea.  On our way back to the house, we made a pit stop…after using google to search out “pizza”! We found “Pizza Corner” on the way 🙂  I have found another lover of pizza – thanks Daniel!!

 

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We have NEVER before seen so many coconut trees and varieties of bananas!  Coconut chutney for our dosas and banana chips cooked in coconut oil – can you say “LOVE!”   Also lining most of the roads in the area were rubber trees – tapped and dripping with white pitch. The pitch is poured into ‘mats’ and left to dry in the hot sun.  It is then sold to be processed.

The weather was a bit cooler but the humidity was higher, being closer to the sea.  There were definitely some sleepless nights, but thankfully once 8 pm rolled around, the mosquitoes seemed to hide – THANK GOODNESS!!  … For some reason I attract them!  I kid you not!  There can be NONE around Jamie, and I get many bites.  Thankfully we brought Muskoil repellent to protect ourselves and afterbite for the ones that ‘got me’.  We are glad we haven’t had a problem with many bites as the doctor in Chennai says he does see malaria and cholera in the village areas.  PTL our health has been good!