Rocky Legends

Today we had the choice of getting up early and seeing some sort of meditation ball or sleeping in. Obviously, we chose sleeping in. The day before, Stephen had told us to call in when we woke up and breakfast would be served to us within a half hour. That was not the case. We called in at 7:50 and the person on the phone said that our breakfast will be right up. We waited and waited and waited and waited. Eventually, 8:30 came and went and LuRue went down to see what was going on. It turned out that Marcia and Greg had called in around the same time, but their breakfast wasn't out either. So LuRue went back up to the room to report the information. We waited a little longer, and then eventually decided start getting packed and maybe find a restaurant, like Greg and Marcia did, but right as we were doing that we got a call saying our breakfast would be right out. Finally it actually came! It was a "delicious" meal of eggs with veggies and British style toast.

LuRue and Montana walked around and Montana bought a statue to put on her souvenir shelf. At around 11, they returned to the hotel to meet with the rest of the group and off they went to the rock carvings.

It was about a 2-hour drive to the rock carvings. First we stopped to eat lunch at a beach side restaurant, it was a meal with ACTUAL prawns. Very good!

Then, Stephen took us to the rocks. The rocks were Hindu temples and carvings made from granite that told stories about the gods and goddesses of Hindu. We were both quite impressed to learn that these intricate drawings were created by chiseling away at the rocks in the 7th & 8th centuries. These were the "trial" carvings before the actual temples were built at other locations. Since each shrine or cave is a single piece of granite, one simple mistake destroys the whole piece. No do-overs!

Along the paths, we stopped at a vendor who was selling coconut milk and tried some. Very refreshing on a hot humid day. Monkeys nearby were enjoying them, too.




















At 4pm, the group met up and we were on the road back to Chennai, another two hour drive, where LuRue talked with the team members and Montana listened to her iPod. After getting back, Montana and LuRue got resettled then went down to meet with the group for dinner. 

After dinner LuRue helped Jeff wash the dishes. The cook Irani prepares the meals with the help of Sheeba, Stephen's wife, and does the dishes for breakfast & lunch. After dinner, the volunteers take turns with the dishes as Irani has gone home for the day. After washing, each item is dipped into boiling water with bleach in it. Thanks to such care, no one among us has been ill.