Shore Temples

Happy Pongal to one and all! Today marks the first day in the four day Indian Pongal celebration; a harvest festival centered around rice. We took a drive towards Pondicherry - I think that's East, to see a cultural preservation center that was having Pongal festivities. We got to walk through historical houses that were styled to represent the living style of different castes throughout Indian history. We walked through Brahman and Christian homes, and got to see old murals, artwork, kitchen tools, and architecture. There was a little outdoor market to walk through, and we saw a traditional - very colorful, dance. We also watched a woman break into coconuts and we got to drink the coconut water. I was not a fan, but I never really have been. It was a really neat place to explore. Before that, we made a pit stop at an alligator farm and walked through GIANT pits full of alligators. I think the biggest pit had 165 alligators. You can pay a few rupees to have them feed the alligators too. The gatekeeper would toss huge chunks of meat into the pits and they would jump at it. They started creeping towards the gate right when he brought out the bucket.

When we were done at the Pongal Celebration, we drove to several archaeological sites to view ancient temples. The first temple was right on the shore. We were able to look down the beach and breathe in that nice salty Bay of Bengal air. It was really pretty, and really weird to realize the ground we were standing on was submerged by tsunami waters a few years ago. The first temple we looked at actually, was uncovered a little bit more by the tsunami, and they were able to find another part of it that hadn't been excavated before. There were men selling conch shells there too - they jump at any opportunity to sell something. The temple was really pretty being right on the shore, and I think we got some good pictures. We drove down the road further, and saw another site - I have all the names written down, but I can't remember. It was five clustered structures. There were a lot of tourists, and I noticed when someone was taking a picture of me, that other people were taking the same picture. I wonder how many pictures people from around the world have pictures of us now. We also made another big hill climb - hoping to see monkeys - but only saw some goats. There was a flat rock at the top though that had an amazing tropical view, and another temple high at the top. Overall we had a really fun day - and got lots of sunshine! Today was pretty hot - about 85 and very humid. We are not looking forward to our weather shock when we get to Seattle. It feels like summer! :(