Already, we have parted ways with our first tour group and yesterday we left South India. We are now back in smog-filled Delhi. Most of the members of the North India and Rajasthan Tour arrived yesterday and we met up with most members of the group last night. It takes a lot of energy to shift gears, but I know how incredible North India and Rajasthan are so I am also excited about these next two weeks. We will all meet shortly for our first yoga session. Theme of the first yoga session will be Post-Travel Openings and Grounding.
So before I fully enter this new phase of the overall trip, here are some photos and short comments on the photos to wrap up the South India trip.
We stayed on a houseboat in Aleppi on the backwaters of Kerala. The houseboat overnight stay was a very soothing experience. It was so relaxing to float on the water and do yoga on the boat. I had to be very creative with our space for our yoga sessions. The first yoga session we had on the boat was Yin Yoga and we used the benches to do a form of Legs Up the Wall pose. And, yes, at one point tea was served, along with banana fritters! I mean, who does that? Yin Yoga, Tea, and Banana Fritters on a houseboat in Kerala! We laughed so hard at the very reality of our experience!
I’ve been eating papaya, watermelon, pineapple, and delicious mini-bananas daily. The fruit is delicious in India!
Sunset on the backwaters of Kerala:
Arvind, relaxing on the houseboat:
We ended our South India tour in Kochi. Kochi (Cochin) is a wonderful city filled with much history. We visited “Jew Town”, an ancient Jewish settlement. Sephardic Jews seeking refuge from Europe in 1492 were invited to settle here. The community thrived, but in the late 40s, many left India and went back to live in the homeland in Israel. Today, only 5 members of the Jewish community exist. We visited the lovely synagogue, but were not allowed to take photos.
Kelley with our local Kochi guide, Mary:
We had an evening at Maria’s cooking school. We cooked in the late afternoon and then we all had dinner together. Later her husband, George, sang some Hindi songs for us. It was lovely to experience their home and Maria’s wealth of knowledge about South Indian cooking. They live in a house that was built by the Portuguese 350 years ago!
Maria’s hand ground spices and preparations for the many dishes we made together.
Meal magic done on this one humble stove! Amazing. Maria offers cooking courses to many groups. She is truly amazing and we had a wonderful last evening in South India together with her. She’s the real deal. The Indian experience, whether South or North IS the real deal.
Yummie!