And the yoga hunt continues!  I decided to get there early and arrived by 7:50 knowing that yoga teachers are always early preparing for their class, getting things set up, etc.- not so much in India!   The place is pitch black but the door is open so I go in and walk down the long, dark corridor and halfway down I feel a little vulnerable and shout “anyone here?”  Silence, not a creak, so I turn around and head outside where it feels a little safer.  In a couple of minutes a man comes out of the building and says “you here for yoga mam” to which I reply with a smile”yes” but have that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach thinking “Oh no, not again!”   And then I hear “teacher coming mam”……….excellent!   A few minutes later a couple about my age come in, wander around and then look to me for answers and I reassure them that there is yoga and that the teacher is on her way.   The man looks at his watch, rolls his eyes and says to his partner “typical”.  It’s now 8:00 when a young woman comes running through, right past us and shortly thereafter returns asking “Is there yoga?” and we all tell her that the teacher is on her way.  So here we are the four of us waiting for the teacher so we chat about who we are, why we’re here, etc. and then realize we’re all Canadians – the older couple from Toronto and the younger woman from Quebec.   When the younger woman hears I am from NS she says “where” and when I say Amherst she smiles and says she lived there for six months ten years ago.   Her boyfriend,  now ex-b, was with the Ramblers hockey team so she lived there with him – what a small world!    Next we note that the caretaker is on the phone chatting it up with someone and then comes our way and says “on her way”.   We all smile, continue chatting and then the Ontario couple start to leave when a motorbike arrives with four yoga mats……and the teacher.  So off we go down the long dark hall to a concrete room that is very hot and I begin to believe it’s hot yoga I have signed up for because I am already sweating.  The man from Ontario wants to leave but his partner convinces him to stay so we all lie down on the yoga mats and focus on our breathing, stretches, sun salutations, fish pose, bridge pose and then  I peak at my watch and realize I have to leave…………..Namaste, I exit quietly – glad I came and was able to work on leaving my NAVs behind-what a challenge!

Next stop, about two hours later, Kumarakom which is famous for its backwater tourism and is very well known for houseboat experiences so of course we had to try it.  Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things is set in an Aaymanam village, which adjoins Kumarakom, and the success of this novel has caused great success in tourism for this area.  I brought it on our trip and now Dawn is enjoying it – interesting read especially when you’re here.  It is so peaceful here and we’re all thrilled just to relax for the rest of the day, go for a walk, read our books, have a nap and prepare for our boat cruise tomorrow.  Hopefully the pictures will show a little of the beauty!

Jim watching the houseboats from our balcony

These beautiful houseboats are constantly cruising up the river……some small, some large! Can’t wait to go tomorrow

After having a relaxing evening, an OK supper and breakfast our driver picks us up to bring us to our river excursion on the houseboat.    We pay our bill, take a little motor boat out to the houseboat and find ourselves the only ones aboard!  There are three crew aboard who introduce themselves and they immediately bring us coffee, fruit basket and water and tell us just to relax, which we immediately did.   For four hours we cruise along the river enjoying not only our experience but also that of others on houseboats and locals doing their washing, enjoying their day playing with their kids, going to Church services as we just realize it’s Sunday afterall!   A few pictures to tell more.

Dawn and Jim relaxing up front on the Pamba River cruise

Left hand side picture is of our chef who prepared us one of the best meals we’ve had in India and in my opinion the best fish as the rest hasn’t been great.   The food kept coming which was a great surprise as we were really only expecting some rice and a couple of curries…..delighted we were!  The picture below the chef is of the local ferry boat along the river which makes many stops picking up locals and dropping them off.  Last picture is of our ‘crow visitor’ who surprised Jim and Yves, watched them closely and then swooped in to take one of their snacks!  It was a great day and one we will remember for years to come.  Headed back to Kumarakom for supper and an early morning start to Periyar.

We start off early as we’re in for a four hour drive to Periyar National Park which is known for its wildlife sanctuary especially elephants and tigers.  The drive was extremely slow and at times quite unsettling as they drive crazy here and the bigger the vehicle the more power they have and we’re not so big…….all those local buses, dump trucks and tour buses are in charge – we forge ahead.  But we’re ahead of little cars and Tuktuks on this beautiful drive through the mountains as we see tea plantations, rubber tree farms and spice farms.  We arrive in the middle of the day, tour a spice plantation and learn loads and head out for a walk and supper.   The next day we tried to do a boat ride early in the morning in hopes of seeing tigers and elephants as they come to the water but no luck as the water level is too low.   So we take a jeep ride into the mountains, visit an elephant sanctuary and in the afternoon do a three hour guided walk through the park.

Jim and Yves overlooking Lake Periyar

Jim and Yves enjoying the jeep ride and the views

Notice the baby elephant we saw in the park

By then we’re pretty tired, have an early supper and turn in as we have to be up by 5:30 a.m. as we’re headed to the airport for the next leg of our adventure.  Hard to believe we’ve been here for a month and it’s already time to leave and yet there’s so much to say but too tired to say much else at the moment.  India, for us, was a place like no other and now we’re looking forward to Sri Lanka and the adventures that await us there.  We’re feeling so lucky for having had this experience and thrilled that no one got sick -looking forward to more.  Stay tuned!