Our Adventure in India

This is an interesting twist from our synthetic western world of rubber.  We drove past a rubber tree farm today. Shaji stopped the car and let us explore.  There were literally thousands of rubber trees and this is the original way rubber is collected. They cut or score each tree in a spiral towards the ground. The raw rubber literally oozes each night down the spiral and into the little chute and into the little black cup. You can see it collected in the cup.  They construct this little rain guard out of green vinyl and this keeps the collection cup from filling up with water.  It is the end of monsoon season so rain does come into play. Once it is all collected, the contents are poured into large vats and are mixed with acid and some other coagulant and it makes a blob of rubber. The press is shown in the background and it used to press the rubber into sheets that you see hanging and drying. They start white and are hung outside and then begin to yellow as they set up. This puts the

Today was a cool one.  Ok, it was actually as hot as ever but we did a lot of 'firsts'. Shaji picked us up at 8:00 am on Saturday, July 29 to go to the Elephant Rehabilitation Centre. They rescue elephants from all over India.  One baby's mother was killed by poachers so they bottle fed it for the first year. They have 160 elephants and most basically live in the jungle that is like 128 sq km.  We arrived when they were washing the elephants. One of the elephants had finished being bathed and was just enjoying being in the water. He was just swimming around and diving under and splashing. The one close to the shore is just laying down to start her bath. They used to use coconut husks but now they use brushes and the elephants seem to enjoy this. It was fun to watch the elephant splash himself. After bathing, the elephants are walked back to their homes.  Many elephants roam wild and some live in covered pavilions with food and a few toys. They shared the story that one was

We are slowly getting to know Marshall’s coworkers and their families. Thursday night we went to dinner near the Technopark. We met Limna and her husband. He is an IT guy and works with a small American company. He normally works 2-11PM but took a half day to have dinner with us. We went to a real cool, trendy restaurant. They had cocktails and mocktails and all kinds of drinks. Very good meal and I especially appreciated the spinach stuffed chicken with mashed potatoes and vegetables. This is the kind of meal I can eat. We had a real good time getting to know them and learning their story. They had an arranged marriage which is different than a love marriage. It was interesting to hear how there are Internet sites that help your parents find your mate. Limna is one of the executives at the new company. She has been really kind and helpful for Marshall and we are glad to have this connection. She is going to take me shopping this week for a Saree which I will need for the Onam celebrat

We saw a group of women gathered on our road one morning this week. Shaji said they are here for government work.  They are cleaning fields around us and they are paid a daily wage of 300 Rupees which is about $3.60.  When we got home Saturday night, they were just finishing for the day, so they must work six days a week. The government has this program in place to ensure people have a way to earn wages and meet the need of cleaning up around each individual village.  They worked along the road and cleaned across from our house yesterday. A man worked in our yard yesterday.  He was cutting the grass and with a short blade.  He also cut down dead banana tree branches with a ladder and worked hard all day. A man comes to clean the pool a few days a week.  He is wearing a dhoti. We see them everywhere and Marshall has decided he wants to own one.   . Today a man was yelling outside of our fence.  Marshall thought it was the pool guy so he opened the gate and he offered to take our plastic

Kerala is the state of India that we are living in.  Kerala means “land of the coconut trees” and we see them everywhere. There is a green canopy everywhere and it’s beautiful.  Our property is filled with so much.   Our yard has 2-3 coconut trees.  This one is near the pool and loaded up with coconuts. Tutsi is gathering coconuts and preparing to make her own coconut oil. She says they prepare their own coconut oil for Onam(festival or harvest near the end of August). Tutsi also brought me a coconut and cut it open for me to have coconut water and to save some for the Mister when he gets home. The yellow coconut is for drinking the green coconut is for cooking. We also have a banana tree.  There are many different bananas here.  There are very small yellow ones, regular size yellow ones and even red bananas.  Red bananas are supposed to be good for you. (medicinal, when you are sick)  Our homeowners had left both for us to try when we arrived. We also have tapioca growing in the groun

We dedicate this post to our friend Troy.   Early Sunday morning on 7/23 we found a cow standing outside of our home.  We have heard a cow nearby but this was the first time we have seen him. I have not seen many cows along the streets in Kovalam or Trivandrum but we saw many today as we drove through Tamil Nadu. All these roaming animals have collars and supposedly no one bothers people’s animals. When we entered Tamil Nadu, we began to see rice paddy fields.  Our driver said there are some in the outskirts of Kerala but we have not seen them yet. Also, we saw mountains in this area.  It was beautiful.  They call them Ghats. We saw numerous trucks loaded up with grass or hay like this.  We even saw them loading one with a guy up on top and others below sending it up to him. Greatest stacking job ever. This is land divided into the plots for sale.  We saw numerous goats and cows today. They just wander everywhere.  In town, you could see goats tied up outside a shop and then hanging up

  On Saturday, Marshall and I decided to walk our street to the local shops.  We met a few of our neighbors. We must first open our gate, go through it and then close it while we are gone. It's another layer of protection and I'm ok with that.   Marshall wore shorts, a t-shirt and baseball cap.  No one else looked like him.  We will be getting him a dhoti so he can fit in a little better.    We met a neighbor who hosted a political gathering in his garden.  It had string with coconut leaves tied to decorate it.   It also included his well.  He told us that he has hosted foreigners in his home for many years.     A view down the road.  We pass brick walls to protect properties.  Most are closed off with gates.  Some of the walls have signs that say "Stick No Bills" meaning they don't want any papers or advertisements attached to their walls.  We sign signs posted mostly near the village shops. Behind Marshall is a banana farm.  Most of the bananas have been harvest

The southernmost tip of the India consists of the Kumari Amman Temple (left) and the Vivekananda Memorial (right). This is a very popular destination for Indians. They are interested to speak with us and we realize those here are from all over. The statue is taller than the statue of liberty and this is the spot to come for the sunset.  Basically the Key West of India. There is a long line to get tickets to ride the boat over to the temple.  It costs 75 Rupees and you wouldn't believe how long the line was....think Disney out the door.  Shaji took us to a preferred line that was 300 rupees ($3.60) for us to ride the boat.  Honestly, I would not have gone if we had to stand in that long of a line.  It's hot and personal space does not exist. We still waited in line with others who paid the higher fee.  People stand so close and try to push you.  When we finally got released to walk onto the boat dock, they separated the males and females.  It was a little uncomfortable but thank