First Saturday in India

Have you ever had to chase cows away from getting too close to your beach towel while spending a day at the beach? I wish I would have taken a picture of the cows on the beach today. Carson said, "I guess when you know you're sacred, you can go wherever you want."

When the volunteers get here, we tend to take them to some sites on Saturdays. So today we went so we would know the ropes and be able to take a group. We went to a place called Mamallapuram where there are engravings and stone carvings from the 12th century, near the coast of the Bay of Bengal. They were very impressive. Since we'll be going there nearly every Saturday, I didn't take many pictures this time.

 I thought this ice cream ad was funny, it says "Very Tasty. Zero Sharing." 

 Then we went to a resort where we paid to use the swimming pool and the beach. The pool water was rather warm, but the beach was a little better.  This is the beach that cows walked along once in a while. They're just everywhere!

This is Carson and Shane relishing the first time not sweating since we've been here, pretty much. 

We also ate at a restaurant that is universally loved by Rising Star volunteers, called Moonrakers. I wanted to try something new, and got something called Gobi Manchurian.  It was spicy, flavorful, and absolutely delicious! It's cooked cauliflower covered in a spicy sauce. It also came with parotta, which is one of the flat breads of southern India (naan is a northern Indian food).  It is just like the chapati I had in Africa. So tasty. Carson also loved his food, chicken tikka masala. 

Something interesting about the restaurants here is that they always say on the outside whether it's Veg or Non-Veg, meaning they serve vegetarian food or non-vegetarian, or both. Where we went to today was both, and pride themselves on serving the "Catch of the Day." They showed us the huge blue lobster, the fish, and the prawns...all very freshly caught. Funny how no one ordered seafood this time.

Here's a picture of my gobi manchurian and parotta, that our photographer, Shane, took. Beautiful shot, eh?