My friend Jafar arranged for us to stay at Kadavu Resort while we are here in Calicut. It is a very beautiful place with very comfortable rooms, a great restaurant and incredible landscaping and grounds on the banks of a peaceful river.
The resort also offers Ayurvedic treatments. Catherine is enjoying it very much indeed!
 View Outside From The Lobby  Beautiful Woodwork Everywhere |
 Something Beautiful To Look At In Every Direction  A Romeo & Juliet Moment |
Hi everyone – we are getting acclimatized to the intensity of India. Had my first cup of chai masala this morning – the real thing! – blissful!-
Weather is gorgeous like a perfect summer day – accommodation lovely – have visited the Ayurveda spa also – scouting out retreat opportunities here which are very promising.
Going with the flow as our plans change every day – train is sold out so will get a ride to Bangalore probably tomorrow. Traffic is just like the movies with ladies in brilliant saris riding sidesaddle on motorcycles behind the driver sometimes with a small child between them; three wheeled auto rickshaws predominate mixed in with small sized cars; buses and trucks; lots of horn honking all the time – plus getting used to traffic on the left – it’s wild beyond belief.
People are very warm and friendly but not much English with often hilarious results.
We are often surrounded by groups of curious school children who want to either take a picture with us or have us take their picture, shake our hands and ask “what is your good name?” Feel like a rock star so my intention to just blend in isn’t really working! (Wally says being a 5′ 10″ tall redhead makes me a bit conspicuous).
I appreciate my soft life compared to the hard nature of so many here – saw a group of people including little kids breaking up rocks with hammers on the side of the road – skinny people, skinny cats, dogs, goats and cows – I feel very well fed!
I am taking a yoga class here at 4:00 this afternoon so I’ll let you know how that goes – love to all – Namaste! Cath
 Local schoolkids attend the performance The audience consisted of ourselves and about 150 junior high school students who were also touring the facility at the same time we were. The performance was all in Malayalam, the local Indian language. |
 We did not understand any of the dialogue but the students liked it because the actor had them laughing a lot. |
| The Kalamandalam school has several hundred full time students. Studies range from 2 to 8 years, depending upon how far each student wants to pursue his/her art form to help preserve this important cultural art form, the government pays their tuition and the students pay only for their food & lodging.
This was a wonderful day & well worth the drive – which is another story in itself! 🙂 Wally |
At the end of the tour we were treated to a performance by one of the senior student drummers and by one of the actors. Here’s a photo of him getting ready for the show.
In this class students were learning how to make the costumes that the performers would wear. This work is very intricate, with carving, sewing, painting and working with gold foil.
A nice thing about this class is that it was very quiet and peaceful – especially compared to the Drumming classes!