Oh the places we've gone! It has been an adventurous week in many ways. Our big outing to Mahabalipuram and the Crocodile Farm started us off. 

I visited these sites last year but it was wonderful to return with everyone's fresh perspective. I naturally feel at home climbing around on rocks and wandering amongst the trees, and I think all of us Oregonians really needed a day outside of the city.

We spent the morning exploring the various 2,000 year old structures and carvings while hoarding off trinket-pushers and monkeys!

Pretty incredible to stand before these life-size carvings which provide a rock-solid window into the past of this region. 

We then ventured to the land of dangerous creatures. We saw hundreds and hundreds of crocs... pretty weird animals once you're around them for a while. We also watched some crazy men handle and milk venomous snakes (to eventually make antivenom)... I'll probably be avoiding their profession if I can help it.

The following day we were also able to get our nature-fix in. We woke up super early and adventured over to a massive inland lake to greet the sun. After some yoga and puppy-gawking, we took to the high seas! 

Well, we rented some paddle boats. Aaarrrrr matey~

After some thigh-burn and lots of laughter, we visited my favorite place... Matrikunj

2 day old calf! Just a soft little wobbly-legged baby.

We were served up some delectable papaya and ate it up in the shade of the bungalo. 

As we wandered the farm I saw the progress from the work I had done just a couple weeks earlier!

I planted these lil sprouts!

And new life is also growing from the beds we cleared!

So cool to play a little part in this huge, beautiful place.

We wandered along forest paths tasting leaves and fruits and admiring the care put into every organism by Baburam.

Rice fields. Butterflies. Climbing trees. Perfectly rounded stones. Things I do like.

After a few hours of exploring, we found ourselves in a cuddle puddle on a large tarp in a clearing in the middle of the jungle. We effortlessly drifted in and out of sleep to the sounds of birds, bugs, and wind in the trees. 

After waking in a state of pure bliss, we were served fresh coconuts with little plant straws! This day was more perfect than I could have ever dreamed.

The adventures continued the following day as we arrived at a thousand-year-old temple which I had never been to before named Gangaikonda Cholapuram. 

We approached the huge sculptures in front of the temple then entered into the long, dark room. 

After a short exposure inside the temple, we all naturally ventured off in our own direction for the next couple hours. This beautiful family came over to me twice and it was one of the most loving interactions I've ever had. They were asking me so many questions and asked for pictures together. The sweet girl in the pink dress kept saying I was beautiful and we kissed each other's hands goodbye.

 I was overpouring with love from the beautiful little humans and I began to tear up thinking about the capacity for human care, the same love and care that went into building this temple a thousand years ago. India continues to blow me away with the depth of connection it embodies, from the small to the massive and everything in between.

Oh and we were featured in the India National News! We had a very informal interview with an awesome journalist and a few days later we saw this! 

Unexplicably cool to see our names in the largest newspaper in India, which would otherwise be a bad thing probably! I feel so proud to be a part of this experience with these open-minded and hearted individuals.

On Monday we had the honor to explore Auroville! I could write a novel on what I took away from this place in only one day, so I won't even try to summarize it.. wouldn't do it justice! But have a quick look at their website to get an idea of the depth of this place: http://www.auroville.org/

We went on a laid back tour with an Auroville native, Gopi. He first took us to one of their many temples where I snapped a picture of one of the beautiful paintings involving peacocks (shoutout to the Hager ranch).

From there we explored the exhibition hall where they had beautiful displays to introduce visitors to the magic that is Auroville.

At the center of the town is the Matrimandir, the "soul of Auroville" which I am blessed to be able to return to tomorrow for an opportunity to meditate inside of the magnificent golden sphere. The essence of the inner chamber is one of the coolest things I have ever heard about, so I will have more to share on that after I visit it for myself.

I loved this model of the Auroville center.

The bayan tree is one of the coolest kinds of tree I've ever heard of—each branch sends shoots down which root into the earth essentially becoming its own tree. This one is in the geographical center of Auroville.

And the Matrimandir... absolutely breathtaking to observe. 

We enjoyed a delicious meal in the Solar Kitchen (food cooked from solar energy) and needless to say it was absolutely scrumptious. Good conversation accompanied this massive meal, which we walked off at various sites in the industry zone of Auroville.

We went to a neat music shop complete with all kinds of uniquely made instruments, then over to a community called the Bamboo Center. People come from all over the world and collaborate on projects using bamboo in basically any way imaginable. They experiment with various building structures and it was so so cool.

We saw all the uniquely constucted homes in the bamboo village... it was hard to leave!

We also had an exposure to WELL Paper (http://www.wellpaper.org/) and bought some of the products that the women made.

Finally we stopped at Gopi's friends. I included this picture because I spent some time swinging on the hammock-swing pictured, which eventually gave in and we went crashing to the ground! I luckily walked away unharmed :)

I have a thousand words I could say for each of these experiences, but pictures and a summary will have to do! More to come after my Matrimandir experience tomorrow.

Oh and Merry Christmas!