What a beautiful weekend we all had together! It was so nice to balance out a week of school visits and varying emotions with some fun adventures and comfort food. On Saturday the students helped prepare a meal for the members of the ashram, which meant we got to go shopping at the market. It felt amazing to finally get my hands on some fresh fruit. I bought bananas, papayas, oranges, pomegranates, kiwis, apples, and more—all for about four bucks in USD. Incredible...

The lunch was the most delicious meal I may ever consume. We learned about how the ambiance of your eating surroundings and the mood of the person cooking can actually influence the food. You could taste that this meal was truly made with love.

After we let the food baby digest, we walked a few blocks to a bike rental shop, then we took to the streets. I almost forgot how much I love being on a bike. I basically lived on my bike in Eugene, and I realized I really miss the freedom and convenience (and fun!) of biking. Needless to say I will be seeking out this mode of transportation more than once throughout my travels.

We arrived in a beautiful little beachside village—not necessarily beautiful to an American standard but rather beautiful from the obvious sense of community present among the people. Something that is easier felt than described... We had time to go over to the shore to say hello to the ocean, which Carlea and I chose to do from the rocks right next to the water. She braved a rock directly in front of the waves, and got a nice cleansing from a big one!

We wandered back to a huge old building worn down by 200 years on the coast and the tsunami. Two beautiful women showed us how to decorate the floors with colored rice powder, an art performed all across India in front of homes and shops, known in some areas as "rangoli". 

We spent the next couple hours filling in their beautiful designs, and coloring each other!

Even my hands looked like a work of art by the time we were done.

That evening we rinsed off and then learned the art of making dreamcatchers. And I learned the art of acceptance that some people are better at crafts than others... Twas quite a lovely Saturday if I do say so meself.

Sunday was equally as lovely. Actually that's an understatement.. Sunday will go down in my book as one of the best days I've ever had. After yoga and talks in the morning, a few of us ventured out on our bikes to a beautiful part of town and enjoyed lunch at a French-Italian restaurant.

That afternoon we met up as a group and rode 2 kms to an incredible lighthouse in south Pondy. I felt so grateful to have been able to have this new experience because we hadn't gone the previous year.

We quickly hiked the 19 stories - worth every step for the view at the top. I was absolutely stunned looking out on this beautiful city, and beyond. I realized for two weeks, I had been so caught up in the interworkings of one small part of this town that it felt extremely refreshing to take a step back from it all and get a new perspective. 

Can hardly explain how amazing it feels to call this place home for a while... I could have sat with this view for hours. Not sure what's up with that roof with the question mark on it? This place is full of magic and mysteries :)

Going down was much easier than going up (but very difficult to resist the temptation to spit)

I was on such a high (19 stories!) from the lighthouse that I was able to deeply love the next part of our outing. We biked out onto this jetty where all the fishing boats come and go. We watched the most gorgeous sunset do its thing as the waves crashed on the rocks around us.

THEN we took to the beach next to it, just to watch the waves on the shore, and maybe put our feet in, or to hold hands and gradually walk back into the waves, okay we're almost knee-deep now, this water feels amazing, woah Courtney and Charlotte dunked completely in! Guess I should too! And everyone else! Until we all found ourselves soaking wet, fully clothed, and cracking up in the Bay of Bengal as the sun went down. 

 SO HAPPY!

Finding my bliss here a hundred times over, with some pretty incredible humans