Busloads of people come to watch the sunset, many from quite far away. You hear all kinds of Indian languages on this beach. I met some Tamil ladies all wearing 9 yard saris - very proud and eager to tell me all about them. Of course I didn't have my camera then!

One of the sweetest faces I see everyday. He owns a shop right opposite my guest house and I buy my water from him. A nice big cold 2 liter bottle of Good Luck.

A breathtakingly beautiful Ammachi who's photo I had to sneak around to take.

I spent christmas eve at Full Moon Cottage. Once I said I knew how to cook Indian vegetarian I got drafted into helping the owner, and his two rickshaw driver friends put a feast together. It was definitely adventure cooking, but with enough homemade ghee everything tastes great. We had banana leaf plates and of course you eat with your hands.

Christmas eve dinner fish fry action. They went a bit overboard with the oil.

The boys of Full Moon Cottage and the alluring S. American hammock donated by a guest.

A chorus of frogs sings you to sleep after sunset. It is absolutely uncanny how loud they seem in the dead of night. This gentle creature get's to live in a beautiful lilly pond on a backwater.

Sunset view from the German Bakery, my Peet's Coffee in Kovalam. The cinnamon rolls are quite miraculous.

Indeed he does. He made it all the way here. While quite inebriated on New Years a young relative of Bindu tried to convert me. It was really quite comical because he had very little English to work with despite his enthusiasm - he kept insisting he is "lord is living from death".

Kettuvallam boat on the backwater north of Kovalam. The cabins are completely woven from reeds and bamboo. Beautiful floating baskets!

Laxmi all ready for school, made up with kohl, a rose in her hair and ankle bells. Bindu get's up at early to prepare her a tiffin of rice and vegetables, wash her up and get her dressed and to the bus on time. Laxmi is a force to be reckoned with. I'm trying to teach her to swim, something very few Hindu's let alone Hindu women do. It's just a crying shame to live a few meters from the shore and not swim! She wears me out though! She's fearless - it's almost impossible to keep her from bounding out to sea and then choking on water. She just will not stay in the shallows.

I've had two visitations from creatures like this in my bathroom at night. This one is over a hole in the ceiling that is 3" across! I measured it! Another one, not quite as big, was on the floor. Both times I screamed "Bindu - Sabu" and they came with a broom and removed it, calmly I might add. I turn the light on when I go in there now.

Gorgeous sunset looking out onto the sea from the backwater.

Watching the sunset.

South Trivandrum street scene.

Besides cheap, fast transportation, you can also quench your philosophical thirst in the back of a rickshaw.

Green, green and more green under the swaying coconut palms.

Good bye to everyone from India - I'll be seeing you back in the US soon!