you are becoming accustomed to our ways, no?

i would like to say a few words about indian standard time, which basically means that nothing ever starts when anyone says it will. this is something we should know by now, but it still catches us off guard. our departure from alleppey a few days ago is a perfect example.

from alleppey, we were driving to a city called kottayam, about one and a half hours away. we were meant to arrive in kottayam at 11a.m., and we were all meant to meet up for breakfast the morning of our departure. so, scott recommended that we meet for breakfast at 8:30a.m., leave by 9:30a.m., and arrive in kottayam at 11a.m., as per the schedule. here is the exchange that followed between scott and sarjan nair, the coordinator of our activities in alleppey.

sarjan: 8:30 is not practical, too early. maybe nine or 9:30 instead.
scott: i thought we were supposed to arrive in kottayam at 11.
sarjan: yes, so we meet at nine, you finish your breakfast by 10 and then depart.
scott: leave at 10, drive one and a half hours and arrive in kottayam at 11?
sarjan: of course not. you won't arrive until at least 11:30.
confused silence.
sarjan: you have become accustomed to our ways, no?

and of course, we didn't leave anywhere near 10a.m. and didn't arrive in kottayam until a little after noon. upon arriving, we discovered that we weren't meant to be in kottayam at all, but another city farther away, where we didn't arrive until just after 1p.m. the rotarians in that city had their hearts set on taking us up in the mountains to have lunch at a hill station, where we didn't arrive until three.

it was really nice to be up in the mountains, though, and a hike through a pine forest reminded us all of home. until we came upon some cows. on the way back down from the hill station we stopped at a monastery, where we were told we could only stay for 10 or 15 minutes and didn't leave until almost an hour later.

and then, the indian standard time kicker, on the way home from the monastery, with time slipping away and everyone worried that people would start leaving the meeting before we arrived, we stop at the summer mountain home of one of the rotarians. just 10 minutes, they tell us. enough time to use the western toilet and take in the view. at 10 minutes almost to the second, as i am picking up my bag, ready to leave, the host opens up a bunch of bottles of brandy! and we just burst out laughing. about half an hour later, tipsy rotarians in tow, we finally headed off the mountain.

when we arrived at the meeting people had, in fact, left. the president's excuse for our tardiness?

"the team was held up in alleppey and didn't arrive here until 1p.m."

we are now in kottayam and melissa and i are staying with mohen and his wife, zahira, in a gorgeous house with high ceilings, a real shower and hot water. we had a contest to see who could give the shortest presentation at last night's rotary meeting (i won with less than a minute) and today we slept in and will leave in a few minutes for lunch and relaxation at the local sailing club. a perfect day.

here are a few more pictures. if you can believe it, we came upon yet another elephant yesterday, as you can see below.



pilgrim with the massive cheek piercing i was telling you about earlier.



one view from the alleppey houseboat.




local villagers carrying milk to the hilltop monastery.




another day, another elephant.