Massages, Cobras, etc.

There were so many things that happened in the last week, so I'll just do a short summary of a few of the more memorable events.

Last Tuesday I was the brave volunteer for my ayurveda practical class. I received a treatment called udwarthana which is basically a full body dry herbal powder massage. It's supposed to improve your complexion and reduce fat cells. The ayurvedic texts say that if you get this massage once a day for seven days you will loose 1 to 2 kg. It was quite the experience. I had to take off all my clothes and put on a gown, then lay down on a wooden table with everyone surrounding and watching me receive the massage. The professor then said that he would be leaving because men are not supposed to be present when women are receiving the massage. I soon realized why. It was awkward enough having seven girls watching (one of which was our program director and Indian Studies professor who was taking pictures). After a few minutes though, I stopped caring because the massage felt so amazing. I don't think I lost any weight but I definitely slept well that night.

One of the pictures of me during the massage

Last weekend me and some friends went to Kaup beach. It's about a 35 minute bus ride from Manipal. We weren't really sure how to get there because we had only heard people talking about it before. When we got off the bus we asked a vendor where the beach was and he pointed us down a small village road. It was actually one of the more beautiful walks I've gone on in India. The road winded through fields of rice and palm trees with very brightly colored houses scattered around and friendly puppies and cows peacefully resting in the shade. After 20 minutes of walking we found the beach without much trouble. It was basically my ideal kind of day. We walked down the beach a little with our feet in the perfect water and lied on the sand, soaking up the sun for awhile. The only thing that wasn't so ideal was the group of fat white men in speedos playing in the waves. Other than that it was a pretty peaceful beach scene. Kaup is also famous for its lighthouse on the beach. I decided to climb up the tall spiral staircase and ladder to the top for 10 rupees. It was worth it. The view was amazing, even if I was standing on a 3 foot wide ledge with just a thin railing.

Kaup Lighthouse

View of Kaup from the top of the lighthouse

Kaup beach. Perfect day-no rain!

This weekend we visited a king cobra refuge at the top of the western ghats. It's one of the world's biodiversity hotspots as well as the wettest place in India. It's mainly a research station where they rescue and track king cobras. No, we didn't see any cobras, but we did learn how to track them using radio telemetry. We were told they are pretty secretive snakes and it is very rare that someone will see a cobra in the wild. It was an amazingly peaceful and beautiful area. It was great just to listen to the sounds of nature and not be surrounded by cars honking and trash everywhere. We did see a big black scorpion by a small river while we were there but our guide informed us that it wasn't as dangerous as the kind you would see in the desert and it wouldn't necessarily kill you which was semi comforting.

A field and the forest in the background at the Agumbe cobra refuge

The scorpion we found

A stream in the rainforest that we waded across

The monsoons seem to be over at last. We've had sunny and mostly cloudless skies for the last few days which is such a great change from the constant rain. I don't even have to carry my umbrella with me everywhere anymore.

Also, remember the picture of the puppies living in the gravel pile I posted a few weeks back? Well they disappeared for a while but then they reappeared for the first time last week. I was so glad to see they were alive. Their new home is a moldy furniture shed behind the hostel next to mine. Even though it is moldy with a bunch of falling apart furniture I think they are fairly safe there from the dangers of the streets. My friend and I have named them Felipe and Panchita and we say hi to them every time we walk past. They're growing up so quickly.

Felipe and Panchita outside of their moldy furniture shed

This Friday evening we leave for our one week trip around southern India, so I have a lot to do in the next few days to prepare for it. Our basic itinerary is Bangalore, Hampi, Mysore, Kabini River Lodge, Ooty and Nilgiri Tribal Village. I'm so excited to see more of India and get out of Manipal for a while. I'll be sure to post about it once I return.

-Mia