Day 13: Mamallapuram!

Saturdays are our "days off." This Saturday we are going to Mamallapuram.

 

It is right on the ocean, it is a beautiful city known for its detailed stone carvings.  We were soo excited to have another day to have a tourist experience and see a different side of India!

Mamallapuram, India!

There are so many beautiful temples here. 

As we got near the city we began to see all of the buildings adorned with stone carvings and statues.

We were dropped off at these ruins.

Look at all of that detailing in the stone.  

It was beautiful.

They were HUGE!

As we wandered into the city, we passed this HUUUUGE lily pond.  

You would never guess from far away that those were beautiful lily's and flowers.

There was a mermaid statue in the center of the pond.  I'm not sure which Hindu God this represents.

The streets of Mammalapuram.

There were children begging EVERYWHERE as their parents sat on the side of the road, dressed nicely, talking on their cell phones and staring at us expectantly to give their children food or money.

It is such a sad cycle.

It takes just as much time to teach your children how to beg as it does to teach them to be self sufficient.

This was especially bothersome, because we were coming from a part of the city where even the most severely disabled would work long, hard labor to make enough to sustain their families.

Mammalapuram is known for its intricate and beautiful stone carvings.

They were AMAZING!!!

It was so fun to watch the men carving in the streets and see the finished products in every shop.

This was literally the smallest man I have EVER seen.  Notice he is the same height as that motorcycle. A fully grown man.  He couldn't have been more than 4 feet tall. It was the strangest thing to see this tiny little person.  Not a midget, because he was perfectly proportionate.  Just tiny.  We later learned that the smallest person in the world is from India.  A woman that stands only 18in. tall. So cute.

We found this amazing leather sandal shop!

We watched this man making the sandals as we shopped.

Someone might be getting a pair of these when I get back to the USA.

(cough cough...Jordan...cough cough)

They are pretty AWESOME!

Krissy, Sam, and I found this awesome little hat stand.  They were only $2.00 so we couldnt resist picked the biggest ones and playing tourist for a day. 

 Even if I never wear this hat again... that 100 rupees was well spent!

Notice no matter where we go, we force the guys to come with us as body guards haha, sorry Benson.

Annund insisted we go visit this beach.
None of us really wanted to because we were visiting a beach for the second half of the day with our entire group...buuuut soo glad we did!!

We ended up finding this lil guy.

Yep! We had to!!

We rode horses on the beach.

In India.

Wow.

I'm serious when I say, every day here just gets better and better.

I'm not coming home.

You can't make me.

Can you tell how happy/terrified we are?

So fun!

My hat flew off about 3 seconds into this horse ride. (See video)
Thanks Benson for chasing it down.
It actually looks great on him, don't you think?

Annund and Benson were nice enough to take lots of pictures!!

Once again, these guys are awesome!

I have LOOOVED the group of volunteers and staff our here.

I've always wanted a picture of me like this.

I always thought it would be with Jordan... but this will do!! ;)

Comin back!

Ahhh!! I just love this.

Found Krissy!!

The time of our lives.

Annnd we're back. 

Safe and sound.

Just one more picture..

They pretty much had to pry us off these things!!

Seriously though.

Thanks Ganesh, Annund and Benson!!

This was our fun group for the day!

It's so much fun having Annund hang around, he is able to get us the best deals instead of tourist prices.($2.00 horse ride on the beach...score!!)

..and he points out all of the cool temples and fills us in on traditions and culture!

(double score)

 

I thought it was funny they had this carving.

NO ONE in any of the shops could tell me what it was haha!!

..maybe just for American tourists?

 

Annund gave me a Hindu history lesson with all of the statues of Gods.

I loved it!! I totally want to read more about Hinduism and other religions when I get home.  It is so fun to hear about what other people believe and why they believe it.  

The Mother God.

Shiva.

Next it was off to Ideal Beach, a resort in Mamallapuram for swimming in the beach and a nice swimming pool!

We got ourselves a snapple, some cute swimsuit wraps, and hit the beach!

We don't look like tourists at all do we?

The beach was sooo beautiful!!

We ate a wayyy over priced disgusting lunch underneath these beautiful cabannas!!

The food was gross but the view was unreal!
So peaceful, seriously India is the most beautiful place on Earth.
In EVERY sense of the word.

 Sand crab!!

 

Just dancing on the beach!

 

Goofin off at the pool!!

 

Chen and Krissy in paradise!

 Smile!!

We ate porota on our way home.

It is a delicious, almost tortilla like bread, they dip it in chutney.

(we take it home and dip it in Nutella, haha shhhh.)

We made it back just in time for movie night!! We are lucky enough to spend Saturday night with the kids in the outdoor lunch hall and watch movies! Tonight it was Nannie McPhee.  I thought it was interesting that the moral to this story was that she would not be around for long, but would be there as long as the kids really needed her and then they would be left to use the lessons she taught them to move forward in life without her.  I feel like this kind of describes our journey here.  I could honestly stay forever.  I am not ready to go home.  I feel that the Lord brought me here this summer for a reason, and although i may not know what that reason is, I know that I gave EVERYTHING I had here in India.  I will be leaving with absolutely no regrets.  I have loved these children and the people here wholeheartedly, and although I wish I could stay FOREVER, I know that I was here for the perfect amount of time.  I was here to do all that the kids, the leprosy afflicted patients, the villagers, and my Heavenly Father needed me to do.  

I find comfort in knowing that I will be back someday.