Beach Life

Last night the sound of the crashing waves kept me up. I'm not complaining. The waves here break close to shore so it's a boom sound every 10 seconds. Reminds me of the fireworks a few nights ago. We didn't do much today. Late breakfast. A wander along the off to the tourist shops. There are a lot of western tourists here. Mostly Europeans and Aussies. We hope to venture into town tomorrow and see what the locals are up to. We had another fail. We lost Lee's hat. This is more of a problem because finding a floppy full coverage SPF 50 fabric baby hat in India may just be impossible. They sell these amazing stiff plastic hats with tassels and flair here but Lee threw it off immediately and it also would hit on the carrier pack and fall off. Hat finding will be our quest tomorrow. Next time I will pack at least 2 hats! 

After our wander through mostly tchotchke shops we set out to play in the ocean. Lee was not into the moving water but loved crawling around and playing(eating) the fine black sand. It mixed nicely with his sunblock and is still in all of his cracks. Tommy and I took turns playing in the surf. It was warm and felt amazing and liberating to enjoy. We may also have sand in all of our cracks. We enjoyed tea while Lee napped and a perfect dinner watching the sea. 

I thought I'd tell some Lee updates since our day wasn't too exciting. He turned 8 months old the other day. He has one tooth, the bottom right one. We met a nice kiwi family with two kids who quite enjoy Lee. One of the kids went to feel his little tooth and said, "Ow! That must be a meat tooth, it's really sharp!!". Ha! Smart kid, we knew what he meant. Now we refer to Lee's tooth as his "meat tooth". He's figured out how to use it when trying to eat things, it's pretty cute. I think it's neighbor is going to pop up soon, he's a little fussy about it. He really likes pulling himself up on things and standing and playing with one hand holding balance. He just figured out how to get himself into a sitting position from crawling position. You can tell he's still working pretty hard at it. He's a happy little guy and as a nice older woman from Glasgow said after holding him while we had breakfast, "he's seems like a really healthy guy! Not that he's fat, just sturdy and healthy". Makes me think back to 8 months ago and feel very thankful. That is the best compliment anyone can give! He doesn't say any words but knows a few for sure! When we're on a tuktuk he makes a bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb sound vibrating his lips together and sounds just like the little 2 stroke engine of the tuktuk. He's really good at rolling the ball back and forth on the ground and cracks up when I say "woof" while showing him a picture of Jacques. Ok, that's enough for now. 

Goodbye Backwaters

 This was our last morning in the backwaters. We were scheduled to stay 3 more days but decided we had seen(and heard) enough in that area and it was time to move on. The next scheduled place in Varkala said they could take us early so we are off! We had a lovely breakfast, packed up our things and went for a walk through the little rural  neighborhood we were staying in. We saw a guinea fowl, what an ugly but smart bird! The owner could tell it commands and it would follow. I think we need one! We said goodbye to the Austrians and the people that run the cottages and we're off in a tuktuk to the train station. 

The train thing is confusing here. There are a lot of trains going a lot of places and it's impossible to figure out without some help. We managed to buy our tickets but then we didn't know where to go or which train we were on. The station master helped us a bit and we somehow made it on the right train, on a car with two seats and we were off! As soon as we were moving Lee was in the arms of the nice man sitting cross from us. Then the lady behind him. The trouble was he was tired and hungry. I tried to walk him to sleep down the aisle but every person wanted to hold him or play with him so o had to go sit back down. There was a family with a baby near us, the mom watched me struggle with Lee screaming for about 15 minutes and said she thought he may be hungry. Her English was very good so I told her he would fall asleep if he could nurse but we're on this crowded train. I've been weary of breastfeeding in public here because I don't know if it is ok. I tried to google it before I left but couldn't find any info. All the women with babies that I have seen have bottles and formula so I thought it might not be ok. The woman on the train assured me it was totally fine and made a spot for me next to her so I could feed him. She said I could feed him anywhere here, if I'm out shopping or whenever he is hungry and no one will even notice because it is the norm. I was so relieved! And Lee stopped screaming so everyone else was relieved also. Her husband took the opportunity to chat with Tommy. It was great. We finally reached our spot and off loaded from the train, our tuktuk driver was waiting and we were off again. As stressful as the train was(mostly due to Lee being a lot to manage in a closed tight space) it was an excellent experience! At one point I was sitting there thinking about how I wanted to buy some limes when we got where we were going and not a minute later one rolled onto our seat. I made Tommy keep it. 

We drove through some back streets then along a fairly terrifying cliff and we were at our destination. It's a beautiful row of cottages right on the beach of the Arabian Sea. The water is warm with big beautiful waves. The sand is black and fine like flour. We walked a bit then came back for tea then dinner. A long day of travel but some relaxing days await.