A Day in Kerala

Today was possibly my favorite day since I've been here! I had so much fun today and got to do SO many new things!
This morning I woke up early to be picked up by one of the Rotarians in my club named Suresh- he was taking me and Rianna (the other exchange student from New York) to an Onam Festival (Onam was two weeks ago, but this festival was postponed so that more people could attend) here in Coimbatore! We picked Rianna up and then went straight to the center where the festival was happening. It was held in a community center, and we spent the morning watching a "pookalum" competition (pookalum are the flower designs that the Malayali's make to celebrate Onam)! There were six contestants, groups of women, and we got to watch the whole design come together, from the chalk outline, to the entire area filled with different colored flowers in beautiful designs!
After we had watched the finish (they were going to announce the winner later in the day), we left the hall to go to Suresh's house and freshen up before lunch. We came back with his wife and son a little while later and had food from Kerala! It was very similar to Tamil food that I've eaten here, but there were definitely differences in some of the tastes. For instance, there was one gravy that had pineapple in it! It actually tasted really good with the rice and sambar!
When we had all finished lunch, we dropped Suresh's son back off at the house, and then the four of us drove to Pallakad!!! Pallakad is a small town that is in Kerala- just over the border of the state, and about an hour drive from Coimbatore! As soon as we had crossed the border, I could immediately tell that we were in a new place. There were many more palm trees, and paddy fields- so many rice paddy fields everywhere! It was so beautiful!
We arrived at Suresh's sister's house, where many of Suresh's family members had come to hear an astrologer make predictions for a young baby girl, and Suresh had come to talk about an arranged marriage for his daughter. Rianna and I didn't get to stay for the predictions (Suresh thought that it would be boring, and it was all in Malayalam which is the language in Kerala). We both got to go with Suresh's cousin Lal for an adventure in the city (well, outside the city...)! The three of us got in his car and took a short drive up a mountain- we listened to classical instrumental Indian music on the way up, and it was so relaxing and provided for a good background for all of the lovely scenery. We reached the top to find a lake! It was actually a dam, and we stopped off on the side of the road and walked down to the water's edge. It was peaceful and relaxing, and so we sat there for a while, enjoying the warm breeze and the brilliant colors of the darkening clouds. We left after some more people showed up- it was funny because when the people saw Rianna and I they all ran up to us, asking our names and taking photos!
We then drove back down the hill to the Rock Garden- a place where you could walk in and see mosaics made by Punjab artists. On the way down it started drizzling, and by the time we reached the garden it was DUMPING rain! We didn't mind at all though, and went through the garden's many twists and turns and came out soaked to the bone! Rianna and I then saw a staircase, leading up into the mist and we both sprinted to the top- when we reached the last stair, we were both out of breath, and became even more out of breath when we looked around and saw the view. It was the view from the top of a mountain, and we were looking down at the entire lake and dam! It was incredibly beautiful, and we spent a few minutes up there dancing around in the huge droplets of water and loving every second of it!
After coming back down, we all piled into Lal's car, getting all the seats wet...and drove around to the front of the dam where Rianna and I got to take a chair lift across the top of the grey, cement dam. It was so cool! We rode along, waving to the people walking in the park below us, and talked about our experiences, how many new things we were learning, and how this day was possibly the best day for both of us since we've been here!
P.S. The photo is of me at the side of the lake / dam!