After Adam left, Sandra and I went back to the beach to try to find some better finger chips and relax with our books. We stopped at a beach bar and laid on chaises drinking mohitos which maybe wasn’t the greatest idea. We were being asked every 5 minutes for something and then ended up getting very expensive fake henna done. (fake because the stuff from Hampi is really just permanent marker ink) We’ve finally figured out not to give much leeway to the women, they are tricksy. Their math is broken, very guilt pressury, (promise my friend?) and they know this and know that if they bother you enough, you’ll pay to get them to leave you alone. The girls themselves are very sweet and interesting to talk to, the businessy end is just what they’ve been taught to do. We also giggled quite a bit when a housy remix of Christmas carols started playing. We certainly did not get very much reading done.

Went back and konked out for several hours, when I awoke, I had henna on my face and Shreta and Wayne had come by for a visit. There was a party at the guest house again. I can apparently sleep through anything when I need to. After a lovely visit they were on their way, shortly after, Wayne’s brothers Kurt and Krishna showed up for a visit and some dancing.  It was great to actually see their faces after 7 months of facebooking with them. Went back to sleep through the music again after they left. Seems to be a bit of my pattern, do a whole bunch of stuff for a few days, then lay low for a day to catch up physically and mentally.

Tuesday, was the first of several girls days which have been lovely. Went to the internet cafe and caught up on things for a couple hours. Back to the beach, this time Cafe Lilliput. We went to the upper balcony and had our first dose of actual Indian food. I missed you mushroom mutter! The scenery was lovely as well as the music, no messed up raucous tunes distracting the conversations. We’ve also taken to pinching eachother to return us to the moment, we both have busy brains and the tendancy to lose ourselves planning if we’re not careful. Walking down the street and pass a cow? Pinch. Sitting in the shade with the sea in front and a lovely breeze? Pinch.

Went back to our rooms to get ready for the evening. We had to test out Shiva Valley to ensure it would be an appropriate location for my birthday festivities the week after. It passed. We adopted ‘George’ who has been abandoned by his Israeli friends, and when we were crossing the rocks to get to the other side of the beach, we adopted Steve, an Oregonian who has been a good addition to the conversations. Once there, I managed to find Jelena and her brother and noticing that it was our first time really dancing together (not counting breakfast bowl dancing at BM in ’09) and that we had had to come to the other side of the planet to do it. The music was really good and I’m starting to learn to keep my eyes open when I dance because I keep losing my balance in the sand otherwise. Not even sure how I got in the habit of closing my eyes but I’ve been annoying myself with it since I noticed a while back. We didn’t shut down this party, it went until past midnight but when you’re expecting the night to end at 10:00 and you’ve been dancing hard with that in mind and it goes way longer, one can be pretty exhausted.

Wednesday was less exciting but no less enjoyable. We hung out with some cows and drank ginger tea. I moved back to the room with the hammock which was pleasing, trying to figure out if I’ll be able to fit one on my balcony… My dreads have started to completely fall apart, apparently my hair is too healthy. This is what I get for never dying it and rarely heat treating it. Papi was kind enough to share his experience and come over to start unhealthy-ing it so that they can start behaving better. I think they’ve gone from age 2 (not listening and running amok) to about age 4 (starting to figure out that mommy knows best but still tripping up the stairs). Soon they’ll be in the awkward, gawky years.

Went to the Wednesday market, almost overwhelming! Didn’t even know where to start and ended up mostly wandering around, noting how everything was what will be later sold in festival markets back home. Also inspiring us to create more. Instead of seeing something cool and thinking, I want that, we look and think, I can make that, but with a tweak here and an adjustment there and maybe a little… It will be interesting to see what I’ll be able to pull off by festival season :)