the loincloth was a ruse

one of my favorite parts about being a tour guide is the “sussing”.  for example, today i had to get an ayurvedic massage to make sure it was up to snuff for my yogis. (i always feel like i’m getting away with something.)

parvati, my massage therapist, was a good head shorter than i am. the wooden table came up to her chest (nothing in this country is cushy). she laid out a loincloth for me on said table, and left me to figure out how to put it on. not sure what it’s purpose was though :: we started out face up, then face down (whereupon she took the loincloth off) then side-lying, then face up again. she later stood there and watched me bathe. i think this has happened to me before, so it was oddly not unsettling. 

all these idiosyncrasies aside, i don’t think i’d come back to this place or send any of my yogis there - the steam bath smelled like mold, the shirodhara oil wasn’t warm (that’s actually important), and i could just see they were cutting lots of little corners. so maybe i did take one for the team. 

meeting parvati though was well worth it though, i’d take that little mini home in my pocket if i could 💗

i wanted an iphone x, all i got was this lemon 🍋

i headed out to the streets today, doing the thing, avoiding the eye contact, covering my sense organs with a scarf...with the purpose of getting an indian cell phone. i found the little shop and was told that i would need a passport photo...because why would you ever sell someone a cell phone without first having a hard copy photo of them?  alas, more indian walking, which is much more active and defensive to traffic, pollution, and stares than say, north park walking. kinda cute that when i found the photo shop i had to sit and wait for “some time” as the power was out. but also a bit of a luxury to sit idle for a moment in the day...though i definitely did a fist pump when it came on about three songs later (thanks for keepin’ me company, neko case:)

my phone is hilarious and huge, and i have to hit a button 3 times if i want the letter “c”.  they looked at me like i was a primadonna when i asked for a phone w keyboard, and it was either you can “have a phone” or you can “not have a phone”. it’s called...a lemon. so i guess when life hands you lemons, you just take ‘em. 

the gypsy has landed

just landed at my homestay in trivandrum’s “leafy western suburbs” and feeling superbly überly grateful for the easiest journey east i’ve possibly ever had. it started out with a three hour layover in SFO. many people know of the yoga room at this airport but there are 5 terminals. i happened to land at a gate right next to the yoga room and had the best practice i’ve had in months, with no distractions and plenty of motivation to get a good stretch on (16-hour and 4-hour plane rides on deck). as i finished up, i realized i had to hustle because contrary to the info they’d sent me, my connection wasn’t in the same terminal; i had to take a train, get my boarding pass, and go through security again. zoinks!

this turned out swimmingly however, as i checked in with the exceedingly lovely staff at singapore air, who called me “heether” and attempted to do better than the middle seat i had for the long trip. but alas, she said she had nothing. as i was leaving the check-in, they called after me and said they could find me something better. ladies and gents, this turned out to be an entire row!!! praise the lord! 😂🙏🏽😂

easy transfer in singapore (which is beautiful from the air, it’s now on the list;). landed in trivandrum to see lots of flashing twinkling lights at 9pm. at first i thought it was because there were trees obscuring them but they were actually twinkling. then i remembered that electricity is at such a premium here. 

rewind to three years ago when i was last here and landed in mumbai, and saw a lot of blue patches from the air. i thought they couldn’t be swimming pools. and they weren’t. they were tarps, because like electricity, people can’t always afford a roof. mind blown over and over again.  we are so lucky. 

one last really auspicous wonderful occurrence was that there was this creepy guy on the last leg of my flight. can’t put my finger on it, but my intuition just said keep away. i met my taxi driver here in india and that creepy guy comes up to me and starts asking me how i’m doing, am i ok. and at that moment he had to push his baggage cart up a little ramp and they fell off. so he had to stop and get his bags, i got to chat with my taxi driver franco, and was greeted by jiles, a warm, friendly fellow with an easy smile here at graceful homestay. 

ok, hot shower (fingers crossed) and lights out for this gypsy. thanks for reading, hit me with a comment if you fancy. namaste namaste!!!