The top of a Hindu Temple in Varkala, I am not sure what any of it means, but it's painted and elaborate and quite fun, I'll try and do some research and get back to you on meaning.

This is a Sandalwood tree. It is in a cage because the wood is soooo valuable here that robbers come and chop it down, even though it is illegal for anyone (including the owner) to harvest sandalwood

Babu and his friend at the Funky Art Cafe in Varkala. They are hilarious and quite talkative. Leigh and I became good friends with them, even though they are quite mischievous. The beach culture is pervasive and the same everywhere in the world- Ya Mon!

So, I am still at the beach. Leigh and I have moved farther south of Varkala and are now virtually directly on the tip of India in Kovalam. We have met our professor and the other students here and will remain here for at least another week. This is unexpected, but our professor is in too poor of health to travel to the highlands and so our boss Mohanan will travel to the beach at the end of this week to meet with her. ALSO, perhaps more importantly, the monsoons have been particularly brutal this season in the highranges and they are experiencing terrible landslides and loss of life as a results. The HPWDS participants are so far all safe but many have had their homes wiped out by landslides. Therefore, it is too dangerous to travel back and we would be wholly unable to work since the electricity has been out for days on end now. We'll have to keep checking the weather. We are also a little bit leary about returning because there is a Chitunkunga (sp?) fever outbreak in the Idukki district that is being exacerbated by the rains. All and all, we'll stay at the beach a bit longer.