almost end of trip

today is monday and we leave thursday night. we're in kunnor and going to take a 6 am train tomorrow morning to mangalore, and then a taxi to the airport to catch a plane to mumbai. we'll be in mumbai for two days and then we fly home.

i have a lot to write about. A LOT.

pregnant lady stuff first: my belly button is almost poking out now. another day or two and i'll have an outie. that's fun. AND i felt something the other night and last night - not quite a kick but something. like little taps or mini-thumps or something. something is going on. dancing or something.

we stayed at a rainforest place for a few days and learned a lot, and saw coffee plants and cardamum and funnel web spiders and pineapples growing. it was a very nice place. then we came here, to another nice place. kunnola beach house near kunnor has been so lovely and great. beautiful beach, totally beautiful. and the guesthouse beach house hotel thing or whatever - really great. lots of interesting people to talk to and good food and a great mosquito net even set up in the room for us, and good food and we're right on the beach. so great. and i got to do a lot of beach combing, which i love. pretty shiny shells that kate calls old man toenails, but pink and red. so great. i love collecting shells and walking on the sand... and we ate watermelon which has been what i've been craving and loving, and feeling a breeze and sitting in the shade also make me very happy.

it's funny because i'm not that into beaches, and if you would have asked me a month or two or three ago if i wanted to spend any time at a beach i would have said maybe a day or maybe not at all. but after time in india, and all the busy-ness and commotion and noise and hullabaloo, the beach is soooooo welcome and nice. and the temperature of the water - so nice and warm.

yesterday we took a canoe to a little inlet thing and saw tons of mangroves and birds birds birds. that was nice. people in this part of india, (the name of the state is kerala) are so friendly it's weird. people greet us from their houses when we're walking down the road and say hi, and where are your from, and what is your name. some people even say "thank you for coming to kerala." as we were walking yesterday, a car slowed to a stop and the side two windows opened so the passengers could shake josh's hand and say welcome.

okay we're gonna go see some dance thing, a kathakali thing i think but i'm not sure. so i'll write again tomorrow or something. still want to write about bricks on the head, hindi cultural stories, made snana, and highlights of our trip. and it would be cool to put up pictures too.