Poovar and Kanya Kumari

And Somatheertham.....how could I forget?

Between the wedding and the beach party, the three of us sneaked out for a proper, authentic, kerala ayurvedic massage, and it was simply amazing. The massages of even the upmarket places in Hyd are not a patch on this. Now I know why the kerala massages are globally renowned.

The range of spices and herbs on display. A lot of these apparently go into the massage oils.

Then onto Poovar, where we did a boat ride through narrow channels of back waters running through thick mangrove forests. It was really nice long ride and our little boat, Karaikattu, a four seater  was perfect for us as we could take it at our own pace.

A boat coconut seller on the way

I actually caught a kingfisher in flight, though Diksha insists it was fluke...well it kind of was, I was trying to catch it on a pole and it flew, but then...I was still in effort to catch it :)

A stork or crane that allowed us to come real close...it was fascinating to watch it from up close. It's legs and neck are so thin and fragile, when it walks, it looks like an animated stick figure move.

Through the ride

Dhruva and Diksha with Saajan, who was our captain that ride

The boat takes a break at an estuary where the river Naya meets the Arabian Sea, and there's this small patch of sandy beach between.

I've always been fascinated by the point where the river meets the sea and would get excited when I caught those while on a flight, so seeing this from the ground was real special to me. It's also my favorite analogy of the Atman Brahman confluence.

On the right is the river Naya, and on the left the Arabian Sea, and this is where the river flows into the sea.

A Mary and Jesus statue along the way. The birds made the picture prettier

At the estuary

Well.......looks like Kanya Kumari will need another post