Rule #1: Have no Plans

FYI: We have added 2 photos to their corresponding blog entry below, if you are interested. It is Sunday afternoon. We have exchanged books for Susan's 3rd mystery. We have eaten a leisurely Indian breakfast at Anthony's (new rooftop restaurant overlooking the ocean) -- a friend Thane and Kendall and Maggi discovered two years ago. Across the street, another friend, Sentihl, has opened a new shop. We visited and played with an adorable baby named Sai (1 year old?). Last night we visited the 5 rathas (chariots from the 6th or 7th century, unearthed only 200 years ago) just before closing. On the walk back, we watched 5, then 20, and finally about 30-35 Indians decorate and raise a "totem pole" 30 or 40 feet tall, from lying on the ground to standing upright in a deep hole they had dug in the ground. It was an amazing engineering feat, and we had to hold ourselves back from helping as they pulled on ropes, and the pole twisted in midair over a bus and cars and bicycles and all of their shoes... then they wedged wooden planks in the hole and repaired the damage from the first try, then pulled the ropes again to make the pole make it safely to a vertical position. The sun set as we watched and then.... lots of cheering! We have no idea what the occasion was. Tomorrow, we go with some German friends staying at our guesthouse, to a nearby festival in a village. We don't know the occasion. There have been festivals for an eclipse, and school shut down so the children would not hurt their eyes; men walking on coals, fireworks, etc. We should get some good pictures there, on the eve of our departure for the south.