Day ???

 I am so tired, but being that we have been offline for nearly five days, I will post up the first painting I did after we went back to being primitive (without power or internet).  It's amazing how much you can get accomplished when you are offline...and we all laughed about how we knew we were back online: no one talked to each other the moment we went live again.  Pretty sad.  For those five days, we actually became human beings again, talking, laughing, interacting, playing games, watching movies, all the things we did before we went online.  And, once we went on again, it was instantaneous...the room got silent, and all you heard was the clicking of keyboards, and an exasperated mutter here and there as we each sank deeper into our own little universe.

So, I am playing catch up here with my journal.  It was a long lost five days of laying around in the sauna that is monsoon during the long, hot afternoons, awaiting that cool breeze that starts to ruffle the curtains around 4 pm, so deliciously, like a long desperate drink of cold water.  The mosquitoes come if there is no breeze, so we go crazy spraying each other, like a group of monkeys in a wild forest.  The pool filtration system went down too, so that it began to resemble a swamp rather like the backwaters, and swimming became impossible, so in the long sweltering stretches of afternoon, between stripping nearly naked like a savage and painting, then collapsing in a sweaty heap in a patch of shade, hopping a cold shower and repeating the process, I was actually able to produce some work.  A bit strange, but that's the nature of this trip so far, frustrating, strange, yet highly entertaining.  It is such a primitive experience now, I am kind of glad it went this way...I feel like I can honestly say I had an authentic experience, sans any comforts we have grown to depend on: electricity, warm water, internet, AIR CONDITIONING, comfort foods, television, clean laundry (aside what we wash in our own buckets and hang all over the compound like a crazy decorations), ice cubes or even confirmed drinking water...but, it is still very interesting.

A few days ago, as we all sat around lost, lamenting and bewildered, we decided it would be best to do something, so we took a houseboat ride around Lake Vembanad, and it was absolutely gorgeous.  The houseboat was beautiful, and we enjoyed the cool breezes of the lake, and afternoon tea.  It really cheered us all up, and we all had a laugh about getting adjusted to our lack of tech...we are getting there.  It's amazing how much we have grown to depend on it, and how it takes some days to get readjusted to living as we did maybe 20 or so years ago....