Mahabalipuram, Bay of Bengal and henna tattoos

Our day was filled with sightseeing and cultural activities.  The first thing we did this morning was to leave the city of Chennai to see Mahabalipuram.  Mahabalipuram is situated close to the Bay of Bengal on the east coast of India.  Our tour guide explained that all the "temples" and figures there are believed to have been carved out of a single rock.  Also, because of the fact that you can't actually enter the temple, it is believed that it may have actually been carved out as an "architectural" model for the King to approve.  Whatever the case, it is still pretty impressive to imagine men carving those models out of sandstone in the 7th century.  They've been so well-preserved because they hadn't been unearthed until the late 18th century.

 Of course the child in me wanted to play, since in reality they look like giant sand castles.

We also visited sites nearby which were also sculpted out of sandstone.  Arjuna's Penance was one of them.  It was actually rather overwhelming to see all those figures presented in a bas relief way on the sandstone.  Our guide and fellow Fulbrighter, Dr. Suresh did an awesome job of explaining the different scenes that appear on the rock.  It sort of reminded me of Dante's inferno.

We then took a short drive to see the Shore Temple.

After that we drove over to a lovely Taj hotel called Fisherman's Cove to have lunch.  "Taj" is the name of a chain of hotels like the Hilton.  Anyway, after lunch we had a chance to splash in the Bay of Bengal.  It was cool, similar to the temperature in Miami beaches.  Everyone from the other states kept saying how "hot" the water was.  I just kept quiet. :)

Then, Dr. Suresh took us to a cultural village called Dakshina Chitra.  This is a center for the living traditions of art, folk performing arts, crafts and architecture of India with an emphasis on South India.  The best thing about it other than the architecture and hand-crafted bangles was that I got a henna tattoo.  I got it just in time because it will have faded by the time I get home.  I don't want to freak out my Dad or Mrs. Sanchez, my principal.

Hey Kevin and Kyle if you're reading this, don't get any ideas!  This is temporary.