Skaggy Ham Sandwiches

I find it very hard to write about Mamallapuram - it's the kind of place that needs to be seen to be believed. It has a very Southern, laid-back attitude to life, the people are friendly and the seafood is something else. I seriously think the plane is going to have problems taking off on the way home, we're eating everything we see!

We haven't done all that much around here, we've mostly been mooching around the hotel, walking around town and talking with people. We've befriended a couple of the volunteers (specifically Karen - the sign language user), and also met three lovely girls from England - Eliza, Natalie and Fanny (Fanny is moving to Peckham in September - so will be introducing her to the neighbourhood!). We also bumped into Valeska on the beach the other day, so she's become part of our motley crew.

We've become very interested in the local project - today Lydia, Valeska and I will be going to visit a Tamil nomadic tribe, we'll be having lunch with them and plan to film them. Karen has some archive footage so we might be able to make a short film to either try to sell to Channel 4 (Three Minute Wonder), or perhaps use for our own purposes to help raise funds. A little bit goes such a long way here. In England two pounds would buy you a skaggy ham sandwich on white bread and some Wotsits (and maybe a cheap can of coke from Woolworths). In Mamallapuram it will pay for a childs education for one year.

Life here has been very colourful of late - there is a Spanish guy called Jesus here. He has a mental health problem, and we suspect he hasn't been taking his medication. As a result on our first night when walking back to the hotel we were slightly shocked and appalled by the larger-than-life naked man running around outside crying and shouting. We just assumed that he was drunk. The next morning the truth emerged - and the last few days have been a whirlwind of chain-smoking (him), naked antics (him), bad singing (him), ranting and raving (him) and gormless astonishment (us). Valeska has been fantastic, very patient; talking to him all the time and trying to keep him calm. The Spanish Embassy have been useless, the hotel manager managed to get someone in, but he only spoke one word of Spanish. Hola. That was it. Seriously!

Today we've had some good news, he's going to be taken to a hospital in Chennai where he will be treated, and then sent home. It is quite sad, he's a lovely, lovely guy - but it's for the best as he might end up harming someone or himself. I hope he gets better soon and life is good to him.

What else? Oh, we've befriended a local stone-carver - on our first day we bought a few necklaces from him. He was quite taken with us and invited us to have tea with him. So we went back the next day and he gave us a lesson in stone carving. I don't think I'll be giving up the day job just yet, but it was good fun!

Oh my god. The prawns here. The other night we ate at the New Cafe in our hotel - on Karen's recommendation we ordered the prawns. If we thought the prawns in Puri were great, we were sadly mistaken. They were the size of my index finger in Puri.

Here, in Mamallapuram, they were the size of my HAND. I kid you not. Lush.

Met a lovely Tamil guy last night called Baba, who runs a bronze and stone exporting business a few kilometres out of Mamallapuram. He invited us to come and see his wares, but unfortunately we probably won't have time. It was very interesting chatting with him about all our cultural differences and life in Mamallapuram. There was an assortion of food and drink on the table - and he kept plying me with paneer pakodas. When I told him that I couldn't possibly keep eating as if I went home fat my husband would divorce me; he offered to send a hit-man to sort my husband out!

Matthew - before you start panicking again - I'm not asking for a proposal - in India the only way to get men to leave you alone is to say you're married! Boyfriends don't count for anything here, y'see!

Can't think of anything else offhand - sorry this post is so boring - went out drinking last night and although I'm not hungover, my head isn't really on straight today!

Later alligators,

Caroline xx