Paradise beach

I am with both new and old friends living a dream on a golden sandy beach, where dolphins swim into the bay and play every sunrise and sunset. I had one encounter swimming with them but the water was too murky to see but there was a moment when I was surrounded by air bubbles so I think that they were checking me out. Everytime I see them my heart flips, they are such awesome creatures and seem to interpret and illustrate time in such a engeniously unique fashion.
I have finished a 5 day fast , water only for 3 days then fruit juice for 2 days. I feel good, I have found a great yoga teacher here from the UK who is inspiring me to ease my way back into yoga , and 'touch the stillness' once more after being distracted by my journey into meditation for the previous months.
I am staying in a hut on a beach shaped like an OM, in the centre, I live with some beautiful folk and we are like a family in our living habits, I have met a friend who I did vipassana with in McCloud Ganj back in October, and my dear travel companion Ani. Our place is a place where babies are born, cows guard their newborns with fierce protectiveness and dogs share their pups with glee.....

India the land of extremes- a complex concept!!

I felt inspired to write about my understanding of Indian culture, which, is often referred to as one thing, but everyone of the 26 states is absalutelyand completely different, and even within states there are massive differences in how people conduct their lives and cultural practises. One comparison that I have been thinking about generally is the north/ south divide. So my observations are very much a generalisation but I have noticed the massive difference between western states in the north and south, I do not feel that I spent enough time in the eatern states to compare at all. I htink the north is more developed than the south, there are more westernised tendencies, there are more mountains..... (the Himalayas would put any other ranges to shame!), it is hotter in the south, the people are blacker, and in the caste system black is considered to be a sign of a lower caste, women seem to have more value in the south, it seems cleaner in the south- because less tourists/ less pursuit of western greeds?, bargaining is more gentle, eg one gives richshaw drivers the amount that one thinks the journey is worth, the food in the south is probably my favourate of all the places that I have been, I love the chutneys (coconut esp!) I am trying to learn it befor eI leave and then I can delight those I love with delicious meals. This is not complete but I will add more later.... some musings for now.

Ethical volunteering

I thought I should write about an interesting and relevant conversation I had with some other travellers about ethical volunteering. They had looked for a company who organised ethical volunteering projects and then were happy to pay to take part in one project in Africa, they found an organisation called 'Quest' who met their requirements. They pointed out that it was important that if one is voluntering abroad then it is *important that they are doing something that they are qualified to do in their own country, and I can give the example of when I took classes with the children in Ladakh, I am not trained teacher but if I went into a class to help then the teacher would dissappear....? Then mayhem often ensued.... * Only take part in long term projects, rather than a project that only exists for the sake of the volunteers who are participating * Don't do something that a local person would get paid to do. My friend gave the example of when she paid to participate in a project teaching english in Camaroon, but the people who she taught paid to take the lessons and the host family who hosted her did not recieve any payment.....