This morning we got on a local bus and waved good-bye to bill-boarded Chennai. The ride was fun - jasmine insence billowing sweet sleepy smoke across the sunny open-air seats as we rushed south past bannana stores, motorcycle repair shops, shops and shops and shops, selling everything imagineable, everyone hustles in India. South south, colors, patterns and textures I've never seen anywhere ever before. The city starts to fade and turns into the lush countryside of Southern India, palm trees and mud hut villages. Two hours and we finally catch a glimpse of the Bay of Bengal - instant mind expanse into long heart sigh of relief (phuuuuuu----). And into the busy little market street of Mamallapuram.
Mamallapuram is famous for its sculpting. Stone masons bled their fingers on hot rock as far back as the 5th to 8th centuries during the rule of the Pallava kingsof Kanchipuram. Today you still walk through alleys and alleys full of the k'chink k'chink of hundreds of sculptors at work chipping away at grey granite rock to create beautiful deities, elephants, dancers, buddhas, all types of beings emmerge all around you straight out of the ground atop of which the artists dance. The pathways are made of the chips of the sculptors that came for millenia before those still working today. Theres nothing like it, the energy is incredible, its a town of pure creativity.
There are great rock temples in the cliffs that pinch the town against the Bay, great black rock on which sculptors once carved life-size parades of elephants and royalty 1,500 years ago.
There are beach cows! The beach is tan and warm, the Bay is vital. We ate grilled masala coconut fish tonight.
(next day)
We woke up at 6am to watch the sunrise over the ocean. It was so beautiful! Theres nothing more refreshing than welcoming the day with your toes in a warm lacy ocean. I saw a beach calf playing with a dog! They were chasing each other up and down the beach. I wish I could stay here longer. 
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