KERALA: Day 5, December 17th -- Great trip to the famed Jatayu Park, followed by waterfalls and lighthouse!

What an extraordinary, full day this was! The three of us ventured out--on a very long rickshaw ride-- to this park in the Kerala mountains. Here is the story behind the giant eagle sculpture:   

"Featuring the world’s largest bird sculpture, the Jatayu Adventure Centre at Chadayamangalam in Kollam, Kerala, is one-of-a-kind theme park based on the Indian epic, the Ramayana. Chadayamangalam is around 50 km from Thiruvananthapuram and the park here is a beautiful amalgam of many elements, including mythology, culture, technology and art. A perfect place for picnic-goers (ha ha ha! food was NOT allowed... so in fact, I had to fight with the security people to get my lunch inside, stressing my hypoglycemia and the fact that they could have a dead person on their hands if I couldn't eat!)  and adventure seekers alike, the place also features a virtual reality museum (NOPE! It was closed for renovation or whatever...why are we not surprised!??!!?)

The most interesting feature of the adventure centre is the bird sculpture of Jatayu, who is a mythological bird character from the Ramayana. According to mythology, Jatayu died in a fight to save Sita (wife of Lord Rama) when Ravana, the demon king of Lanka, was kidnapping her in his magical flying chariot. Jatayu fought valiantly but failed to save Sita and fell on the rocks here in a severely injured condition.

This one-of-kind Ramayana theme park is designed by Rajiv Anchal, a renowned movie director, screenwriter (works in Malayalam language film) and sculptor."

Admittedly, it WAS truly AWESOME!!! (The security people enjoyed exercising their muscles by walking around the huge sculpture and blowing their whistles at all the Indians constantly trying to climb on it--not allowed, of course. I found this greatly entertaining...) 

The cloud-splattered sky made for the absolutely IDEAL photo of this gargantuan, mythical creature! 

Of course I had to photograph it from every angle...so fascinating and dramatic!

Disappointing the museum and "virtual reality centre" was closed, but this seems to happen SO MUCH, everywhere I go, in India!!! 

I think this was actually one place where people WERE allowed to walk up closer to the sculpture... at least I didn't see them getting chased off! 

One had the choice of either taking a tram up the mountain to the sculpture, or else climbing the 826 steps to get there...which of course is what we chose. It was so very nice to actually, finally, get some "hiking" in! Hiking back down the stairs was what got me, though...my calves were fairly sore the next day! 

Along the way up and down the stairs, there were these really wonderful sayings that I thought were very moving... there were too many to capture them all, so I photographed my 2 favorites.

My two lovely and fun German companions! Very young, too...Johanna is only 19, fresh out of high school, and traveling the world! Quite the adventurer! Patricia is slightly older... but not by much. 

Gorgeous view of the surrounding landscape... I think we were about 1200 feet above sea level.. 

       not very high, but still enough for this great view. 

The tram: the "cheating" way to get up to the top and the bird sculpture! 

Yours truly, with "big bird"! LOL! 

The equally entertaining feature of this park: the monkeys! This was the first place I have been so far in India--this time around-- where I have seen them. And WHAT a lot of them there were here! Probably because tourists feed them (though, where is the food coming from?!?!) Or...perhaps the park staff? Regardless, they were quite tame and SO very cute!!! 

Appears to be a whole family: mom, baby, disinterested father...hmmm!!!

I can just imagine the baby thinking, "dad, what are you doing over there? Won't you come play with me?!"

Soooo precious, no?!?

Ahhh, yes, the ol' grooming thing...wish I had someone to do that for me!!!

Another precious youngster... 

Two youngsters playing

After a morning at the park, we continued on, back the way we came, with a bit of a detour to a famed waterfall (name since forgotten). Here, Johanna and Patricia had a wonderful and refreshing time of it, getting soaked beneath the falls, in their clothes. I didn't venture in because I knew I would be too cold for the long, open-aired rickshaw ride back home again. It was a good call, too... as the afternoon grew late, it did indeed get chilly on the ride! But they were delighted... and I was happy for them, to be sure! Taking the photos was fun enough for me!

Looking down the river below the falls...lovely in its own right

Yep, another photo I managed to get Patricia in! 

The water was quite cold, they told me... and when contrasted with the warmth and humidity of the air, really MUST have felt good! (If I had thought to bring a swim suit, I would have gone in as well...but none of us thought of it. We weren't actually sure we would have had enough time for this detour to the falls.) 

This was a very cool temple we just happened to pass by on our way back to Trivandrum. We did not try to go inside, of course, being the afternoon--it would have been closed. 

 
Finally, after we got back to our hotel, I scurried out again and zipped up to the Vizhinjam lighthouse, for which our beach got its name. Quite iconic, this lovely, old-fashioned lighthouse shone its powerful beam over the sea nightly. When open to visitors during the day, it was necessary to navigate some very steep, narrow and windy stairs to the top. Worth the effort! The reward was spectacular views of the beach and ocean below. What a perfect ending to a very satisfying day! 

Up there just in time to catch the beginning of sunset. The lighthouse closed at 5 p.m. though, so had to head down before the full sunset happened. 

Hard to make out the name in the photo, but the long, tan-colored building in the center is the Orion hotel, where I and the German girls were staying. 

SUCH a magnificent view from the top!! 

While this beach may look idyllic from on high, it was, most unfortunately, littered with trash all along its edges in both directions (where I walked in the mornings.) When I swam, it was scary--the waves were high and rough--so I only ventured to swim twice in the week I stayed here. Also,  I fished a lot of plastic out of the water. Depressing, indeed! As so often happens, all is not what it appears to be, especially from a distance!