Arriving in Madurai and Chandra's house, Tuesday night, Sept 15th

After our one hour domestic flight we arrived in the Madurai airport at 8pm. It was completely different than Chennai in every aspect. As we walked down the plane's stairs onto the tarmac, the first thing we noticed was the rain forest-like wet heat. The humidity stuck to our faces and clothes, making it feel like a perpetual sweat layer that never dried off.
(Says Paige, "That was Kelsey. I was ok with the hot. Kelsey is not made for India heat.")
We walked across the tarmac to the tiny, one room baggage hall with one luggage belt. Unlike in Chennai, we had no fear about not finding our hosts as Chandra and her husband Vijayasarathy were there waving and calling our names from the other side of the hall as soon as we walked through the doors. They are the sweetest couple and are incredibly generous. They do a lot of work for Bethania on top of running a highly esteemed primary school our of their home for 200 kids from the surrounding rural area.
Getting to their house was quite a trip! It took about 15 minutes to put and strap down our 4 large suitcases on top of the car, with Paige and I desperately hoping the bungee cord wouldn't break! We stopped for dinner on our two hour ride at Bell Jumbo, a restaurant with typical South Indian cuisine, as well as Indian versions of chinese food. It took us a little while to realize when Chandra was asking us, "Do you like noodles? You eat fish, yes? Oh, you like masala dosa!" that she would order every type of food that we told her we eat! We ended up with a several course dinner, seemingly endless as Chandra would order another as soon as any plate ran out! Some highlights were tandori style fish, sambal, coconut chutney with dosa and delicious fresh pineapple juice.
We arrived late that night to their beautiful house in their small village. We were very grateful for the air conditioning in our room and even our own bathroom! It is wonderfully decorated with pictures of their children and grandchildren and photographs on the wall. It feels like a home already! The marble tiles in the bathroom smell warm and comfortable. Paige and I are staying upstairs, where there is a view of the surrounding area and their yard. We almost feel spoiled staying there, with Chandra and her husband making sure that we're comfortable- we're surely more than that!