Llama

So then, on the 14th, we went to Llama Fest at the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork, UT. Yes, a very strange location for this pretty white Indian Hare Krishna temple, but it's there nonetheless. The saddest part about this evening was that Amy had to work--and she was the one who really wanted to go. But Dolly was in town with us for a week, so she and I and the kids all took the trip down at about 6:45 that night. This was one of the hottest days of the year, even in early evening still about 100 out.

Check out a Google map I made that shows where we were, with satellite photos.

Like I said, it was hot. Pouring from my forehead hot, stiflingly humid inside the temple hot. We parked and walked up the hill to the temple, and there were South American dancers on a tiny stage and booths set up with jewelry and bags and shirts. Llamas filled the inner court with their owners standing close by. We removed our shoes and walked inside the temple, of which the bottom floor is a giftshop with tables and chairs about. A magnificent white cockatoo watched us from within a large cage. We climbed the stairs and the second floor was a seated meditational religious explanation of the Krishnas, what they mean and what they do. A young Indian boy spoke softly and quietly into a microphone, explaining. We went outside through some glorious dark-wooden double doors and were on top of the temple. There are towers at the corners like a castle (Dolly had told Bella this was Princess Jasmine's castle to help her want to come), and a beautiful view of the valley wraps around the temple. There was an elevator that Jarom required us to take back to the first floor. (This elevator was uncertified and a bit unsettling, as it took about 4 minutes just to travel one floor. It's small, hot and claustrophobic and I was beginning to think we should start pounding the walls, though there weren't many others around the elevator area when we got on.)

We walked to the back of the temple grounds where more parrots were housed--one kept mumbling some almost-decipherable parrot-talk to us--and owners stood with their llamas. We pet one or two before heading for the lake. Okay, the lake is really just a big pond--a koi pond with wide, flat lily pads--but we saw others swimming in it and (I already mentioned the temperature) we just couldn't resist. The kids stripped down to their underwear, Dolly got in with her dress on and me with my just my shorts. There was a small waterfall/fountain flowing downward, with a white Krishna status sitting on it. The water was mucky and the bottom was slick with moss. It smelled like fishbowl water. But it was so refreshing and comfortable in the midst of such heat that we welcomed it, welcomed the smell and the moss, the koi and the lilies. I held Orion much of the time while Dolly helped Jarom and Bella splash and play and flounder in the water. We stayed in for almost a half hour, and as we were finally getting up to leave some of the the Krishna temple regulars were beckoning at everyone to get out. We weren't supposed to be swimming in such large numbers, because there is a delicate balance in place to support the fish and flowers, and too many people in too many parts of the pond could disrupt. "Plus," a boy said to me, "you have an infant!" But they were all very friendly and all was well.

We bought Dolly a Llama Fest shirt (I know everyone wants one--I do), and we bought a long peacock feather. We cooled off in our wet clothes and toured the temple last time, then decided to call it an evening.

Here's an article about the whole thing on the Krishnas' website.