Munnar

My friend Alexis, a fellow teacher from North Carolina, came to see India and spent a few days traveling with me in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.  She’s teaching in Dubai, UAE now, so the trip was actually easier for her than say visiting the US.  Here are some photos from the two days spent in Munnar, Kerala.

Above: “I see you!”  “And you see me!  Ah!”  On the drive to Munnar we had to pass through a wildlife sanctuary.  I wasn’t expecting to see any wildlife.  These guys (or gals) were just grazing next to the road.

Above: Then they got a little too close (about 20 feet).  Ellen and I trekked and took boat rides searching for elephants and saw only one.  These three (small baby in between) were part of a pack of about 12.

Above:  Enjoying a south Indian breakfast.  Dosas.  Rice pancakes.  Mmmmm…

Above:  We started our walk through the tea plantations.  Tea is grown in the higher elevations, these are the highest tea fields in all of India.

Above:  Looking down on a small village from the tea plantation above.

Above:  Tea is grown a lot like how coffee is grown, and I’ve had a lot of experience with coffee farms in Costa Rica.  The reason that tea fields look so much more manicured is that the new growth leaves are picked as the crop.  So the bushes sort of spread out and every time they are picked they look like a manicured lawn.

Above:  That same village we saw from above.  It turns out it is a village for the people who work the tea plantation.  All of them were off of work for a Hindu holiday and we walked up on the village just as the pooja (Hindu ceremony) was happening.  The processional is starting: drums, priest with bowl of fire, silver buckets filled with water.

Above: The woman in pink is holding some sacred leaves that she will offer later (we saw what looked like her offering them).  She is dancing around and around while the processional comes.

Above:  After the main drumming and dancing (six people danced as if possessed…it was amazing) some of the villagers wanted their pictures taken.

Above:  The small temple is in the upper right of the shot.  A peacock image is in front of the temple where it looks likes sticks laid over each other.  We think we understood that this festival was for the peacock, but we’re not sure.   Some men from the village insisted that we come have a cup of tea with them.  We did.

Above:  Chillin’ with tea.

Above:  Alexis at the waterfall (our destination).  We walked over 12 miles through the plantation, village, and finally back up to the road where we caught a bus back to Munnar.

Above:  What I thought was a cool picture of this crab crawling up the rocks of a river.