Learning about Tea

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It was nice to finally be able to sleep in and not worry about having to be anywhere. We went and sat in the little watchtower by our hut. It's raised and looks into the sanctuary. We some some cows and a wild boar. Also some lizzards crawling around on the wall. It was really peaceful up there. We had a nice looong breakfast at the Coffee Inn. It takes FOREVER to get your food. Luckily sitting outside waiting for it is nice. I got a banana pancake, which was good. Lots of banana in it, and this strange (but good) caramalized sugar-syrup on top. It was nice to have a leisurely morning.

After food we walked into the town and checked out different spice shops (they are all over the place!). We knew we wanted to bring some home with us for people, so we compared prices at a bunch of different shops. We ended up getting some stuff from a shop called Adam's spices 😊 We got cardamom, a curry mix, chai tea, and tea masala. It smelled so good in the shops -- I wanted to get everything.

In the afternoon we took an autorickshaw to the Connemara tea factory and saw how tea was made. I never knew how much work went into it. It gets picked from bushes, shaken and sorted through, then ground down smaller and smaller, and baked and sorted into different grades/sizes. It smelled awesome in there too. So it was a fun little tour.

That evening we met up with Nick again at the Jungle Cafe for dinner. The three of us decided to go into the park tomorrow and do a whole day excursion. Hung out there a long time talking to other travelers, enjoying our beer, and looking for animals. We saw some boars, but they scurried away quickly.

After dinner, hung out on Nick's porch with another guy until after midnight! We have to get up at 4:30a for a 5am drive into the sanctuary.

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Photos

Kumily
Monkeys hanging out on top of a shop.

Kumily
Tea bushes in the hills.

Connemara tea factory
tea leaves to be sorted through.