Coffee and Chocolate...my two great loves

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India… everyday I am surprised by it. I understand how people can travel here and still be shocked, thrilled, entertained, frustrated and amazed. Oh fun fact, did you know you can get a 10 year travel visa here? Haha, that is a tad much for me, but still a pretty cool option!

Well, my last entry I talked about my crazy train ride. I could write about an equally crazy bus ride, but that may be too much of me talking about my modes of transportation. In short, one overnight bus I took was SO bouncy, that my behind came off the seat at least 7 inches (not even exaggerating!) on multiple occasions, the driver hit a poor rickshaw, and ran over a minimum of 3 animals… He was quite the driver! And the sleep I had that night was a total of zero.

It is so worth the crazy drives to find these amazing hidden gems though! I had been traveling with some inspiring and fun French people for about 10 days, then found other solo travelers and we have picked up strays along the way. So, now I have been seeing the southern part with some of the coolest people! It’s a bonus for me also, because I am the worst person to research a country (as I have mentioned before), and lucky me, I find a keener who knows exactly where the best places are. So, after traveling 255 km and arriving 12 hours later, this mishmash of travelers arrived in a town called Kudaikanal (once again, I’m writing this down because I will forget it in a few months most likely).

We were lucky enough to find a dorm room with enough beds for all of us, considering it was midnight and the town goes to sleep at 9:30. Anyhow, one of the best moments in my travels, the following morning I get up, walk out the door, around the corner and BOOM! Mountains as far as I could see and so beautiful! It seems like Tarzan or Godzilla could come rushing out of the jungle at any moment. So, that just reinforces my strategy for not preplanning anything, because I am always surprised 😊

This little village was so quiet and was known for its chocolate. Let me tell you something, when they have handmade chocolate (for less than $1) and you haven’t eaten good chocolate in 4 months… a person goes crazy. Not even kidding, I was buying bags of chocolate and immediately ripping them open, not even caring that I was standing on pee soaked dirt/garbage, with cars almost hitting me, and just eating the entire 100 grams of the BEST chocolate ever! Obviously, I am still pretty excited about that, due to the CAP LETTERS!

One of the days, we ventured out to find a village. The jungle may be beautiful, but it sure gets hot! Also, you think I would remember that from Burma, but give me a few weeks and the sweaty, painful memories fade. Anyhow, we reach this village that you can only get to by donkey or walking. Now that was remote and a legit Indian village! It was such a beautiful moment, because I walked down a separate path from the rest of the group, and two locals motioned me over to their house. Turns out, it was a brother and sister at their uncles house, and they made me a strong cup of coffee. They really have nothing, and we couldn’t speak to each other, yet somehow my pathetic attempt at communication was enough, I really felt welcome and so privileged to be sharing homegrown and roasted coffee on their front step.

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 On the way back from this 6 hour trek, we passed a fruit and vegetable stand. I will never take fresh produce for granted again, by the way! If I find a place that serves a salad…ooooh ya, that is a rare occurrence (as much as I love Indian food, bread and curry gets a little heavy after a while). Anyhow, I bought some fresh carrots and we were just strolling down the road. All of the sudden, I look and about 15 rabid monkeys are scampering towards me. I used to think “oooh such cute, cool creatures!!”. Nope! They are dirty, have nasty fangs and STEAL your food!!! Well, in their defense, animals on a good day make me nervous, but when a pack of monkeys come running towards you, I reacted in an animalistic response myself. I threw those darn carrots right at them and I started running. Moments before,I had just been complaining about my sore legs… its funny how a shot of adrenaline will change that! Needless to say, the monkeys got a nice snack, and I am still craving vegetables.

The growing coffee isn’t even the main industry in those mountains, it is tea plants. Beautiful trees and I went to a plantation where I finally learned the difference between green, white, and black tea. It is all from the same tree, just the white tea is the bud part, the green is smaller leaf under that, and the black tea is the biggest leaf underneath. So, that’s why white tea is the more expensive. Cool eh? Oh and they pick the leaves every ten days (when I say ‘they’, I mean women. Apparently the females are better at this job than males). The trees cover the hillsides and the way they are planted, it looks like it should be in the Shire or a little hobbit running through it.

For those of you that think that statement makes me seem like I lost my mind, you very well could be right. I ordered curd for breakfast (a nasty word for yogurt), and sat and waiting till the guy came back (about 4 minutes) to ask for a spoon. He gave me a look, like “wow, you must be joking”, I look down, and there was a spoon in the bowl. Not even on the side…yep, right in the yogurt. I blame it on the vehicle fumes I’ve been breathing in the past 4 months.

Speaking of that, it is almost 4 months since I left Kelowna. That is a long time! For someone who wants to go traveling, it takes at least 3 months to get into the swing of things. And when I say swing of things, I mean, get used to being in a constant state of dirt, spending 5 minutes haggling to save .10 cents, and hardened enough that the small things don’t really faze you that much anymore. If the bathroom doesn’t have pee on the floor, that is a luxury!

I am in the State of Kerala now. This is (I think) the richest state in India. I am in a really nice, artsy town right now, and the change from the mountains is a good one. I will always love the mountains, but it is nice to have a real shower again (right after I boast of how much of a ‘traveler’ I am).

And guess what? Tomorrow I am going to a cricket game! I absolutely know nothing about the sport, and apparently a game can last up to 5 days (normally, I think it’s about 8 hours long). I don’t even care about that. I get to go to a live sporting event, where 40,000 people who love the game will be there. Its England vs India. We bought some cool paint and gear for dressing up, so go India go!! Should be fun, considering I have the cheapest ticket available, so this group and I will right among the locals 😊

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Photos

remote village
This lady was separating the coffee bean from its shell

Place where I sat drinking coffee
Interestingly, she was 28 years old. wow, I would have guessed much older. Beautiful day

During the trek
If you look really close, you can see a tiger and tarzan

Bee hives
CRAZY bee hives in this tree. They were selling the honey on the side of the road. Really great honey, and I dont even like honey

Chinese fishing net
In Kerala, this contraption is used for fishing. Really neat!

One of the rooms i stayed in
Places I will stay to save $2...

Comments

[Uncle Barry]

Best chocolate ever
That would be a great ad, eating chocolate while standing in marinating garbage, getting run over by 2 cars and a motorcycle, and still eating the best chocolate in the world, what a great day it is! Also, me, I think I would find a way to import said chocolate. Make contacts, make coin. ps, if you become a girlfriend to an Indian tea farmer on some bus, your dad will hire me to hire someone to fix things. Better yet, he can hire Chris who knows people who don't have a sense of humor. Now, where is my Hersey bar?