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Published: March 1st 2008
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What began as a brief stop on our way to meet up with Burt's friend at a yoga center turned into a six-day love affair with Kumily. The weather was cool, the people were friendly, and there was hardly a mosquito in sight!
Kumily is situated just outside the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary and is surrounded by tea, coffee, and cardamom plantations. So there are plenty of exotic sounds and smells to accompany the views. 😉
Our eco-tourism buddy Oosaka signed us up for a full day's visit to the sanctuary, complete with jeep safari, jungle trek, and paddle boating.
A rickety old jeep pulled up to our house at 5AM and we piled in with two other tourists, a Canadian girl and an older British man. The jeep lurched and shook the whole way and my posterior and I were quite pleased when we made a stop halfway for some hot coffee and parottas (buttery, flaky bread). The sun was just beginning to come out when we reached the entrance and the surrounding hills were peaking through the mist.
I'd like to say that the wildlife-spotting was on par with the scenery, but sadly the most
Drive up
mountain roads + big buses = white knuckles exciting thing we saw was a tree squirrel. Our count for the day consisted of: two langur monkeys, two Malabar tree squirrels, one wild goat, one sambar deer, a kingfisher, a hornbill, and a cormorant. Interesting stuff, but a far cry from the elephants, water buffalo, and tigers the park is said to contain. One line from Jurassic Park kept popping into my head the entire day:
"Now, eventually you do plan to have dinosaurs on your dinosaur tour, right?"
Oh, I almost forgot! There were loads of cicadas! Our guide, trying desperately to give us a good wildlife trek made these creatures out to be some of the most fascinating in the animal kingdom. Our foreign comrades seemed impressed enough and snapped hundreds of photos. Burt and I though... we couldn't help think that we've seen bigger ones in Texas. 😉
The day was really enjoyable though and it was nice to get out walking in a rainforest, animals or no animals.
When we got back home, we showered and headed to a Kathakali dance show. Kathakali is a traditional style of dance from the state of Kerala. There is no speaking -- the actors
use their facial expressions, movements, and occasionally sounds to tell a story. They are accompanied by a few musicians as well. We got there early enough to see the actors putting on their elaborate make-up and costumes.
The next day we decided to go for an ayurvedic massage after watching a brief martial arts show. Ayurvedic medicine is the use of herbs, oils, and massage to treat the body. We each booked a full-body massage, complete with herbal bath. They took our pulse and weight so that they could brew customized baths.
Again, this was not like what they have in the brochures! I arrived that evening, was ushered into a little partitioned area complete with massage table and told to remove my clothing and climb on the table. Well, I almost slid right off of it because the thing was still covered in oil. Then I was supposed to relax while a large Indian woman rubbed scented oil all over me and chattered away in broken English. By the end of it I was dripping with oil from head to toe and a little sore (the table wasn't very cushy). I was told to make my
way to the shower area for my "bath". I made some crack to the lady about being ready for a hot skillet, but either she didn't get it or she wasn't amused.
On to my "bath". More like hot herbal tea in a plastic bucket... She handed me a bar of herbal soap and instructed me to pour water on myself, then scrub with soap, then rinse. Well, apparently over the years I must have learned the improper scrub-down method. After observing my apparently failed attempts to cleanse myself, she stepped in and grabbed the soap from me. So there I was, squatting naked on the floor, with some stranger soaping me up and then drowning me in cups of hot tea. I would have laughed, but I feared that might not be the correct protocol. I still had oil in my hair when we left, but I guess you can say I had some close interaction with the locals!
Burt had an equally funny experience, but didn't quite have the sense of humor about it. When he came out he said, "I'm still tense, but now I'm just greasier." Oh well, at least it makes for a
good story.
We spent most of the following day in a shop, buying a few things, but mostly talking to the owner. His name's Deepak and he's from Goa. He passed on a lot of useful information and was just really nice to talk to. We've sort of rethought our travel itinerary because of him.
The next day we went to a place called Elephant Junction and got to go on an elephant ride through the jungle. I wouldn't really recommend doing it, but at least we got to see a baby.
Oh, I forgot to mention -- there was a festival going on while we were there! An elephant was decorated and paraded around the town and there was live music every night. On our last day, as we were just about to head out, the elephant and procession came right to the front of our house. Apparently they take him around to each house in the village so that people may make donations and receive a blessing from him. Burt threw in a little bit, so hopefully we'll have more good travel luck!
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mom
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ride 'em cowgirl
Send me that pic of you on the elephant!