Hiking around Munnar

---

The primary reason for being in Munnar was to hike. I went for several long walks in the tea plantations and among cardamom fields with an architect from Italy and a tapastry weaver from Montreal, respectively. Both instances involved a map from Joseph, which led us astray.

I hiked along the ridge nearest Zina's for a long way, and along the way I discovered trail markers and constructed look-out points. It's not clear who placed these up there, and there is no tourist guidebook or other resource telling people about the trail.

On New Years Eve Day, I climbed a mountain with a Scottish couple on their 15th or 16th trip to India, each trip involving serious trekking. We figured the mountain we climbed that day was the 3rd or 4th highest peak south of the Himalayas, from the map resources we had available. About 50 feet from the very top, three British missionary boys popped up over the side of the mountain. They had bush-whacked their way to the top (we'd followed a path) from Munnar (we'd taken a jeep ride about 10 miles out of town to a reasonable starting point). The one boy's shorts were ripped all the way from the leg through the crotch, one had a seriously wounded bloody toe, they shared a flask of whiskey at the top, and they set off firecrackers before heading on down the way we'd come up. Unexpected wildlife, unlikely missionaries.

---