As you have already seen from a previous post, Kochi was filled with food, coffee and Harry Potter. It was great to reconnect with Tove after leaving the farm. I took a night bus to Kochi, Kerala and arrived at 5:30am. Fortunately Tove and her friend Hanne arrived earlier Thursday evening and already had a place for us to stay. Poor Hanne, she was kept up for the next 2 hours while Tove and I caught up. We finally decided we should get a few more hours of sleep at around 7:30. Kochi was as I remembered it, but now I had more time to relax and enjoy it. We did a lot of wandering around and shopping. We went to the Mattencherry Palace (Dutch Palace) which was really very cool. We learned a lot about Indian history and that none of us knew. We tried to go to Jew Town, yes that is what it is called, and go to the Pardesi Synagogue but it was closed both times. A bit bummed out about that. We took a back waters tour. We were expecting this to amazing and beautiful. Hoping to see some villages and different ways of living. Well, it was beautiful. Tove and I have decided that we are not meant for boat tours. They keep turning out to be horribly boring. The tour guide barely told us anything. We saw how rope was made from coconut and how they burn clam shells with charcoal to make calcium nitrate, but that was basically it. It was a 7 hour boat ride / tour.
Next we headed to Munnar. The bus ride into town and out of town was out of this world. The Western Ghats are amazing. I have a few pictures but they just don't cover it. By the time we head to Munnar I have a cold. Munnar is very cold and less than welcoming. Neither of us feel any love for Munnar itself but we don't regret the bus ride in and out of town. We just stayed on night. I have not worn so much clothing in India as I did there. Loved my rain jacket and scarf.
We quickly moved on to Kumily and set up camp where we stayed a month ago when there. It was a great week of basically doing nothing. We read a lot and watched an amazing amount of rain fall. The idea was to relax and that is what we did. The weekend trip for the projects abroad volunteers happened to be to Kumily the weekend that we were there so I was able to catch up with Denise and Jacqueline from the farm and introduce them to Tove. It was great to see them again and get updates on the farm and the village.
My birthday was spent in Kumily. Tove was awesome and woke me up with breakfast and tea and we had a bit of a spa day as well. It was as good as a birthday could be away from home. Our last day in Kumily we went for an Elephant ride. It was great fun. I haven't been on an elephant since I was little with my mom at Marine World I think it was.
Our next stop was Madurai before we headed to Chennai. Tove had to pick her stuff up from the office there and I had some repacking to do. Since we were so near, we decided to make a side trip to the farm to see Raisa and the host family. We couldn't have picked a better day. We got to see everyone and we went with Raisa and the volunteers to one of the orphanages that they had been working at to do a presentation on farming. At the end we were treated to a dance performance from a bunch of the kids. It was so much fun. I am sore today from playing and throwing the kids around yesterday.
Next we headed to Munnar. The bus ride into town and out of town was out of this world. The Western Ghats are amazing. I have a few pictures but they just don't cover it. By the time we head to Munnar I have a cold. Munnar is very cold and less than welcoming. Neither of us feel any love for Munnar itself but we don't regret the bus ride in and out of town. We just stayed on night. I have not worn so much clothing in India as I did there. Loved my rain jacket and scarf.
We quickly moved on to Kumily and set up camp where we stayed a month ago when there. It was a great week of basically doing nothing. We read a lot and watched an amazing amount of rain fall. The idea was to relax and that is what we did. The weekend trip for the projects abroad volunteers happened to be to Kumily the weekend that we were there so I was able to catch up with Denise and Jacqueline from the farm and introduce them to Tove. It was great to see them again and get updates on the farm and the village.
My birthday was spent in Kumily. Tove was awesome and woke me up with breakfast and tea and we had a bit of a spa day as well. It was as good as a birthday could be away from home. Our last day in Kumily we went for an Elephant ride. It was great fun. I haven't been on an elephant since I was little with my mom at Marine World I think it was.
Our next stop was Madurai before we headed to Chennai. Tove had to pick her stuff up from the office there and I had some repacking to do. Since we were so near, we decided to make a side trip to the farm to see Raisa and the host family. We couldn't have picked a better day. We got to see everyone and we went with Raisa and the volunteers to one of the orphanages that they had been working at to do a presentation on farming. At the end we were treated to a dance performance from a bunch of the kids. It was so much fun. I am sore today from playing and throwing the kids around yesterday.
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