Cumily, Thekkady, and the Periyar Wilderness Preserve

Going to Kumili:
William and I left Karaikudi at around 12:30 pm. We took our normal bus to Madurai, where we jumped on another bus headed for Rajapalaim. On the way our bus stopped and picked up an entire bus load of people, whose bus had broken down. (their is one thing about India, you never EVER forget that 1 BILLION people live here) There we might up with Connor, Fillip, our buddy Roman, and 5 other volunteers from across Europe (mostly French though.) We all jammed in to a Tata SUV (yes 10 in one Tata) and started out on our "3 hour Rs2500 drive to Kumili. Things took a lot longer then expected, after four hours we reached the Tamil Nadu/ Kerala boarder where we were held up for 30 minutes because the drivers permit was only for 6 people, not ten. I'm not sure what happened, I imagine some bribing occurred and we made our way in to Kerala. We finally arrived at our accommodation, Mickey's Homestay. Long story short the driver made up pay Rs500 more because of a boarder crossing fee (bribe.)
Mikey's homestay is essentially a bed and breakfast. Will and I shared adjoining rooms with Connor and Fillip in the upstairs. The 5 French volunteers had the back house and the 6 volunteers who came from Madurai took the neighboring house. The rooms at the homestay were large, open, and airy. They had high sealing which vaulted to the center. Our room had a nice big balcony and a covered foyer between our adjoining rooms and the other rooms on the top story. It was of course raining in Cumily when we arrived and rained for most of our journey, and I mean RAINED! The Western Ghats is known globally as one of the rainiest places on the planet, and I never once doubted it.

Saturday: We woke up early Saturday morning expecting to go on a Jeep safari through the reserve, but because of the rain we were persuaded out of it. Instead we started the day with an elephant ride and then took a lackluster boat ride around lake Thekkady, which is in the reserve. We saw deer, bison, lots of birds, and one lonely wild elephant. After the park we took autos to a restaurant that served beef. (Kerala is almost entirely Christian, so they will eat beef.) We then returned to Mickey's at around 3:00pm and we all went our separate ways, the plan was to meet back at 7:30 to go to a Keralan BBQ. Will of course went to sleep(his favorite hobby, only behind tripping on things.) Fillip, Connor, Sophie, Emma, Christine, and I hit the streets of Kumili to a little shopping, and Fillip wanted some junk food (his favorite hobby.) We wandered the town and I bought some spices for my folks. I got Safron, Vanilla beans, Cardamon, Black Pepper, Curry Powder, and Coffee. My total was Rs500 or about $10.00. I'm not an expert on spice prices, but I don't think you can even get Saffron for that price. At 8:00 o'clock we arrived at the house where the BBQ was at. It was a families house that had a big covered pit and large tables. They had a small unattached guest house with a large kitchen where two Canadians, were working on making parata (sp?) (that was one of the options to learn how to cook the Indian food, we decided against it.) Some people started helping the Canadians with the food while other drooled over the chicken being cooked over the pit (guilty.) A couple hours later diner was served. The beer had been flowing like wine up until this point and everyone was starting to relax and have a good time. I ate with the two Canadians and we bullshitted about school and concerts and India. The food was AMAZING (and I don't even really like Indian food.) The chicken was great, the perata light and flaky, and the beer wasn't warm (a chronic problem in India.) They also served curried chicken, chili bean type dish, noodles, and Kerala rice (HUGE GRAINS.) After dinner the whiskey came out, in celebration of Roman's birthday. We drank and laughed and joked late in to the night. We finally went home at around 1:00 am. Will and I slept like stones, on the actually mattresses. And believe it or not the room was so cold that I had two use two of blankets. (we're at about 4500')

Sunday:
Sunday morning was an uneventful day in the rain we ate breakfast and took a 6 hour bus back to Madurai, then the 2 hour bus back to Karraikudi. And so ended the weekend. In the coming days: William is leaving tomorrow morning at 8:00am and I will be staying at the Chella nursing home the remainder of the week. Friday night I will be taking an overnight train to Chennai where I will spend Saturday and Sunday fishing for Giant Trevally. Saturday night RJ (the canadian) and I and his other western friend are either going out to a western restaurant or having a steak bbq. He's been in the country for a couple months now and can supposedly get his hands on great steaks. Monday morning I will be taking a bus to Bangalore where Connor and I will be living like kings until Thursday. I will then hop on another bus to Kodaikanal where there is an organized Projects Abroad trip. Sunday I will head back to Karaikuddi, and Monday I will go back to Chennai to get my flight home.

If anyone is interested in a welcome back party in E-burg let me know.

Left: On an elephant. Right: Me, Will, Ellie

Both: Lake Thekkady Periyar reserve.

Left: Lake again. Right: Ok I'm gonna try to get everyone's name and nationality here: Rameeta UK, Me USA, Ellie UK, Kristine USA, Sophie Belgium, Elephant India, Roman French, Short girl French, Fillip (back) Italy, June Austria (front stripes), Connor USA/French, Will UK, Two french girls.

Elephants

and so you dont think I just have fun. Left: where you wash your hands to be "sterile." Right: Syringes, no guards.

The ever famous, surgical flip-flops.