Kerala: Speechless and Inspired

When recounting our trip to Kerala to other people, it doesn't seem like real life. We packed so many amazing things into five days, I can't even begin to explain the happiness. It was valarenallathu! (Malayalam for "very good!")

First night was spent in Cochin, among wonderful company in a fantastic little homestay.

Ali and Muhammad and Mickey and Dracula made us pancakes, and we told jokes, and we sang songs, and had a blast on the shores of central Kerala.

Next we took a houseboat on the backwaters of Alleppey, a town on the coast a few hours south of Cochin.
Easily one of the most unreal and beautiful places in the world.

Also, it was eerily like the Disney Jungle Cruise.

..and we woke up to the most glorious sunrise in the world.

Next we swam in the Arabian Sea and ate fresh fish and sat at this beautiful little beach side homestay in the sunshine, and pretty much just soaked up how wonderful Kerala is.

Then we went to the mountains, a town called Munnar. I could live here for eternity.

We met a local guy that offered to tour us around. Little known to us, he'd sneak us through a nature reserve to swim in a secret waterfall...

and then take us to ride elephants....

And the NEXT day we toured all over the mountains in a jeep, went on hikes in national parks, saw elephants in the wild and Keralan mountain goats and waterfalls and glorious views of endless misty valleys, and ended with a night safari through the jungle.

Also, the guide above looked like he had only one good eye, and spotted elephants and bisons across the valley in a snap...took me like ten minutes to find them...





Keralan people were so incredibly happy and welcoming. Everywhere we went there were smiles and hellos and laughter and absolutely wonderful interactions.

Only setback: our first guide in Munnar vastly misled us, and instead of ending the night safari in the tiny town on the edge of Tamil Nadu at 5 am, we ended at midnight. Aka, three hours of six people squished in a jeep trying to sleep while mosquitos ate us to death and while sketchy small-town late-night bus stand wanderers freaked us out.

So thanks, Steven the guide, for really ripping us off.

BUT.

If all I have to do is sit in a jeep in a sketchy town for a few hours to have an amazing week like this one, sign me up for the next trip.

And don't forget the elephants.

Ganesh and Nature Randomness

India does this thing to me where I completely forget about the fact that I have another life across the globe.
Hence major lack of blog postage.

So.
Important things as of the last few weeks.

Ganesh Festival.

A realization I've made:
India will forever and always outdo any country ever in the amount, duration, intensity, devotion, and insanity of festivals.
Ever.
4th of July does not have ANYTHING on Ganesha. Seriously.
Over 50,000 idols of Ganesh are submerged in the lake in Hyderabad over a period of like 10 days. It is the most incredible thing I've ever seen.
We went to see the tallest idol in the city. Some 50 something feet tall. Outrageous. See the crowds? And this was not even a busy day.
Watching the Ganeshas being lowered into the lake by about 100 different cranes stationed around it was something in itself. Every size Ganesh, too.
Ones so tiny little proud-looking toddlers in shiny festival outfits could grasp tightly in their hands ontop of fathers' shoulders.
Ones so large that it took giant trucks and twenty men to attach the crane and guide it into the water.
Ganesh in the form of different gods, with different materials, in different colors.
So.
Many.
Ganesh.

He must be darn happy to see such devotion, eh?

Naturey things:


So lately I've been feeling homesick, out of place, out of touch, out of energy, what have you.
And I think these last few days I've found what I was missing in life.

Nature.
Trees.
Bugs.
Flowers.
Like-minded people doing like minded activities.
That sort of thing.

So, I went to the People's Biodiversity Festival.
And met wonderful people, ate delicious organic food, watched tribal dances, learned an incredible amount of information about India's food security and the insanity that is GM food.
(Don't get me started. Seriously.)

And then  just yesterday I went on a biodiversity lecture/walk combo event on campus. And again, met wonderful people, saw some amazing plants and insects and lakes and landscapes. Also learned some more depressing things, about loss of biodiversity, eutrophication and pollution of campus lakes (and Hyderabad lakes), lack of waste management. But such is life when you care about these kind of issues. Sometimes you have to learn sad things.

On a better note,  have I mentioned that campus is one of the most beautiful places in the world? I literally study in a forest. And it's awesome.

And to top off my week of things to remind me of the kinds of activities that make me happy, we attended a spoken word evening by a lake around a campfire.
Complete with guitar and poetry and songs and lovely people.

I just LOVE lovely people. I will strive to be more lovely.