Tues 2/13/18 Greenwoods Resort - Thekkady
We had a spice tour where we walked through the woods and then a spice farm this AM. We learned a lot about the local agriculture as well as the aruyvedic use of herbs and spices. The area also grows coffee, and there was a lot of tea plantations. Our guide was full of information. We learned the following: All tea is from the same the tea plant, white, green and black are achieved by the point the leaves are picked, then how harvested. Female elephants have four children with gestation between 18 to 22 months. She will have two females, one male that will not grow tusks and one male that will grow tusks. Elephants will break their own tusks off, or in captivity the tusks are groomed and grow back. You should eat 2 squares of at least 70% dark chocolate before breakfast to loose weight. I have fallen in love with Marsala tea and Marsala chai' so we were able to buy a variety of spices at the farm. Top of my list was the spice mix for Marsala. In the afternoon we walked into town, shopped, immersed ourselves in the local scene which was fun. Renjit picked us up at 5:45 and brought us to a show about local martial arts. It was a combination between dance, acrobats and various martial arts both hand to hand, and with weapons. Back to hotel after the show where we ended up just gorging ourselves with rum and snacks.
Tues 2/13/18 Greenwoods Resort - Thekkady
We had a spice tour where we walked through the woods and then a spice farm this AM. We learned a lot about the local agriculture as well as the aruyvedic use of herbs and spices. The area also grows coffee, and there was a lot of tea plantations. Our guide was full of information. We learned the following: All tea is from the same the tea plant, white, green and black are achieved by the point the leaves are picked, then how harvested. Female elephants have four children with gestation between 18 to 22 months. She will have two females, one male that will not grow tusks and one male that will grow tusks. Elephants will break their own tusks off, or in captivity the tusks are groomed and grow back. You should eat 2 squares of at least 70% dark chocolate before breakfast to loose weight. I have fallen in love with Marsala tea and Marsala chai' so we were able to buy a variety of spices at the farm. Top of my list was the spice mix for Marsala. In the afternoon we walked into town, shopped, immersed ourselves in the local scene which was fun. Renjit picked us up at 5:45 and brought us to a show about local martial arts. It was a combination between dance, acrobats and various martial arts both hand to hand, and with weapons. Back to hotel after the show where we ended up just gorging ourselves with rum and snacks.
Wed. 2/14/18 Happy Valentines Day Allepy
We left early for another long drive, four and a half hours. We arrived and were settled on to our house boat by 1:30. The boat was private with two cabins and we had three staff members. We ate lunch while cruising around the backwaters of Kerala until about 5:30 when the captain tied off of a face wall at the owners house. We had a great sunset. The cruising was wonderful. It use to be one huge lake but through the years it has been divided up to make rice fields, with miles of canals and small islands with villages on them. We saw lots of birds, and witnessed daily village life of fishing.bathing, washing clothes etc...... It felt like a throw back in time. I was afraid there would be a lot of other houseboats on the water but we really did not see a lot of them. It was Valentines Day so Jon and I swapped cards and little gifts and we had an excellent dinner served family style with Mike and Jana. It was amazing how the chef was able to produce such a variety and quantity of fabulous food from a small boat galley kitchen.
Wed. 2/14/18 Happy Valentines Day Allepy
We left early for another long drive, four and a half hours. We arrived and were settled on to our house boat by 1:30. The boat was private with two cabins and we had three staff members. We ate lunch while cruising around the backwaters of Kerala until about 5:30 when the captain tied off of a face wall at the owners house. We had a great sunset. The cruising was wonderful. It use to be one huge lake but through the years it has been divided up to make rice fields, with miles of canals and small islands with villages on them. We saw lots of birds, and witnessed daily village life of fishing.bathing, washing clothes etc...... It felt like a throw back in time. I was afraid there would be a lot of other houseboats on the water but we really did not see a lot of them. It was Valentines Day so Jon and I swapped cards and little gifts and we had an excellent dinner served family style with Mike and Jana. It was amazing how the chef was able to produce such a variety and quantity of fabulous food from a small boat galley kitchen.
Fri. 2/16/18 En route back home
Hard to believe that were on the plane heading back home and that our time in India is done.......
Yesterday AM we were up early for the three hour drive to from our house boat in Allepy to the Cochin airport. We arrived in Delhi around 5:30 PM. We had arrangements to go to a hotel for the use of a room to rest/freshen up in until our flight left at 11:45 PM. However we determined by the time we gathered our luggage, drove the half hour to the hotel, then checked out out drove another half and arrived back at the airport three hours prior to our departing flight, we would only have about an hour in the hotel and it seemed it silly. We decided to just stay at the hotel and go to the United club room. Luckily we were able to shower, eat dinner, drink cocktails and check emails so it turned out to be more relaxing than going to the hotel. We boarded our flight from Delhi to Newark, arrived at Newark at 4:00 AM this morning, and our now on our final leg where we left Newark at 7:30 and arrive in Orlando at 10:30AM. The time sure did fly by in India and we all agreed that we may like to go back someday, so you never know......
Hard to believe that were on the plane heading back home and that our time in India is done.......
Yesterday AM we were up early for the three hour drive to from our house boat in Allepy to the Cochin airport. We arrived in Delhi around 5:30 PM. We had arrangements to go to a hotel for the use of a room to rest/freshen up in until our flight left at 11:45 PM. However we determined by the time we gathered our luggage, drove the half hour to the hotel, then checked out out drove another half and arrived back at the airport three hours prior to our departing flight, we would only have about an hour in the hotel and it seemed it silly. We decided to just stay at the hotel and go to the United club room. Luckily we were able to shower, eat dinner, drink cocktails and check emails so it turned out to be more relaxing than going to the hotel. We boarded our flight from Delhi to Newark, arrived at Newark at 4:00 AM this morning, and our now on our final leg where we left Newark at 7:30 and arrive in Orlando at 10:30AM. The time sure did fly by in India and we all agreed that we may like to go back someday, so you never know......
