Into The Mountains

Our next trip was to the mountain district of Idukki to the northeast of Mavelikara. We managed to get everything we needed for 3 dental clincs and 3 days of personal items for 6 people (me, Chris, Rick, GV, Reji, and our driver, Emmanuval) into the van and still have space for all of us!

After we got into the mountains I realized I should have paid more attention to the numerous warnings from Reji that the roads in Idukki were curvy and paid less attention to the fact that we were going to where tea and spices grew! It didn’t take long for me to wish I had brought my Dramamine! Even Rick got car sick in the back seat. The scenery was gorgeous in the mountains! There were steep hills and fathomless drop offs everywhere. But it was lush, green and dotted everywhere with tea plantations and waterfalls (thanks to it being the rainy season)! And it did rain quite a bit…

we took this pic for Will

No one was feeling very well, so we took a pit stop for coffee and chai…

this woman was selling tapioca root 

 pastries in the window of the tea shop

Then we were back on the road again. We wanted to make it to the hotel before dark…

While most waterfalls were off in the distance, we came upon one right on the road. It was a bit of a tourist attraction complete with photo ops and food stands but no parking. Not a problem. Everyone who wants to stops just stops and everyone else just has to find their way around. I can’t imagine what this place is like during the sunny holiday season!

Idukki is a popular tourist destination in the dry season thanks to its higher elevation, cooler temperatures and the stunning views and scenery! We were also told it has a heavenly spicy smell at the right time of year…

There were tea plantations everywhere! You could tell when you saw them from the way tea plants grow in rows on the hill sides. Women pick tea leaves by hand, 6 days a week all year long here for about $2 a day. No one was out on a Sunday but seeing how steep some of the hills were, I can’t imagine even being able to stand up much less pick tea! Especially during the monsoon season!!!

rows of tea plants on the hill

The road to the hotel was a narrow dirt road to what seemed like the end of the hill. We weren’t staying in just any old hotel but in a private club with cabanas, courtesy of Sindu Indane (the owner of a gas company and host of our first dental clinic).

I may not have heeded the curvy road warnings, but I am glad we went back to grab our jackets before leaving IEM! It was cloudy, rainy, WINDY and cold! Yes, I said cold…

 

The views were beautiful! Especially when the wind blew the fog and clouds away for a few minutes!

  It was raining quite hard and even though we were wearing rain coats with hoods, everyone insisted in carrying our bags while holding an umbrella over our heads which did absolutely no good in the driving rain and wind…

our room was the one on the right

The view from our deck…

Rather than traditional American gutter downspouts, Indians just have strings of beads…

After settling into our room, we met everyone at the Valley View dining room for dinner. Chris and I said how the weather reminded us of the Oregon coast in the winter: the rain was pouring down and the wind was howling!

  We walked back to the room looking forward to our first hot shower while in India. I was so chilly and damp that it was almost all I could think about during dinner. And with no heat in the room, a hot shower was just what we were needing…

If we had known the hot water would only last about 90 seconds to 2 minutes, I wouldn’t even had tried. It was almost unbearably disappointing. I gave up altogether and just went to bed cold and never did warm up.

It was not the best night’s sleep, but would have been nearly horrible if it wasn’t for earplugs to shut out the rain beating on the bare metal roof over our head and the singing bird at 5am!

But we were off bright and early for our clinic in Elappara…