A Day in the Mountains

Three of us left at six o'clock in the morning with our guide to line up for tickets to take a seven thirty boat ride around a lake in the Periyar National Wildlife Preserve to view the local wildlife. The mountain scenery was an added bonus to sightings of wild dogs, two kinds of deer, lots of birds, warthogs but no elephants or tigers (oh,my)! The ride proved a relaxing beginning to another busy day, one dampened by intermittent showers but still chock full of activities.

Next on the agenda was a visit to an organic spice garden where Taj, our young host, showed us some of the many, many varieties of spices grown locally, including pepper, cardamon, allspice, turmeric, mace, curry and cocoa. We were surprised by how some were grown, the kinds of plants involved and the parts thereof going into the spice itself.

For lunch we crowded into an apartment kitchen and, under the tutelage of our hostess, her sister and a neighbor, prepared lunch together. Actually our three hostesses had done most of the preparation but left the making of a couple of dishes to us. We gamely plunged right in and in the end had a delicious meal!

A brief elephant ride in the rain followed. It felt somewhat like a pony ride for grownups...

Back at our bungalow in the late afternoon we were visited by a curious pack of local monkeys who swung in to take a look and then vanished just as quickly.

After dinner this evening we attended a splendid performance of two traditional dance pieces performed by a graceful and extremely well trained young fifteen year old dancer whose every movement of eye and hand and head helped tell the stories she presented for our entertainment. What an accomplished artist!

A full dance card indeed, don't you think?