Thekkady

My three month rotation has come and gone, and just about all of my traveling buddies have already headed back to the States. Now that my erstwhile companions have left me behind, it's the perfect time to reminisce about our adventures. The last weekend in March, I went to Thekkady with Lauren (secondee from Baltimore working in Bangalore), Guy (rhymes with key- French expat who normally works in Switzerland but is currently on a short term assignment to India).

By the way, just a note for ease of reading, almost all of the places here are pronounced with no emphasis on any of the syllables. For example, I live in the building called the Link Horizon, pronounced the Link Hor-ee-zohn. The Hotel Casino is actually the Hotel Cass-ih-no. And so on and so forth. This never fails to amuse me. Ok, one more. the language they speak in my state of Kerala is Malayalam which is really fun to say (Ma-lay-ah-lahm), and just about the only word I know.

Anyway, back to Thekkady. The main reason for going there is the Periyar Tiger Reserve, where there is virtually no chance of actually spotting a tiger. But we did go on a guided tour to see what wildlife we could. Our outfits were accessorized with some always stylish leech guards, as it had rained the day before. As we began our hike, there was an audible rustling from the brush up ahead. Our guide cocked his ear, and was off like a shot! We took off after him, running through the trees and undergrowth. After about a minute of pursuit, he stopped at a clearing, pointed to a tree, and said in a hushed tone, "Look- an iguana!" As I turned to look at Lauren incredulously, it took all of my willpower to keep from cracking up. We did end up seeing a family of elephants- including a baby elephant. There were also some monkeys, as well as hundreds of tiny toads. The toads blended in so closely with the foliage covering the ground that you couldn't even see them until they all hopped at once, which made it look like the ground was moving.

The next day, we went to a place where they train elephants for manual labor and to participate in temple processions for the Hindu festivals. We chose the deluxe pachyderm package (not actually what it was called), and got to ride, feed, witness verbal and non verbal commands, bathe, and be bathed by the elephants. It also included a complimentary cup of tea, as all activities are wont to do in India. It was impressive watching the elephant eat an entire pineapple- spiny bits and all. They bathe the elephants for two hours each day- an hour on each side, and scrub them with coconut shells. The best part was being bathed by the elephant, and it produced my favorite picture from the whole trip (in which I am on the elephant's back being deluged with water). Afterwards, we went to a cafe for lunch, and it started to downpour, but it didn't matter to us as we were already drenched.

We lodged at a homestay, and the house and grounds were beautiful. The owner, Mathew (yup, one "t"), is Indian, but left as a teenager with a few hundred dollars and a knapsack, and performed a variety of jobs in a number of countries before returning to his native place. He was quite interesting to talk to, and stayed with us the entire time and acted as a tour guide.

If you like elephants, you'll love these pictures:

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=222601287/a=123174408_123174408/t_=123174408