Written by Xilonen Itzell Sierra
Calling for all scoundrels and scallywags this is the long awaited post for you. The past few weeks have been filled with wonderful adventures, starting with the oh so magnanimous Munnar where to get there we took a three hour bus ride just to transfer to jeeps. Where the ride became arcade like only the tokens we earned was the views of the tea plantation and car sickness.
It was worth the trip to the mountains, the name just as badass as the views ‘The West of Gods’. We trekked to a waterfall, the next morning the bolder of us got up early to see the sunrise, the rest of us joining for the second hike of the day. Throughout the walks we saw some of the most peaceful and scenic spots, thanks to our guide Shabeeb. Although it does sadden me to learn from him that West of Gods didn’t have many native plants even though the mountain was older than the Himalayas.
After a couple of days of the blissful temperature we went off to the humidity of Kochi Kerala. I’m ever grateful that our hostel Preems Homestay had AC and a welcoming environment. Not that Kochi lacked that same environment, it’s humidity just drained you.
Kochi had beautiful stores and beach fronts however to occupy our time we also took classes. Bollywood has us sweaty but smiling, Ayurveda made us lead with curiosity, henna strengthed our spirit to try and then try some more, mural art found fun in messes. Duplicated but never replicated original arts of Kathakali and martial arts was learned too.
However we unanimously agree that the best part was our homestays, for a solid week we spent our lives with families that grew up in Kochi. The best food I’ve ever had was received there. Struggling through language barriers and cultural differences made our connections stronger.
Our last day in Kochi was spent together although we certainly took our time to reunite as the morning was filled with goodbyes to our families. Throughout the day we continued our farewells but to the state where we did our last sight seeing kayaking on a lake.
Afterwards we took to the skies for a solid six hours for our next destination; Udaipur!
It’s lack of humidity was an immediate plus, lakes are everywhere (relative to the rest of India) and we’re learning so much each day here. Taking tours of farms and workshops we’re shown the underbelly of india. The lack of regard for the earth as more waste comes in both in garbage and bad practice farming. I want to thank Shakshanter for not only hosting us but opening our eyes to the damage us consumers can cause. In addition their teachings of alternatives.