Day 72, Kumily [Wednesday 13th February 2008]
Previous day: Day 71, Kottayam [Tuesday 12th February 2008]
Next day: Day 73, Periyar [Thursday 14th February 2008]
George makes us breakfast of pootu (steamed rice and coconut cakes) with banana and toddy syrup, which he makes us mash up togehter and which is deliciously sweet.
Then we wave goodbye and get the rickshaw to Kottayam, where Kate stops and buys "The God Of Small Things", the author of which's house we just drove past. From Kottayam we get the bus to Kumily, at the edge of Periyar National Park and close to the Tamil Nadu border, in the Cardamom Hills region. It's a 4 hour bus ride, after which we spend some time trying to decipher the geography of the town before locating our homestay, Kairili Palace. It's built like a traditional Keralan home, with a wooden upper story hewn from Anjali wood, the same wood the dragon boats of Kottayam are made from. There's a private seating area outside our spacious room, with curved, polished dark wooden benches. It's comfortable and interesting, with a view over the garden, which is full of fruit trees.
Spices are big business around here. Every other shop in the street is selling packets and sacks of cardamom, pepper, cinnamon. We ask our smiling host if she can make us dinner, and she obliges with a huge, varied meal of chicken masala, rice, and cabbage, carrot and green beans from the garden. Yum. We sit down with the family to eat and we meet her husband, who has an infectious hoot of a laugh, and her cheeky granddaughter Sara. They're a friendly bunch, with enough English to share a joke with us. We go back upstairs stuffed.
Next day: Day 73, Periyar [Thursday 14th February 2008]
Previous day: Day 71, Kottayam [Tuesday 12th February 2008]