God's Own Country

After a long and exhausting journey via Mumbai, we eventually arrived in a muggy and rain sodden Cochin on the 1st July. Nitin and Jiyappan (the coordinators for YOI) met us and we commenced our drive to the flat in the centre of the city. As our truck weaved in and out around rickshaws, cows and bright acid coloured painted vans, it seemed to us that the roads were a free for all. Horns were constantly blaring at us, but in quite an amicable way. After a brief introduction and tour of the flat (complete with blaring bhangra music and tiger pictures on the walls) we headed out into the city, to meet with Katie and Alec outside the 'Grand Hotel' for dinner. A torrential downpour started so we decided it best to head home. One perilous rickshaw journey back to the flat and we were all tuckered out.

The next morning Katie, Alec James and I decided to kit ourselves out in some Indian gear, so we headed to the infamous 'Chennai Silks' where us girls browsed through rows of gorgeous fabrics - followed by about 10 assistants. We finally settled on some fairly outrageous combos for our tailored salwaar kameez - mine being lime green top with hot pink trousers covered in huge gold polka dots, matching scarf included. It made even the sales assistant giggle, which i took to be a good sign. It seems you cannot be too 'over the top' in India so we thought we might as well embrace this attitude. The boys got some rather fetching shirts. After a Biryani lunch we headed to the airport to meet Laura and then for some delicious masala chai (highly spiced tea) whilst watching Holland thrash Brazil. We went to pick up our completed outfits and on the way a suspect rickshaw driver kindly 'exhibited' himself to us girls, we made the unanimous decision to stick with the boys from then on! We all stayed in Katie and Alec's luxurious flat as it far surpassed ours, having both hot water and air conditioning.

Saturday, after securing myself an Airtel sim card we decided to visit the popular tourist area of Fort Kochi. For this we had to get to the ferry port which caused much confusion between the rickshaw drivers, even upon us presenting a photograph of a ferry. Eventually we made the port and for about 8p boarded the 10 min ferry that would take us across. The first things i noticed about fort kochi were the tourist feel, the european look and finally the overwhelming number of goats. There also seemed to be some kind of football tournament going on. For lunch we had Thali (mixed vegetarian curries with dahl and indian breads) at a lovely restaurant and then watched as the fishermen pulled in their chinese style nets off rickety little jetties. We were invited to join in and heaved on ropes as a series of weights made from big boulders came hurtling down, pulling the net in. We caught only a few prawns and 'calcium fish.' The stalls alongside the nets displayed a catch that was far more impressive, green lipped mussels, gigantic tiger prawns and some small sharks. One fisherman did an entertaining little dance with a blue crayfish to entice us to buy. We moved on to Jew town where there were some fascinating antiques shops, selling random yet amazing items. The evening dance show we had booked to see was about to start so we approached a (3 person) rickshaw whose driver happily offered to take all five of us. We crammed in and made a very slow progress along the road, at one point rolling to a stop as the engine sputtered out of life. A quick redistrubution of our weights and we were off again at walking pace. Eventually we reached the theatre and enjoyed a show which included mad facial contortions and eye movements, wailing and jiggling about and some very impressive and slightly terrifying martial arts. After dinner (during which the boys eventually got their long awaited beers) we sailed back across, an uncomfortable journey as Laura felt very sick and I was desperate for a wee. When we arrived back in Cochin I had to run to relieve myself and a few huge rats ran by during this. We then sped back to the flat in rickshaws to catch Spain - Paraguay although we were all pretty tired by this point.

After a sad farewell to Katie Alec and Laura we made the journey back to the YOI flat to commence our 5 and a half drive to Marayoor, the site of the school where we will be teaching. We set off with Nitin and Jiappan in the truck and as we left the city the trees slowly became more and more dense, Nitin challenged us to guess the crops that were growing and amongst these we spotted rubber trees, pineapple and sugar cane. He also explained that Marayoor is the only site in the world where natural sandalwood forests can be found. The forests are heavily guarded by armed rangers, as many people attempt to steal the highly prized and expensive wood. As we began to ascend up to 6000ft above sea level, Nitin went on to explain that Marayoor is regarded as a special place as it is mentioned in the Indian Texts (like a Bible equvalent in India.) He told us the story of five brothers who represented 'good' who were banished by their evil cousins and forced to go into hiding. The history of Marayoor can be trace back some 2000 years BC and there is evidence to show that Marayoor was the place in which they hid, the literal meaning of the name being 'hidden place' as it is situated in a valley surrounded by the Western Ghat mountains.
The torrential rain then started and continued to worsen as we made our winding way up the side of the mountain, even through this we could start to see the breathtaking mountain scenery, densely covered in jungle and mist. We passed some spectacular waterfalls which cascaded down even more fiercely due to the torrent. The jungle then gave way to miles of tea plantations which covered the mountains in patterns, as we passed the processing factories the smell of the leaves was pungent and delicious. Only the top pale green shoots are picked and some of the tea plants are ancient. By this point the erratic driving (which was no less even though we were on the side of a mountain) and the winding road had made me feel extremely sick. We stopped at a tea shack where we were served delicious chai by an angry looking man, and ate somee param podi or 'banana fry' - a sweet banana covered in doughy batter. This made me feel much better.
We passed through the Erivakulam National Park which is home to the endangered Nilgri Thar (a kind of goat,) bison, spotted deer, wild elephant, tiger and leopard. Nitin explained that a 'big tusker' had recently been in the area and had torn down all the shops in one village. When we spotted some elephant poo by the roadside he reassured us that it was at least 2 days old.
We eventually reached our new house which is situated right in the middle of sugar cane and semolina fields in the valley near the Marayoor village. Our house is very new, very clean and very pink. We have a 360 dg view of the mountains all around. To celebrate the first stay in the house some milk was boiled in a little ceremony, and a huge bat swooped through our porch which apparently is a good sign. After a dinner of dosa and tomato curry we went straight to bed.