India!

Here in the state of Kerala on south east coast of the country, in the deep south of India, bananas are called plantains and plantains are called bananas. Driving is on the left side of the road and the driver’s wheel is on the right, English-style. Summer was during our US winter and spring, the rest of the year is monsoon season. I am not in Kansas anymore. ha.

I flew into Kochi airport on June 6, the start of monsoon season. The rains are expected at any moment and according to my host Motty will offer a pleasant cooling once they arrive. I have no idea what the monsoons will be like but you can be sure I will keep you posted.

the view from the gazebo at Hornbill Camp

For now I jumped off a sand-filled, beige, chaotic, and garbage-strewn place (It’s Egypt! the Egyptians say with bravado, where anything is possible, like driving in reverse down an entrance ramp to the highway, I kid you not) and landed in a plush Eden. Everything is green, a bright celebratory green teaming with tropical trees and bushes and plants, flowers in vibrant yellow, orange, and reds and fruits so plentiful they fall rotten from the trees. Enormous Jackfruit for example. Which I have yet to try and may not but that is a long boring story about allergies and a similar fruit that I won’t drag you into.

Anyway there are more interesting things to write about.

I am staying with Motty on his plantation. It is a working farm growing pineapple, mango, coffee, spices like cinnamon and black pepper, and rubber from the rubber tree among other things. Who knew rubber grew on trees?! It drips out of the tree much like maple syrup and is collected in cups. Motty showed me his shed where the white goo from the trees is mixed with foric acid then ironed out on ancient-looking presses into white sheets. It is these sheets that are sold to manufacturers like tire makers.

Rubber trees!

Technically I came to this particular spot to continue working my memoir, the writing project that threatens to take over my life for the next 10 years unless I manage to carve out some serious time to focus on it. Motty was kind enough to offer me an open ended stay to do so. But getting an Indian visa for longer than 30 days turns out to be complicated plus I started the whole process in Cairo too last minute being unaware of the extra steps required for a longer visa. I am hoping to have success in extending it while I am here and am currently working on it.

But for now: I did some writing on my memoir today, the first in a number of months. This is a good sign. And I am surrounded in beauty. Waterways, rivers, mountains, exotic birds, and the much welcome calming influence of it all. Motty has a birding lodge on the lands called Hornbill Camp http://www.thehornbillcamp.com/ . It is not currently birding season so I can go over to the gazebo and meditate, or jog on the tiny side roads and trails, or just chill under a fan in my bedroom. And there are tuktuks though for now I have been driving around in Motty’s Nissan air conditioned SUV. How can you go wrong?

HOUSEKEEPING NOTES FOR BLOG:  I suggest you read my post online and not in the email because I continue doing improvements, additions and corrections for a couple of days, online will be most up to date.   Regarding this post, I am having trouble adding all the pics I want so I will do another post with maybe just pics 🙂

view from the gazebo at Hornbill Lodge

pineapple growing on the plantation

pineapple growing with the view of the plant, for those of you who didn’t know they grew in this sort of bush and not a tree (me for example ha)

breakfast – fresh pineapple juice! mango, plantain/bananas, eggs, and brown rice!

Rubber tree with rain guard

raw cocoa pod in my hand!

the cocoa pods growing on the tree

the seeds inside the cocoa pod, who knew… you can eat the white part and inside is the seed that is harvested to make chocolate

Motty harvesting some fresh tumeric for my camera with his dog Koval

the tumeric root