It's Nicer in the Nilgiris...

One day of heat and we're done! Time to escape to Munnar in the heart of tea country, nestled in India's Nilgiri Hills. In Madurai we hire a pre-paid taxi and the trip starts off nice enough. Our driver stops at the best roadside coconut guy, we snap pictures of life along the road (including the totally goofy political posters you see everywhere). We also sample black coconuts and pass through an area full of brick-making structures.



As I often do, I follow along with our map as best I can, but reading street signs in Tamil is not my forte. So I fail to notice when the driver makes a completely unnecessary turn south off our straight-shot, don't-turn-for-five-hours trip. One hour into our 2.5 hour detour, we figure this out and confront him. He makes up some nonsense about crossing state lines only on certain routes, but we dubunk this. And our trip is pre-paid! So we spend the rest of our drive yet again utterly baffled by India. The more you try to make sense of some things here, the more confused and frustrated you become. All you can do is try to adjust...

We try by enjoying the beautiful scenery as we drive up into “cardamon country”, aptly named as the spice's scent fills the breezes into our car. And at 5:30, (not 3 o'clock), we arrive at OliveBrook, home for the next three days. The temperature is 30 degrees lower, the tea is free and delicious, and we have a couple of firsts in India. First rain that evening, first time we've worn sweaters, and our first shower curtain in the bathroom. Almost paradise! The cooking lesson in Keralan cooking where we get to eat the results tops it off. I think we can get used to this...