Thursday, May 29

On Monday (5/26), we drove to Munnar, a small town in the tea- and cardamom-growing region of Kerala.  The estate we stayed at was incredibly nice!  Rooms were huge, delicious tea was complimentary all day, and there was a large boulder which we could walk up (60 steps) and get a great view of the hillside.  The tea plantations are beautiful.  The bushes are trimmed so that no individual bush is larger than approximately four feet across.  There are paths winding through the thousands of bushes along the rolling hills.  The climate—cool, foggy—and the agriculture reminded me of Ecuador.  We had a relaxing night at the hotel including a barbecue outside.  They served a really good ginger-lime sparkling drink. 

Tuesday (5/27) began with a long class session that lasted into the early afternoon.  We had a couple free hours to shoot some hoops on the small court that was at the estate.  In the afternoon we took a tour of the cardamom and tea plantations at the estate.  We learned about a few edible plants that grow in the area, including a type of sweet clover.  I ate a ton of them!  They tasted sort of citrusy and like eating the green top of a strawberry.  I also tried chewing on a tea leaf, but that was really bitter and I needed some clover to rid my mouth of the taste.  Our guide was great and pointed out a Malabar giant squirrel in the trees above us.  This squirrel can grow to be up to a meter long and weigh up to 3 kg.  We had a nice dinner at the estate after our tour.  I stayed up late talking to a couple friends up on top of the large rock and looking at the stars.

On Wednesday (5/28), we began the day by visiting the Tea Museum.  This working museum has machinery that processes tea from leaf into different grades of dried, oxidized leaves.  From this processing plant, the leaves are shipped off to auction in large boxes.  Purchasing companies then blend and bag the tea at their blending facility—some tea companies blend in India but many blend in other countries including England and the United States.  We continued the day with another five hour bus ride.  Upon arriving in Thekkady, we rode elephants! I got some great pictures feeding bananas to elephants and riding one.  The seating arrangement was a bit uncomfortable (legs had to be spread very wide to sit on the elephant like a horse) but the ride was awesome.  We then went to the hotel where I spent the rest of the evening and night preparing for the second war game, the culminating project for the second class I took (this one about Climate Policy rather than Climate Science).

Thursday (5/29) was the day of the second and final war game for my class.  Prior to the war game, we woke up early and took a boat safari in the Periyar Tiger Preserve.  Unfortunately, we did not see any tigers or elephants, but we saw some bison and lots of different birds.  The war game took all day.  I learned how to play snooker in the evening; we played with a hotel staff member that had clearly been playing for decades.  He would line up a cross-table shot and make the ball within ten seconds of his turn beginning.  He made most of his tricky off-the-wall shots that I can see in my head but make one in ten times.

I will post tomorrow about the last few days.