Wednesday – May 5th

Bummer. We haven’t had a decent internet connection for 3 days and things are looking much brighter at the moment. Today, we have a 4.5 hour drive to Munnar which it 18,000 meters up in the mountains – not a good place for internet (I wish). The drive took us by some more rich homes and thru a few small towns before we started climbing. Munnar is still under the jurisdiction of Kerala, but they have their own language.

As we began the incline, the scenery changed more and more until we were in the jungles of India. The foliage and trees in the mountains are just breathtaking!! And it never seemed to end. The wildlife has retreated deeper into the forest due to the population that has moved in along the driving route, but that didn’t take away from the view! There were waterfalls along the way too.

When we reached about 16,000 meters (9,942 miles) above sea level – a new change in scenery appeared – Tea Farms – tons of them! There were tea farms growing everywhere along with eucalyptus trees.

When we reached Munnar, we took a tour of a tea factory and they explained how the tea is harvested. The tea plant is actually a TREE and you would realize this when you saw the sturdy thick roots beneath them. They can grow high, but the farmers keep them down to 2 feet high so they can be harvested more easily. Until recently, the leaves were hand-picked by workers and taken back to the factory for processing. Now, they had hand operated shears with leaf collecting trays to enhance productivity – but it’s still all done by human intervention.

Tea came to India in 593AD from Japan. In the late 18th century – the British introduced scientific cultivation. India is the largest tea producing country in the world with China following as a close second. Once industrial production was introduced – power became an issue due to the elevation and resources. It is said that the queen (not sure which one) brought eucalyptus seeds in her stockings from Australia to plant them in India. They are now grown in abundance and use not only to power the factories, but also the workers homes.

Later, we went to see two dams. The first was Mattupetty Dam and the second was.Undelpetd Dam  Both of them were beautiful.

After that – we headed back to the hotel to catch some rest. I tried to get an internet connection – no such luck. So, I worked on getting all the pictures labeled and all the journaling ready for the next time I could update the blog. Maybe tomorrow? Who knows?