Yesterday we were in Madurai, and had a really fun morning. We headed out on the back of rickshaws - peddled by little Indian men that must have weighed no more than my left thigh...yet they pulled us around for hours.
We went first to the banana market...yes...all bananas! Red ones, green ones, yellow ones, fat, skinny, small...miles of bananas. This was the distribution point for all the banana sellers in the city. They come here on their bikes, load themselves up with bananas, and then off to their street corner where they sell them to passers by. >
Then we saw the onion market...more red onions that you can imagine...the smell was amazing.
Then we saw a factory where women work long hours making cotton. All day long in the heat - they peddle their looms - often with a small skinny child laying on the concrete quietly at their feet - all for 150 rupees a day (about $3). On the wall, next to where a very skrawny man sat spinning cotton thread on a wooden hand spinning wheel, was a picture of another skrawny man - with the very same type of wheel between his legs...Mahatma Ghandi. Ghandi once said that India would feed its people by the honorable trade of making cloth.
Our last stop was the Ghandi museum - where we read about India's bleak history...of how the British plundered the riches of this land for 200 years - sending its wealth back to Britain, while subjugating its people. A white man could kill an Indian without ramification - and most were treated worse than stray dogs. When Ghandi came along he brought hope to the Indians - and helped usher in their freedom from British rule in 1947. Unfortunately, India's people have been so long subjugated and kept without education, it will take a long time to rebuild this once amazing and wealthy land.
Then we drove through the fertile vally where we saw coconut, grape, cotton, mango, and banana plantations. Kerala is the most rich state - and today we are back up in the cool mountains in a resort town called Kumila. This morning we arose at 6am for a 3 hour trek through the jungle on foot. The scenery was lush and beautiful, and the sound of birds harmonic!
The only thing that dampened the experience was the leeches which we had to regularly pick off our legs and feet (IKKY). This afternoon - we are going for an elephant ride and then for a tour of a spice factory..
The past two days I have been feeling ectremely nauseous, and am wishing to feel normal again. Perhaps it is the constant heat - or the lack of anything crunchy. I am craving broccoli and carrots...cucumber or caulifower...anything that is not cooked to death in hot spicy sauce. I love Indian food but am so sick of it. I just want an apple.
I will try to upload pics tonight if I can...I feel so yucky, by the time the tour stuff is done I suspect I may be ready to just flop into bed...
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