Hi All,
We are on our second day in the state of Kerala, writing again because we've had a jam-packed day of firsts. We drove out of our hotel this morning and the workers were already pruning the tea plants, I'm sure it's a constant process. She (they were all shes) had a wooden box 12 x 12 x 4 with the 4" edge hinged and a knife blade at the bottom of the hinged door. She just took the box and door, slapping it closed, and cut the new growth off which went into the box. When the box was full, she emptied it into the bag on her back. These went to the factory to be dried and packaged.
Then we took an elephant ride through trails in the forest. She (the elephant) was very sweet, slow and sure footed, but Jan was still very nervous when she was going down hill. The trainer was taking a movie of us during this time and it needs to be edited or deleted because of the "scared to death" expression it caught. Other than that, Jan loved it and Charles laughed and enjoyed the whole thing. We have attached a picture.
Our next "first" was pedal boating around a lake for a half hour. We actually made it back to the second since Charles used his stop watch and we pedaled fast at the end!
We were supposed to visit the tea factory, museum and store but it was closed for maintenance. We will go tomorrow morning. So instead, our guide suggested we visit a massage place because of the local oils used. We decided to try another "first" and both got head-to-toe massages for 60 minutes for $14! Jan was a bit nervous at the immodesty of the whole thing...and Charles hoped the guys at work don't find out that he got a massage. We were covered by a 4" by 12" piece of cotton tied on by strings (sort of like a sumo wrestler) while they rubbed and beat on us.
Hope everything is going well with each of you.
Jan and Charles
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