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The cool weather was a welcome relief from the HOT weather we had in Chennai.  Jamie was able to do some health care in a couple of villages and we also went to a Catholic school where the teachers asked us to check all their blood sugars.  Jamie and I checked about 30 teacher’s glucose levels and were please to see that almost all of them had good levels.  We went to a few tribal villages to do some home visits and talk and pray with some families.  As usual, the hospitality was amazing!

On Saturday we made a day trip further up the mountains to Munnar to see a tea factory and all the tea plantations along the way – the highest tea plantations in the world!!  Of course I couldn’t resist making a few purchases along the way – tea of course! That evening ended with us taking a drive even further up the mountain with tea growing all around us.  We went to a village and sat and had tea with a family that works in the plantation.  We asked many questions about how to pick the tea and were shown some examples of when to pick for white tea and green tea. Jamie and I were blessed to be sitting in the small cooking area on a stool right beside the fire that was holding a vessel of cooking rice – sharing a cup of tea with a man and woman who worked SO hard to provide for their family.  They are one of many families who are second generation tea pickers brought in by the English when the plantations were started. in the 1800s. (Tea is not native to India)  This families only desire, that their children would not be tea pickers… that they would move away and do something different with their lives. Would they have the opportunity?  You never know!

Kerala, India

We caught the bus at 8:30 pm at night, and unlike the buses we have in Canada, this bus is a ‘sleeper’ bus. There are seats down below and then upper beds. On one side of the aisle is a bed for two people and on the other side is a single bed. Jamie and I had the first top double and the staff member who came to join us from Maduari for the week, took the first single top bed. The temperature was SO hot and the only bus that goes all the whole journey without changing buses is a non A/C bus. They assured us that we would not need the A/C later in the night – we were hoping!
We lay watching (and sweating profusely) the city go by as we made our way out of Chennai. We made a 20 minute dinner and toilet stop after travelling for two hours…. Only 12 more hours!
The bus stopped only a few times – mainly for anyone who needed a quick toilet stop.
Jamie and I only dozed on and off the whole night. At about 6 am the bus stopped for a toilet break, and we saw that we were in the mountains. I got busy watching the monkey who began to migrate around the bus. I kept my eye on one who was looking intently at the bus. I snapped my few pictures and then I had the fright of my life when a monkey poked his head inside my window – right beside my head. I let out a scream and gave the military guys a good laugh. Apparently the monkeys actually ascend on the bus and try and grab things from those who are on the bus. The monkey I was taking pictures was doing his job – distracting us all! They are smart! The bus soon started again and we saw a sign that said we were entering a tiger reserve We were interested now!
For the next two hours we zigzagged through the reserve and half way changed from one state into another. The scenery was breathtaking and the only wildlife we saw was a wild bison with huge horns.
We arrived to our destination by 8 am and found out we are actually 30 km from Munnar – an hours drive away we are told.  Munnar is world famous for TEA PLANTATIONS!!!!  So can you guess what I’ll be doing while I’m here?!

So this will be ‘home’ for the next week. We are staying with YWAM who has a small work here. Most of the people here are tribal with tourism being the main industry. Although the humidity is still higher, the temperature is much cooler. We are also in the middle of monsoon, so we have daily rain (not like the monsoons of Lonavala though!).  The sun comes and goes through the day – being joined by a cloud burst of liquid at times.
We went to a small village last night to see some families and let them know that we will be doing a foot care clinic and diabetes check later in the week. We will be going to more villages the next few days to let other villages know about the clinic we will be having as there is little medical care here.