ahhhh the sweet smelling cardamom hills

From one beautiful place to the next. Kumily is posed up in the mountains about a 5 hour drive from Munnar and is the gateway to the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary where you can go on treks, tiger spotting (although later hear this is a total con and you're more likely to win jackpot on the lottery than spot a tiger), and rafting tours. It's also a centre for spice trade and cardamom is rife here - one of the first things you smell on arrival (even with my cold) - gorgeous.

Me, Ashley, and Aggie arrive at the home stay (called The Green View on Thekkady bypass road - real nice and have hot water for the first time) just in time to see the migration of the bats. Scramble quickly onto the roof of the building and watch for the next 15-20 minutes 1000's of bats flying across the darkened sky. It's absolutely crazy and they are pretty big too - a couple going in the wrong direction - stupid bats!

Only going to be in Periyer for a couple of nights so decide against venturing into the sanctuary, plenty of jungle action and creepy crawlies coming up for me in February. We decide to check out the local Kathakali performance and take a cooking course.

Kathakali is a unique Kerelan form of ritualized theatre. Kathakali actors have to train for years to learn the elaborate hand gestures, facial expressions and choreographed movements, as articulate and precise as any sign language. The costumes and makeup are magnificent and extraordinary. Accompanied by a drummer, cymbals, and a singer the Kathakali actors perform a story with only dance and movement and no speech.

We arrive just in time to catch the actors applying their makeup (most performances you can arrive early to watch). The colours and expertise of men are amazing. So vibrant and all from natural sources. They then dress the male actor which takes about 20 minutes in itself - there are about 40 layers to his costume plus jewellery and head dress on top....makes me hot just looking at him!
Before the performance starts we get another little performance which nearly knocked all westerners off their chairs in fits of silent giggles (so childish I know). Haven't really witnessed the farting tendencies of Indians yet (maybe this is regional to the North perhaps as this guys is from Delhi) but wow this guy let out a belter even raising his left cheek to release and then looking pleased with himself afterwards. Needless to say my sides were hurting before the show even started.

We get an introduction into Kathakali before the performance starts showing us some of the different facial expressions used for different emotions - my face just hurt watching them. Incredible.
The story plot was a bit vague (not sure if this was the leaflet translation we were given or the story itself) but regardless the performance was colourful, stunning, and lively. If you get the chance to go to one of these performances make sure you go!

Shortly after Kathakali myself and Aggie get picked up by tuk tuk and taken to our cookery class. The class is at a family house just outside of Kumily and in Indian style the whole family is there while the 5 of us are taught. The house is very basic with no running water and we have to cook at one point with candle light (in Kerela there is an energy saving power cut for 30 minutes every day - can you imagine if they did this in London?!) but the family are very welcoming and keen to make sure we have a good time. The only family member who speaks English is the brother so the majority of our learning is done via watching the mama in action. Learn to cook bean curry, lady finger (okra) stew, vegetable noodles, paratha (although pretty sure will never be able to make these well - i still struggle with pancakes), chicken masala, and potato curry. Most inspired by the fact that everything is cooked from raw ingredients including the coconut milk made from squeezing water out of freshly grated coconut and the curry pastes made using an old pestle and mortar in the garden. Ashley and English girls also staying at our home stay arrive later to sample our kerelan culinary delights. The food is all delicious & sleep well that evening with a nice full tum!