RASTA, Honey Valley, etc.

We spent a few busy days in the city of Mysore, in Karnataka. It was our favorite city so far; it felt more manageable than Pune and Mumbai, and it was bursting with culture. There's a stunning palace, though unfortunately you aren't allowed to take any photos. Google it though!

Our friend Cobra, who we met on the beach in Gokarna, lives in Mysore and took us on a whirlwind tour of the city. For 42 rupees each, we got all-day bus passes and went up to Chamundi Hill (pictured below), to Cobra's favorite temple about 45 minutes outside the city, and to his house for dinner.

"He's behind you!"

Chamundi Temple, on Chamundi Hill. You can't tell from this but it was covered in bickering monkeys.

This temple (on Chamundi Hill) feeds 15,000 people per day for lunch, all for free. Food was spicy but very tasty. We were the last ones in the hall, struggling to eat burning-hot food one-handed.

TRUCK O' RICE

Our friend Cobra's adorable and hospitable parents. His mom and sister cooked us a delicious meal, including eggplant curry and the best sweet coconut roti.

From Mysore, we went to Coorg, a lush mountainous region in Karnataka. We wanted to hike the tallest peak, Mt. Tadiandamol, so we stayed at Honey Valley Estate, which is a jungley coffee and pepper plantation with cheery accommodation, an interesting group of avid hikers and tasty vegetarian meals. It was also full of dogs.

Directions for a dozen nice walks around the area... unfortunately they were the most pathetic directions and included instructions like "turn into the hedge" and "turn at the large rock," and many times, "climb over the fence" (there were no fences).

We started off easy the first day, going on what should have been a four mile hike up a small mountain, along a cow trail. It ended up being much longer since we got lost maybe six times.

Not the correct path to take (but look how pretty)!

Special treasures (clockwise): a dead millipede, a mystery seed, an unripe cucumber, and a "fruit that children eat"

The next day we hiked Tadiandamol. It was supposed to be a 16 mile hike, but again we got horribly lost and ending up trekking through a sketchy brush area for about an hour (we found out later cobras were in the area), so it was probably more like 20 miles. We were wrecked by the end, but it was worth it! The views were stunning and the terrain was varied, from mountain ridges to jungle areas to rice paddies and fields.

Our guides on the walk were two dogs from Honey Valley, who we nicknamed Krishna and Parvati. An hour into the walk, things got steamy between them. True to reputation, Krishna was incorrigible and wouldn't leave Parvati alone. We didn't think much of it and kept walking, but a couple minutes later, they weren't following us. We turned around and saw they were stuck! Attached! Conjoined!

Krishna's the brown one--so embarrassing 

She started dragging him down the hill. He looked quite uncomfortable. We were worried they'd be stuck forever! Hamish tried to fix matters by pouring water on the affected area, to no avail. It went on for too long and we didn't know what to do! We wanted to carry on but didn't want them to perish on the mountain. Luckily, they eventually separated naturally and we continued.

View from the top of Tadiandamol

Panorama

Lost again. On the way back, we ended up following this man (who was wielding a machete) through a few fields, in an effort to find Honey Valley.

We passed this dude, who was tending to his chilis

Destroyed feet--eventually we both had to remove our shoes due to blisters, and walk up a long dirt road. It was disheartening.

Honey Valley pepper drying in the sun. When we came back from our walk, they'd all turned black!

Next up was the Wayanad district of Kerala, where we spent a week volunteering at a local NGO called RASTA (Rural Agency for Social and Technological Advancement). Founded in 1987 by a wonderful, socially and environmentally-minded couple, they run tons of programs with the main focus of empowering local women (especially widows) and promoting sustainable and ecologically-friendly practices in the local farming communities. The main crops there are coffee, pepper, banana, ginger, rice, cardamom and tea.

Our main duties were photographing the local tribal community (the people who benefit from RASTA's programs), documenting the goings-on of the campus, teaching English to amazing kids, and helping to boost RASTA's internet presence. We were volunteering at the same time as a great Canadian couple, Sheila and Lawrence, who help run an ecological sustainability organization called Valhalla. 

On a day out, we experienced cowiest chai ever. It tasted so much like cow, we had to ask where the milk came from. It turned out to be from one of the buffalo behind the restaurant.

 Here's to you, buffalo.
 

Thank you, buffalo.

Tapioca in a field near the RASTA campus

 

This leaf will improve your memory; unfortunately, we forget what it was called!

Long dried-up bean, also a sword

Butterflies on Kuruva Island, near RASTA

Near RASTA, we visited the Pania tribal village and witnessed milk in action.

Fresh from the cow; surprisingly frothy

Milking the cow

The best calf!

Our English students! They ranged from 3 to 10. They were so smart and so cute!

Lotus in a beer bottle in a home near RASTA

Homemade hive for tiny wild bees (made from an old cooking pot, with a hole in the bottom, and affixed to the side of a house with clay). The family harvests honey twice a year.

 Handmade bricks drying in the sun

Extremely tangy fruit on RASTA's campus (no idea what it's called)

Boy who lives in a nearly village that RASTA provides support to. Look how happy this rabbit is... not. Future dinner.

"Why hello"

Orange spotted fish that bit Hamish

RASTA has tons of jackfruit trees. Jackfruit are giant, spiky green plants--kind of dinosaur-egg-like in general shape--that you can use either like a vegetable, when they're younger, or like a fruit, when they're older. We enjoyed many young jackfruit dishes, but our favorite was the jackfruit masala; it had the texture of shredded pork.
 

Jackfruit, cut in half. Parts are really sticky and it's a mission to dissect them and get out the edible bits. Some parts also are only for cows (good job we knew a dude with a cow).

Bhagyalakshmi (whose name means "lucky Lakshmi"), the talented cook, cutting the jackfruit.

 

Plant or sea cucumber?

Pile o' jackfruit

Lunch: jackfruit curry, jackfruit chips, curd and vegetables, and crazy spicy chili.

And now what you've all been waiting for... Raccoon's Cookie Review. This time, he's taking a look at Bisk Farm's "Spicy" biscuits, pictured below.

Bisk Farm's "Spicy" biscuits. Tagline reads: "Tasty, tangy, crispy ... the best biscuit for your tea."

Well, well, well. Raccoon had to disagree about these being the best biscuit for your tea.

Taste: 6/10

Crunch factor: 6/10

Size: 9/10 ("a sizable biscuit")

Dipping time in tea before dissolving: 2 seconds ("pathetic"); 3/10

Overall mark: 6/10

"A bizarre biscuit, which tastes more like a cheese cracker. Light cinnamon taste. Definitely NOT the best biscuit for your tea, as they claim on the packet, but surprisingly moorish nonetheless."