Day 10: Welcome to Wayanad!

sweumich
1 day ago
2 min read

Dear readers, welcome back to the SWIndia blog! Today was packed with travel and connection with nature, and we’re having such a great time so far in India. We began our day at the hotel in Cochin, which we left early in the morning to catch our train to Calicut. During the three hour train ride, some of us worked on Mehendi designs, read books, chatted, and caught up on sleep! We arrived in Calicut at around noon, and began another three hour drive to our hotel in Wayanad.

During the drive, we stopped by a restaurant for a traditional vegetarian thali lunch, which consisted of several currys and rice, served on a banana leaf and eaten with your hands. The food was delicious, and I personally really enjoyed the banana leaves! On the way to our hotel, we also passed through mountain ranges, which was a really beautiful sight. As we approached the hotel, we switched to off road vehicles and the ride was quite rainy!

Jade and Alice enjoying the ride to the hotel!

When we arrived at our hotel, we were met with tea and snacks, and attended a live demonstration of Kerala cooking. Our hotel is a gorgeous spot within the forests of the Western Ghat mountains, and it really focuses on the natural beauty of Kerala. The hotel is situated far from the main road, and every building is carefully designed so as to not take away from the nature around it. The hotel also offers nature walks and presentations about the local flora and fauna. Today we participated in a presentation about the frogs of Wayanad and a night hike through the jungle, which were both so exciting! Since the rains have just started here in Wayanad, we were able to see several varieties of snakes, frogs, snails, and lizards outside. We also enjoyed the pool and dinner, which were both so refreshing after a long travel day!