Spices in Kerala

Kerala is one of the southern most states of India. Since coming to Delhi, we've been told it is beautiful. It has places with names like the Cardamon Hills and the Malabar Coast...it just sounds so lovely. Recently, we were lucky enough to get to spend 7 days in Kerala. It is relatively small state but there is so much to see. We divided our time between spice plantations, a houseboat and the beach.

Our first stop after arriving in Cochin (also called Kochi or Koochi, if you're Arthur) was to the land of the spice plantations. We drove between 4 and 5 hours, but the ride was beautiful. Once you leave the city, you drive through the Western Ghats, a green mountain range dotted with waterfalls. From there, we passed rolling tea plantations with the tallest olive trees I've ever seen.

Amazingly beautiful:

We arrived at our hotel to find we were the only guests...like our own private hideaway:

The next day, we met Bina:

Dorian really liked her:

We visited a spice plantation and saw all sorts of things growing: coffee, cocoa, insulin leaves, tree tomatoes, nutmeg, pepper, vanilla, oranges and pineapples. But, for me, the most impressive was the cardamom--I had no idea that it grew so closely to the ground:

The two days we spent near Thedakky in the land of spices were fun for all and we all experienced and learned new and interesting things. Oh yes, of course I bought some spices!