Where have we been? (August 3 & 4)

Since another group of volunteers were at the orphanage the same time we were, there were many hands to do the work here at MJC. However, with 10 volunteers and 5 staff members helping at the wash area and in the dining hall it is becomes crowded so we decided to take a 'holiday' from the orphanage and travel about 5 hours from Coimbatoire to Munnar. At 5am Wednesday morning the taxi was already waiting for us, we rented him and his taxi for two days, and sleepily we plopped ourselves down on the comfortable seats. About two hours later we stopped in a village for milk tea and coffee and then made our way through a desert-like jungle. With our heads peeking out of every window we kept our eyes open for various types of wildlife, but especially for tigers! "Look...shh.." came the excited voice of one of the 6. We all flew to one side of the vehicle and the driver stopped. To our amazement there was a herd of elephants merrily making their way through the forest. Monkeys! The driver stopped the vehicle and we opened our windows and of course began to feed the monkeys. These hilarious animals made our day! As we were snapping zillions of shots of these funny creatures, other tourists came along. But the weren't taking photos of the monkeys, but of us! What do you expect: 6 white people taking pictures makes for quite a scene for the Indians here. For about two hours we travelled through this terrain and then we began the climb into the mountains. Lush, green landscapes called us from right, left and centre. Tea plantations lined the road on either side filled with colourful Indians picking from their green bushes. Now in India it is monsoon time, but little did we expect that it would be raining and that it would be cold! Back at the MJC the temperature was warm and muggy, so we packed t-shirts and flip-flops! Our windows were soon shut and we pulled on all the clothes we had because it was so cold! Once in Munnar our first stop was...THE CLOTHING STORE where we bought sweaters and socks. At Sunya Soma we ate our lunch and then continued to our rental house where we dropped off our belongings and then made our way to the vendors along the road. This posed for some drama as one vendor sold Maryke a broken clock and when Maryke realized, five minutes later, she went back to the vendor and asked for her money back. The vendor got angry and told her that she broke the clock and quickly glued it. After much squabble between Maryke and him, Maryke won the agrument and got her money back. Some of us had also bought items at that shop so we analyzed our purchases and sure enough, Petra's item was also broken. With everything resolved we had dinner and then went to our house for the night. Thursday morning we awoke at a little after 8:00 and were on our way to begin another exciting program: visiting a tea plantation and factory, a spice garden, a gorgeous waterfall, and then ending the day by eating at the highest tower in Coimbatore: Cloud 9. By 10pm we were back at MJC and shortly after we found ourselves tucked in bed and dozing off. The first day that we arrived at MJC it was around 9pm and when we pulled up to the hostel everything seemed quiet, until we stepped out of the taxi. Windows flew open and children began shouting our names and calling to us. Of course, I didn't know anyone, but neither did the rest of the group since it was too dark to distinguish between children.