God's Own Country

The past two weeks I have been in Kerala on the southwestern tip of India. It is a beautiful state reknowned for it's religious diversity 1/3 each Christian, Muslim and Hindu with a few Ancient Jews sprinkled in for good measure, in addition to its natural beauty, distinct culture and coconuts.
After an exhilarating 15 hour bus ride through the middle of the night we arrived in Thrissur near the middle of the state. From Thrissur we visited a Coca-Cola bottling plant in a town called Plachimada. The bottling plant had sucked all of the groundwater out from the surrounding area and people have been sitting in front of the plant in non-violent protest for the past 5 years. It was fascinating to see their commitment and depressing to look at their near empty wells. As important as their cause is we were not there to join the protest but merely to witness their plight and some of the non-health negative consequences of carbonated beverages. One of the girls on my program has a grandmother living in Kerala so after visiting the Coke plant we went to her house for dinner and a bonfire which was a lot of fun.
Before getting to Thrissur we visited an organic farm. It wasn't a typical organic factory farm but more of a commune where a handful of commited environmentalists had moved to live as sustainably as possible while restoring some of the land that had been overgrazed. While their methods would never be able to create a profit or even a surplus it was fascinating to see how creative they were in conserving and resusing everything they used. For example they used solar, wind and tree seed power for all of their electricityand they had all of their wastewater automatically channelled into the garden.
For the last three days of the India section of the program we went into Wyanad a beautiful town in the Western Ghats mountain range. There we worked on our final papers, mine was about pesticide use causing neurological problems in Kasargode a district in Norther Kerala. The case was similar to the book/movie "A Civil Action" in that there was a disease cluster as well as water contamination but it is difficult to prove a connection. After finishing our final papers we had a bonfire at our hotel which was a great way to unwind after a stressful but inspiring few weeks in India.
After 6 weeks of intense learning we were rewarded with a one week vacation. "What to do with one week in India?" is a question that great minds have struggled with for centuries. I decided to stay in Kerala to minimize travel time as well as to spend more time in this beautiful state. The first days we stayed in Wayanad and went for a hike in the Western Ghats. It was beautiful as the Ghats are noted for being one of the most biodiverse places on the planet. Despite suffering through the extreme heat we were rewarded with breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains, the trees below which came in many different shades as well as the lake. On the way down we saw an elephant used for work on the tea plantation below were we started the hike. On a down note we also saw pesticides being sprayed by female laborers some of whom had facial protection.
Hopefully the rest of my vacation will be as fun as the first day and in one week I will be in China, the middle kingdom.