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The trip back to Delhi was fine. We found our way by taxi to the YWCA Internation Guest House on Parliament Road. It was a fantastic place with friendly staff and clean rooms. Typical, because we only have about 7 hours before we have to get up to goto the airport and fly to Cochin. Well we've had 6 days in beautiful Kerala, it is amazing here, so lush and green, and the people are friendly with big smiles. We are eating and cooking some of the most amazing food ever, lots of coconut and spices, will have to have a big Keralan night on our return so we can show off our new skills. We had cooking lessions every day, and have learnt a lot about the spices and other ingredients. Our course included an excursion to the elephant training centre, where we scrubbed the elephants and then walked with them and later took a ride - it was fantastic, a real highlight (of many). We're eating about 10 varieties of fruit a day, mostly grown here on the organic farm that we are staying at (David is even considering becoming a vegetarian - oh my - no more bacon or sausage sarnies, or chicken curry...). We took a trip to Munnar, where there are thousands of thousands of tea plantations, this was a lovely place. I think Jen bought up most of the essential oils they sell there, and some tea too. We visited a wonderful natural paper and silk dying warehouse, staffed by children and young adults with various physical disabilities, all good stuff. We've had plenty of walks, walking among the coconut groves, paddy fields, rubber plantations, spice farms (they smell gorgeous). There was a fantastic walk to the hilltop in Muvatapuzzha with the most amazing view. On the walk back we were stopped by several families wanting to invite us into their homes for tea, to eat their bananas and other homegrown foods! It was really funny, everyone is so friendly here, and their smiles are infectious. We're staying with some lovely people, a nice Aussie family (Lisa, David, Alice & Felix from Perth), and also Jacob and his mum Mrs Matthews who are making us very welcome in their farm homestay, highly recommended for anyone. There are some characteristics that Jacob shares with a certain Gordon Ramsey, but we enjoyed the classes nonetheless. You have to visit Kerala if you come to India. We're leaving here in a few days to goto Cochin for a few days, do a backwater trip and then onto Bangalore and Hyderabad to see some of David's family. We have altered our itinerary in Oz to include the West coast so we can stay with our new friends in Perth!
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