Tea in backdrop
Abraham ADORES our guides, especially Salaam
Boom talking NONSTOP to Salaam, about wild elephants, leopards, and snakes
Tea plantation worker, always carries a machete.Loves long tea breaks, until the supervisor shows up.
Throwing rocks into the forest. Can't do that much in Kuala Lumpur or NYC
Salaam yelling the female mating call of the endangered Grizzled Giant Squirrel
What we saw on way to hike -- Farmer
Communist Party Workers up at dawn, blasting "inspiring" music and political wordsall day long
The offending speakers
Burning trees and brush,part of the reason for the "brown cloud" across Asia
Lots of building going on in this formerly small tea plantation worker village
3 generations of debonair men with hats return to Home Sweet Home, Camp NoelApril 8, 2011
Mary and Harvey decided to join us for our morning hike today, only after they were reassured by Salaam, our guide, that it was only about 150 meters of hiking. Of course, it wasn’t that short, and Harvey kept joking asking if we’d hit 150 meters yet. The hike ended up being a stretch but pretty much perfect for all 3 generations. We walked from Camp Noel through the local village which was BLASTING festive Indian music punctuating hours of canned Communist party campaign speeches played over and over, echoing over the mountainous valley. The communist (current ruling party of the state of Kerala) party seems to be winning around here, if you simply count the sheer number of communist flags flying and the noise pollution. Click HERE for video.
We continued on the dirt road, past local farms, new local homes that had clear-cutting of trees to create room for their terraced farms, and past many, many cows. We were confused as to why the cows are tied up. We had a romantic view of India has having cows loose and free, and uneaten, because Indians are largely Hindu, thus treating cows like Gods. And, we did see cows loose, laying in roads, with cars slowing down to avoid them. But here, we saw cows tied up and one cow owner herding her cows by throwing rocks at them. As Abraham liked to point out, it didn’t hurt the cows when you threw rocks at them!
The tea plantation was spectacular, climbing up to the base of the rocky outcropping peak of the mountain. The latitude lines seemed to be etched in place by the paths snaking between rows of tea bushes. Truly, the contours of the land were drawn in black.
We walked the rolling hills up the tea path, seeing tea workers along the way. These men had very dark skin from a living made in the bright sun. They all carried machetes used to clear unnecessary brush away. When we walked by, each small group of men seemed emotionally shut down as they sat in the shade on their tea break. Then, they’d slowly light up, like a growing flame, upon seeing Abraham. They'd point and yell Hello at him, some of them reaching out to touch his soft, cherubic cheeks.
I took a picture of one, with his machete. And, you can see the pride they take, regardless of the status of their work. He wears a collared shirt, like all Indian men, despite the drudgery of his sweaty work. And, he was excited to see his picture replayed on my digital camera, with his friends squeezing in to see him too, like he was captured as a celebrity for all the West to see.
Then, the supervisor rode up in his motorbike. All the men started putting away their metal tea cups and slowly snaking their way back through the small paths in between tea bushes. The supervisor distinguishes himself from the masses of tea workers by his colorful, clean vest over his collared shirt. And, his loud voice echoing across the valley of tea to reach groups far away. The men took out their machetes and chopped off dead branches, clearing way for new tea growth again.
We passed by the remains of a campfire on a boulder. Abraham asked Salaam what was burnt there. Salaam explained that security guards burnt wood to stay warm on frigid nights among the tea leaves. I asked if they were guarding the tea from thieving locals. He said, No, they were guarding the taller trees interspersed among the tea bushes. Why would they be paid to guard trees? Because the shade from the trees are necessary for the tea to thrive. And, the locals feel in desperate search of trees to chop for wood.
Salaam then took us off the dirt road for cars in the tea plantation down through a small opening between a couple tea bushes. We wove our way down through a small path in between bushes, with Ken helping Mary through the rough spots. It felt like an adventure and charged the kids up after the direct sun had tired them out. They also threw rocks with Salaam, who continued to amaze Boom with his champion rock throwing skills. Salaam is God to Abraham. Click HERE for tea hiking and rock throwing video.
We landed at the woods and Salaam asked us to be silent. We stood and waited while he made the female mating call of the endangered Grizzled Giant Squirrel living in the woods. His call went unreturned and we only saw the remains of a Giant Squirrel nest. They are about the size of medium-sized dogs. He thought they’d gone deeper into the woods for the day. Click HERE to see and hear Salaam making the endangered female Grizzled Giant Squirrel call.
We hiked our way back up to the main dirt road, and just as I was about to finally ask Mary for some free advice on my refugee mental health work, the Camp Noel van pulled up. The driver jumped out and asked if Mary wanted a ride back to Camp Noel. And, without a second of hesitation, Mary yelled “Yes!” and hopped into the van, not looking back.
