On Thursday, October 29th, we got a 5:30 wake up call, for 6 a.m. breakfast. By 6:45 we were on the bus, heading into what the signs proclaimed to be the Periyar Tiger Preserve. There are only 45 tigers in the whole, huge park, and no one ever sees them. There are, however, a thousand elephants, and, according to the chalkboard outside reception at our resort, one had been seen yesterday, as well as deer and a Nilgiri tahr (they have those at the Minnesota Zoo, but I forget what they are). We got off the bus and walked further into the park. Near where the boat tours leave, we went to a sort of ranger station, where we met our two uniformed guides, Raj and Nayan, formerly poachers, now helping to protect the animals. We sat on a bench, took off our shoes and put on "leech socks," big, tightly woven (almost canvas) socks going nearly to the knee. We put them on over our socks or bare feet, put on our shoes, folded over the top of each sock and pulled tight and tied the pull string, just under the knee. We then divided into groups: five with Stalin and Raj, the remaining four, including Mary Joy and me, with Sudha and Nayan. 
We went down to a riverbank, where was beached a raft made of bamboo logs, each about six inches in diameter and twenty feet long, while the raft was about six feet wide. Toward the far end was a little wooden seat, sitting right on the bamboo, wide enough for two. The first group got onto the raft and Raj pulled in the rope at that end, tied to a stake on the far shore, about fifty yards away. Once they were across, Nayan pulled in the rope that ran from the near end of the raft to another stake, on the near shore, the raft came back to us and we boarded and crossed. Almost immediately Nayan saw leeches in the wet grass. They are tiny things, less than half an inch long and narrow as a bit of brown thread--until they gorge themselves on some creature's blood. They don't jump, but they can inch along very quickly, once they smell prey. However, like the Surgeon General, they are strongly opposed to tobacco, so the evening before, we had been given little foil packets of snuff, which Nayan now opened and sprinkled over our shoes and leech socks.
We now turned into the woods, and very soon Nayan saw something through the underbrush: an elephant!
Nayan waved us back and off the trail, up a muddy, leech-infested hill, where we used sticks to scrape leeches off our shoes, while Nayan followed the elephant. When he came back, he said that the elephant had gone on, faster than we could follow. That didn't stop us from trying. We walked fast in the direction it had gone, with Nayan stopping to point out birds, animals and plants along the way. We came out of the woods and walked along the river, eventually meeting up with Raj's group, who were watching something in the distance, between the woods and the river--our elephant!
Nayan brought his group much closer, but, in the end, he kept us at a distance where the elephant (an elderly female) could barely be seen through the underbrush. He worked closer with my camera, for a better shot, but what he came back with wasn't much better than what I could get from the longer range. However, once we got back to where Raj's group was standing, the elephant came out of the brush, and I was able to get some better pictures.
We went on along the riverbank, meeting a group of fishermen, who had been exercising their indigenous tribal right to fish in the park. They had done pretty well, but were moving on to avoid the elephant.
We got to the raft landing, pulled the raft to our side, got on, and Nayan pulled us over to the other side. We were told to quickly take off our shoes, then the leech sock, which we were told to throw away from us, to avoid any leeches that might have been on them. We inspected our shoes carefully, scraping off any leeches we found.
We said goodbye to Nayan,
then, as we were about to head back to the bus, someone said that thee were elephants across the lake from the boat dock. Sure enough, there was a group of five just across the water.
After some rest, then lunch, then more rest, then Mary Joy and I both had Ayurvedic massages:
MARMA THERAPY
(RELAXATION FULL BODY MASSAGE)
(PURPOSE) If you are looking for a full body relaxation, marma therapy would be an
Ideal choice. It focuses on vital points called Marmas.
(BENEFIT) Gives complete relaxation of the body and mind, enhances sleep, improves
general vigor and rejuvenates the body.
Mary Joy had a ninety-minute massage, including a steam bath, while my massage lasted an hour. After I took of my clothes and the masseur gave me a paper loincloth, the massage started with a large amount of scented oil being poured on my head, while I was sitting on a stool. The masseur rubbed my scalp deeply, over and over, then went to the back of my head, then to my face. Then he had me lie on the table, face down. He poured hot oil on my back and rubbed it into what felt like every single muscle, repeatedly, in long sweeps from top to bottom. It hurt a little when he pressed the back of my toes, then he made the toe joints crack! Next, he had me turn over and did the same intensive, oily massage on the front, at one point making my finger joints crack.
Finally, it was done, and I showered off all the oil.
It was pleasant, but not as relaxing an experience as the Roman-Irish Bath at the Friedrichsbad in Baden-Baden. Mary Joy said that her massage was wonderful.
Later, we when to a tea plantation, arriving at the end of the tea pluckers' workday. They were trimming the tea bushes. Sudha handed out 8x10 prints of photos taken when the last tour group had gone through. Then we visited their homes, in housing provided by their employer. Simple but clean. They were paid three to five dollars a day, but received free housing, daycare, medical care and schooling.
After such a long day, I felt tired, so I stayed in the room, while Mary Joy went by tuk-tuk with most of the others to take a cooking class. The consensus was that the class was a lot of fun, but that Indian cooking was too labor-intensive: there were seven people from our tour and five people from another tour, all chopping various ingredients for nearly two hours. The proprietor had made the various masalas (spice mixtures) in advance--lndian cooking seems to require at least five different spices for each masala, and there was a different masala for each dish.
We now turned into the woods, and very soon Nayan saw something through the underbrush: an elephant!
Nayan waved us back and off the trail, up a muddy, leech-infested hill, where we used sticks to scrape leeches off our shoes, while Nayan followed the elephant. When he came back, he said that the elephant had gone on, faster than we could follow. That didn't stop us from trying. We walked fast in the direction it had gone, with Nayan stopping to point out birds, animals and plants along the way. We came out of the woods and walked along the river, eventually meeting up with Raj's group, who were watching something in the distance, between the woods and the river--our elephant!
Nayan brought his group much closer, but, in the end, he kept us at a distance where the elephant (an elderly female) could barely be seen through the underbrush. He worked closer with my camera, for a better shot, but what he came back with wasn't much better than what I could get from the longer range. However, once we got back to where Raj's group was standing, the elephant came out of the brush, and I was able to get some better pictures.
We went on along the riverbank, meeting a group of fishermen, who had been exercising their indigenous tribal right to fish in the park. They had done pretty well, but were moving on to avoid the elephant.
We got to the raft landing, pulled the raft to our side, got on, and Nayan pulled us over to the other side. We were told to quickly take off our shoes, then the leech sock, which we were told to throw away from us, to avoid any leeches that might have been on them. We inspected our shoes carefully, scraping off any leeches we found.
We said goodbye to Nayan,
After some rest, then lunch, then more rest, then Mary Joy and I both had Ayurvedic massages:
MARMA THERAPY
(RELAXATION FULL BODY MASSAGE)
(PURPOSE) If you are looking for a full body relaxation, marma therapy would be an
Ideal choice. It focuses on vital points called Marmas.
(BENEFIT) Gives complete relaxation of the body and mind, enhances sleep, improves
general vigor and rejuvenates the body.
Mary Joy had a ninety-minute massage, including a steam bath, while my massage lasted an hour. After I took of my clothes and the masseur gave me a paper loincloth, the massage started with a large amount of scented oil being poured on my head, while I was sitting on a stool. The masseur rubbed my scalp deeply, over and over, then went to the back of my head, then to my face. Then he had me lie on the table, face down. He poured hot oil on my back and rubbed it into what felt like every single muscle, repeatedly, in long sweeps from top to bottom. It hurt a little when he pressed the back of my toes, then he made the toe joints crack! Next, he had me turn over and did the same intensive, oily massage on the front, at one point making my finger joints crack.
Finally, it was done, and I showered off all the oil.
It was pleasant, but not as relaxing an experience as the Roman-Irish Bath at the Friedrichsbad in Baden-Baden. Mary Joy said that her massage was wonderful.
Later, we when to a tea plantation, arriving at the end of the tea pluckers' workday. They were trimming the tea bushes. Sudha handed out 8x10 prints of photos taken when the last tour group had gone through. Then we visited their homes, in housing provided by their employer. Simple but clean. They were paid three to five dollars a day, but received free housing, daycare, medical care and schooling.
After such a long day, I felt tired, so I stayed in the room, while Mary Joy went by tuk-tuk with most of the others to take a cooking class. The consensus was that the class was a lot of fun, but that Indian cooking was too labor-intensive: there were seven people from our tour and five people from another tour, all chopping various ingredients for nearly two hours. The proprietor had made the various masalas (spice mixtures) in advance--lndian cooking seems to require at least five different spices for each masala, and there was a different masala for each dish.
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