February 8, 2015 
FORT COCHIN to ANACHAL - 131 km
Liz Merry Casa - 2000Rs ($31) Wifi & breakfast

 
Navigating the Urban Sprawl
 
9 am start. We crossed several waterways before we left the urban sprawl into the foothills. Traffic was pretty heavy but kept moving. We tried to circumvent the center of one city by finding bypass streets. That didn't work out as we got stuck in many dead-ends and it took us forever to get over speed bump and alleys. Then we were forced into the center anyway into the worst congestion ever. The traffic lightened the further east we traveled.

It became a beautiful drive through increasingly windier roads. And, as long as we kept moving, it was pleasantly cool. Being on the motorcycle, we didn't notice the humidity so much. 

We made a lunch stop at a multi-cuisine place advertised on billboards along the way. It was fast-food but we had a surprisingly tasty chicken wrap. The small waterfall was a bit underwhelming but it felt good to stretch our legs. This area was forest reserve and we didn't have to fight commercial traffic.
   

Ugly Adimali

We arrived in the crossroad village of Adimali. It is very typical India. But after coming though a serine canopy forest area, the noise, the traffic and still air of Adimali, was a slap in the face. We gave Johny a call. Johny is the owner of the homestay we booked. 


Liz Merry Casa Homestay Experience

We continued for another 9 km before reaching the cutoff to Anachal. Johny had told us 6 km, but we know to take Indian estimates with a grain of salt;) We turned right and followed the main road into Anachal. That's where Johnny pulled up beside us on a Royal Enfield Bullet. We followed him down and up a steep and badly potholed road to his house. There we met his lovely wife Lizzy. 
 
Lizzy sews professionally, has a bakery in town and caters the occasional wedding, which in India, are usually big affairs. She was in charge of cooking our meals and she proved Johny's claim that she is an excellent cook. After retirement, Johny added two rooms to his home to make it into Liz Merry Casa and loves to putter in the garden. He also provides private car chauffeur service for guesthouse customers in the area. Lizzy and Johny had an arraigned marriage and both think it works out great. Getting to know Lizzy and Johny gave us a true homestay experience.


February 9th, 2015 - Anachal Morning

Johny had prepared a rich non-spicy version of Indian breakfast for us, I tried but dahl and heavy coconut based dishes just don't do it for me as first meal.  

Johny composts all his food scraps in a large barrel which captures the methane gas. He has a hose running to a small stove and the gas produced is enough to keep water for his tea boiled all day. Compost gas is a GHG and harmful to the environment so this system of capture is a green idea. We'd never seen it before.
 
.....In spite of the serene setting, and our kind and welcoming hosts, Lizzy and Johny, we decided to move on to greener pastures, meaning the tea plantations of Munnar, only about 15 km up the road.