The saga of Sunday February 16, 2025 to Friday February 21, 2025 in transit from Kochi, India to Mumbai, India
We drove from Kochi to Munnar after a late breakfast. Munnar isn’t far from Kochi, but the roads make it feel like another continent. Switchbacks, one-lane stretches, and blind curves galore. The last 40km took two hours. I tried to soak in the scenery — rolling green hills, tea plantations, jungle — but nausea won out.
We reached Isaac’s Residency around 5PM. It had a gym — which the boys were ecstatic about. They ran on treadmills, lifted light weights, and showed off their bodyweight skills. At dinner, Matanel discovered fish fingers (tons of protein!) and Amichai tried a banana leaf-steamed dish… despite detesting bananas. Milestones.
The next morning the boys and I went on a tea factory tour. We learned about tea leaf processing from threshing to fermenting to drying to sifting. The boys were riveted, especially by the leaf sifter. The said it was “so satisfying,” — currently their highest praise.
We escaped the heat with indoor PE, lunch, and schoolwork. Then, at 5PM, Sunil took us to a Raga Martial Arts performance. We hadn’t known what to expect — and certainly weren’t prepared for the mix of acrobatics and Hindu worship. Each performer lit incense and bowed to Vishnu before their routine. Sword fights, stick fights, flaming hoops — the boys were on the edge of their seats. At one point, a man leaped over ten audience members, me included. The finale involved jumping through rings of fire in a smoke-filled hall. Although I spent most of the night worrying about the ventilation, we left coughing but exhilarated. The boys were on the edge of their seats. Amichai and Eitan couldn't get enough. Fire filled the small theater with tons of smoke. Ventilation terrible. I made everyone cover their noses. After the show we took pictures with a performer and a weapon. In disbelief, Shai exclaimed, "I got to touch a real life dagger!" It was dark on our drive home. We could see controlled burn of tea plantation - all in a straight line over a large swath of land, up and over the hill. Made for a spectacular view, but terrible air quality.
The next morning we took slowly to help reduce some of the stress that's been building up. After a late breakfast followed by reading time, we packed up the car and Sunil took us to Hydel Park. The concept is a small botanic garden meets playground and small aquarium with fish foot spa all set against the backdrop of a dirty river. Locals like to go to take romantic pictures. Beautiful flowers bloomed. We saw hibiscus, bougainvillea, roses, spider lily, ginger, and other flowers specific to India. At some point, Shai needed to poop. The only option was a squat toilet. Thank goodness we brought toilet paper! He was a total champ about it. Because of the fires from the night before, ash was every where and smoke filled the air. The ash and smoke were thick enough to obscure the beautiful views of undulating hills, tea plantations, and houses/hotels tucked into the forests. Some of the ash even got into the car. We gave the boys masks to avoid too much exposure. Being outside in this probably wasn’t the greatest idea, but the boys relished the chance to play on a decent playground with no time requirement.
An hour later we continued driving to Thekkady. Twenty minutes into an intense switchback drive, both Matanel and Shai said they didn't feel well. Chaim rushed to give them each a barf bag that we've been carrying with us since Europe. He got it to them without a moment to spare. Both began vomiting into the bags almost immediately. Sunil pulled over while they finished and aired out the car. The smell was so sweet from the chocolate shakes they'd had for breakfast I almost vomited. Yuck! When they finished, I gave them Dramamine that I had in my medic bag stash. Thank goodness I thought to buy it back in July before we left on our journey. It was a last minute, impulsive purchase that I expected never to use. Twenty minutes later we were back on the road, suffering through several hours of switchbacks. Thankfully no one vomited again.
We stopped at a spice and ayurvedic plants plantation to break up the drive. The tour was interesting, but Chaim characteristically questioned the veracity of each, and every, fact our guide told us. At the end they had spices available to purchase by the bucketload. It was hard not to be able to buy fresh spices knowing we didn't have the space.
Everyone was relieved when we arrived at the Crown Valley Resort in Thekkady with no additional vomiting episodes. We were pleasantly surprised when we realized there were monkeys on our balcony and noted not to open our windows. The resort was beautiful with a lovely garden area and a game room that had ping pong table and foosball. There was also a small pool, trampoline, hammocks all around, and a tennis meets tether ball concept we’d never seen before.
The next day, we finally had a chance to follow our tried-and-true homeschool routine: breakfast, recess, davening, math, lunch, social studies, journaling. Everyone focused. Everyone flourished. It was a reminder of how much routine matters and how quickly children can fall back into a set routine even after weeks of not having it.
At 2:15PM, Sunil drove us to Periyar National Park for a boat safari. The logistics were chaos (do Indian guides have magical mind-melds?). Honestly, it was so disorganized we couldn't understand how each park guide knew which group of people were with them. And in the end, the park guides didn’t do anything more than send people off to the boats. While we stood around waiting for someone to tell us what to do (which is what we were instructed to do!) we watched monkeys stalk people holding food to try and steal it. We marveled at how the monkeys were simultaneously cute and vicious. On the boat we were required to wear more uncomfortable life jackets that were going to do absolutely nothing for the kids given their size, but we saw elephants — a group of seven with two babies. We also saw a monitor lizard, Indian bison, and some interesting birds.
Back at the hotel, the boys ran wild and happy while Chaim worked. It was the perfect antidote to weeks of feeling cooped up.
Another Dramamine morning. We packed up and headed for Alleppey, deep in Kerala’s wetlands. At some point on the drive I noticed my butt was completely numb because Matanel and Shai had been sleeping on me in such a way that I couldn't change my position. This was becoming a pattern and I didn’t know how much more my legs could take.
In Alleppey, we stayed on a houseboat, which I prayed didn't have bedbugs. This one was a major upgrade from our Kingston Upon Thames experience back in August, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t have bedbugs. The captain took us for a cruise on a lake, or maybe it was a river. Honestly, we had no idea because we were still following the itinerary blindly. There we changed to a small canoe, powered by a small motor and certainly not environmentally friendly. The captain of this small canoe took us through the canals that run through the village. We saw nice homes of varying styles, most of which were built on stilts to avoid flood waters, and watched as local people washed their dishes and laundry in the canal water that was very, very, very, very....very dirty. We stopped at a rice field and took pictures whenever we were told to do so.
All of the boys had a chance to drive the houseboat back to its dock, especially Matanel and Shai who stayed outside with the captain chatting him up the whole time. They took turns steering for over an hour. I was grateful for the break and impressed by how the captain was with them. Never once phased or annoyed. When we docked we were next to a hotel with a pool we were allowed to use. This was the boys' first chance to swim since Israel. (There were other pools, but this one was clean and not freezing). While watching the boys I met an Israeli Canadian. We struck up a great conversation and shared contact information. Back on the houseboat we enjoyed dinner and a quiet evening together. After the boys went to sleep I caught up on my journaling.
The next morning we awoke early to drive to Kochi to catch a flight to Mumbai. The drive was thankfully uneventful, but everyone (except Amichai) took Dramamine just in case. At the airport we spent time searching for food for everyone. I enjoyed a delicious meal of masala dosa. Everyone else "suffered" through chocolate brownies and were left starving.
We landed in Mumbai at 2:10PM, got our bags quickly, and then spent an hour trying to find food for the boys because everyone was famished. Outside the airport doors we met Abbass who we learned would be our Mumbai tour guide and fixer. A separate driver was hired to drive all of us, including Abbass, to our hotel. As we drove, Abbass gave us a "tour" pointing out important places and history. It took a long time to find our new hotel. When we finally got there, it was one hour until Shabbat started and I was sorely disappointed.
Like many other hotels and beds and breakfasts in the neighborhood, it used to be an English mansion, but the upkeep was minimal and sorely lacking. NOPE! I am relatively low maintenance. But there was no way we were going to be able to stay in this hotel for four nights. One night sure! Four nights, no way! The beds were planks with two-inch mattresses and I was never going to be able to sleep. My twenty-year-old self could have done it. But my forty-year-old body needs something kinder to my back. Frustratingly, there was not much we could do about it in that time.
The boys, bless them, were trying to convince me that it was fine and we could all handle it. I LOVED their flexibility and the growth they've shown. I explained why I would need us to move, which they eventually understood but thought I was “overreacting”. Even in the midst of my personal turmoil, I appreciated how hard they tried to convince me otherwise. Fortunately, Abbass gave us a few recommendations for other hotels that could work. Unfortunately, none of the hotels were accepting bookings online for our needs. We would need to stay at the hotel for the night, but come hell or high water I was going to march into every single hotel until I found one that would take us in the next evening. With my mind made up we left our hotel to walk to Chabad for Friday night services and dinner.
