Wayanad - day 1

So today was pretty awesome and completely reminded me of the Amazing Race. (I know, everyday is awesome because I am in India, but seriously today I saw so much!) Scott and I woke up early in the morning to catch a train to make our way to Wayanad District of Kerala, India. This was my first train ride in India. My first train ride in a foreign country for that matter, so I wanted to take it all in.

Indian train stations are organized and disorganized at the same time. If you walk right in you will see that there is a lot going on, people are everywhere, but if you look closer, you will find that there really is a system to the whole thing. I am glad that we had purchased tickets beforehand though because if we had to get tickets today I don't think that there would be much luck. We found our car and sat down. I was consumed with watching the landscape most of the time. As we left the station the landscape continued to change. The earth is red, homes are brightly colored, and everything else is GREEN. This is the greenest place I think I will ever see in my entire life. (Throughout this whole experience I am constantly reminded of how lucky I am to be here. I never thought that I would be able to see much of the world, let alone come to a place like India. It really is amazing. During this train ride I was again reminded of how grateful I am for this whole experience.) The landscape was completely mesmerizing, as was watching was was happening at each of the stations we stopped at. People would get off and buy food and jump back on. I enjoyed seeing that snapshot of Indian life was we traveled  today. Scott ended up conversing with a gentleman on the train who was talking to us about traveling in Kerala. We are so lucky we met this guy because without him we would have missed our stop in Calicut and really be up a creek. At the train station a driver met us and two men carried our bags to the car on their heads. (Yes, I took a photo.)

Anyway, then we traveled another 2 hours to Ente Veedu (http://enteveedu.co.in/ - check it out!). The ride up here was amazing. We went through some cities and then climbed up a mountain of sorts on a long winding road in the middle of the rain forest. It rained, there were monkeys, there were cows, and there was a lot of driving going on. It was one of the most memorable car rides in my life. Again, I couldn't stop looking out the window. Oh and rain forest rain, is so much better then Chicago rain. 

So we are relaxing here, at our homestay for the night and then heading out to the Elephant Preserve tomorrow morning. It should be a blast. There really is much more to write, but I could go on and on and on. (If I don't end up posting about it, remind me to talk to you about driving in India). Now I'm going to go curl up with a book, some tea, and the rain forest. (I know right, it's amazing.)