The Big Black Clouds
We walked the 2km to the main road. We chatted to a security guard about the buses to our next destination and then hopped on the bus to Munnar. Darryl sat next to a little old local man and they discussed tea and different foods. In fact between them they listed all the Indian foods they knew!
We left the bus behind and made a decision to take early lunch before our planned walk. We went to a restaurant we had visited before that served tasty Kerala meals. We both had a meal with all the chutneys and different gravys. They tend to call any sauces gravys in India!
After eating we hit the slopes. The clouds were beginning to blacken but we decided to go anyway. We crossed a river and started our walk on the quiet side away from the traffic. There was plenty of tea, cute tea workers cottages and hardly any cars, buses and lorries on this side. As we continued our descent, the rain started to fall. At first just a little and we had an umbrella so all was well. Then it all changed. It absolutely poured! The umbrella we now shared didn't help any more. We took shelter under a tree but the thunder and lightning started and our hiding place became a little treacherous.
We started to walk again because we were getting cold and thought this may help warm us up. It did a little but we were soaked through to the skin. Eventually, an auto rickshaw pulled over and a friendly smile welcomed us inside. The passenger was a trekking guide in the hills travelling with his wife. We shared the auto to the main bus stop in Munnar. This was basically our start point for our walk but that didn't matter as walking had now turned to swimming. We paid the driver, ran inside a bus for shelter and then asked where the bus was going. Thankfully, it was Anachal! Everyone else was also soaked and a river made its way across the floor of the bus.
A quick bus ride down the hill and we got off and headed to a cafe. Tea and cakes were required for 2 drowned rats. A political meeting of some kind was taking place across the street and men came to collect tea and head back to the meeting. One man spoke to us for a while. We were told by his friend's that he was a little worse for wears as they dragged him away to sober up!
Once we were warmer, we left and headed home. We saw a friend on the way back and had more tea and cakes! We then stopped next door to take a parcel (take away) home for supper. We also shopped for breakfast ...
The evening was spent in mild panic resolving a fraudulent credit card transaction for £900!
