We spent a long day on the road from Mysore to Wyanad in the mountains of Kerala, watching not only the landscape but also the economic welfare of the residents change.

The state of Kerala boasts 92% literacy and a Communist government. Private ownership of resources is permitted, in fact the tea plantations that roll over the hills for miles and miles are owned by large corporations, so I suspect socialist may be closer to the mark.

But one thing is clear:  as soon as we crossed the border between Karnataka and Kerala there was a distinct increase in prosperity of the people.  Houses are more substantial and better cared for; a lot of homes have cars in the driveways; the shopping areas appear more prosperous; beggars do not line the streets.  Shagzil lives in Kerala and several times has made reference to its better standard of living.

One highlight of our long trip was sighting spotted deer and a family of elephants foraging for food in a national park we drove through.  The elephants were shy and hid when we first stopped, but gradually reappeared and let us photograph them.  I hasten to add we stayed in the bus.  Asian elephants are apparently gentle animals but we weren’t about to test that belief.

We stopped at a spice farm for lunch where the owner gave us a PowerPoint lecture (!) about his crops.  Following lunch he gave us a guided tour pointing out black pepper, cardomon, ginger, turmeric, coffee, jack fruit, red and yellow bananas and pineapple.  I have probably forgotten a few because I was taken with photographing his beautiful flowers.  We haven’t seen many flowers on this trip – it’s winter in India.  From the bus we often spot poinsettia trees, their red flowers looking as we see them at Christmas but the tree long and tall and spindly.  Must be a lot of pruning on poinsettia farms.

The Vythiri Resort, an isolated eco resort, everything its website promised.  We were ferried for over 25 minutes of teeth-rattling road interspersed with bits of paving up into the hills of Wayanad.   It’s not clear why some stretches are paved and some aren’t; perhaps the paved stretches would be even worse than the dirt road were they not paved.

After a nature walk, a slide show on the indigenous wildlife and dinner, I returned to my cabin for the night.  The air was wonderfully soft and warm and the forest still.  Vythiri Resort would make a perfect place to escape to for a dose of peace and quiet.