Athirapilly Waterfalls

we saw these rubber trees on the way to the waterfalls:

we stopped on this diverted river bed on the way:

doesn't my baby look cool?

this is ashok's cousin, das chettan, showing us how they used to make "spoons" with jackfruit tree leaves. it was funny, dad started to tell the story of how he would make spoons, then das 'ettan walked up, unaware of dad's story, and began sharing a similar story. when we told das of the coincidence, he said to dad in malayalam, "then i am truly your nephew, uncle!"

we loaded up our car on one of these "canoes", and off we went!

india has the best signs, hands down:

the waterfalls, from a distance:

our traveling companion, vyasa prasad (aka bhaiyya):

magnificent!

yet another great sign:

and they keep coming:

this sign might be my favorite! what do the police have to do with this??

there are no words:

if you can believe it, all of the pictures up until this point are from the first week of the journey! more to come friends...