Kerala: The Land of…Bananas?

I never even knew there was two different bananas until a few years ago when I started seeing those tiny ones crop up in the supermarkets. It wasn’t until my wife Liz and I took a trip down to the state of Kerala in S. India that a whole new world of bananas was unleashed upon me. I think I counted ten different bananas that we ate! Varieties of shapes, sizes, colors, and flavors overwhelmed my senses and my stomach. I swear, I have never eaten more bananas in my life than I did during this seven day trip we took to visit good friends of ours in their hometown of Kumily, Kerala.

So many bananas!

Because COVID doesn’t seem to be going anywhere soon, we had to make a decision whether or not to make the trip to Kerala at this time. Even while I write this, Kerala still has the most amount of active cases in India. There are many reasons for this and I won’t go into them but we felt good enough to catch a plane ride from our home in Himachal Pradesh to Delhi and from there to Cochin, Kerala. Immediately we were amazed at the differences between Kerala and N. India. While Hindu temples usually can be spotted every couple of kilometres in N. India, the same can be said for Christian churches in Kerala. The food was radically different as well. Kerala is the only state in India (to the best of my knowledge) that you can eat beef in. Also, because of it being by the Arabic Sea and Indian Ocean, you can get amazing fresh fish, lobsters, shrimp, and crabs.

After we spent some time in Cochi, we traveled about five hours up into the mountains of Kerala. We could not have imagined how beautiful it would be. While our home is in the mountains of the Himalayas, the smaller mountains of Kerala provided a totally different experience. We found ourselves weaving through the windy roads through a tropical rainforest filled with numerous waterfalls, fruit trees, spices, and colorful villages. Once we got to our final destination at our friends house in Kerala we were actually in a cooler climate than we were back home despite being much closer to the Equator. We spent the next few days exploring the area, eating tons of food (lots of bananas!), and getting to spend quality time with our dear friends. All in all, a great trip. And if you ever are thinking of taking a trip to India, make sure to come to Kerala for a few days - you won’t regret it! Leave us a comment if you’d like and contact us if you ever want us to book you a trip to either Kerala or wherever else you desire!