Settling in - Thattekad

Our last two days were originally scheduled to be at a place called Hornbill Camp, a tent style place. We had been reading recent trip advisor reviews and were frankly dreading it. A few days back, Mahendra mentioned they had switched us, but as usual we got very few details. We are planners; we need details! Eventually the night prior he sent us the link to River House where we are now and we breathed a sigh of relief.

We arrived and were greeted warmly; although no ink added to our foreheads or necklaces or scarves placed on our persons. 😂 That’s okay; we prefer the genuine warm greeting over some of the rituals. Although many of the welcome beverages (non alcoholic) have been very much enjoyed. 

I digress. So we got the lay of the land here, and it’s super cute. Five rooms in one main building, a separate restaurant just a stroll through the gardens, a pool, and a yoga facility. I’m set for a noon class tomorrow 👏🏻.

We have had our lunch, opting for the Kerala style Indian food as opposed to “sandwiches.” Why come to India and eat sandwiches? They got the memo that I am gluten free, but no one mentioned I don’t tolerate high spice level well - but I still had plenty to keep me going until we maybe make it back from birding to check out snacks at tea time. We bird at 3:30 and are also supposed to do a brief night birding tonight.

Funniest thing during our orientation to the room when the host points out the switch to turn on the hot water and then says, “but it’s hot here now so you probably won’t need that.” I assured him that we do indeed like hot showers so we will be flipping that switch. He obviously doesn’t know Mike at all and it reminded me of the Fiji cold shower I took in the airport and raved about and forgot to tell Mike there was no hot water before he went and “enjoyed” one himself.😂

So I haven’t photographed any of the outside yet, it is quite hot at midday, but I got a few of the cute room only slightly disrupted with our settling in. (And Mike in his afternoon siesta 😴) As I was taking them, I discovered another fun fact: there is a gaping hole in the bathroom wall where the water heater comes in - I’m sure all various creatures will be enjoying entry there in the night so I will insist on keeping the doors closed between bedroom and bathroom. Other than that we shall be perfectly content for two nights rest here before our last day in India  - which will be interesting - as we check out, bird the day, then get on an evening flight to Maldives. Hope we don’t stink too bad!