Ooty 26th Feb- 3rd March Jo

Four hours and thirty six hair pin bends later, I finally arrived in Ooty, an old colonial hill station which is another popular destination with Indian tourists who want to escape the heat of the lower plains. It is a strange mix of local life, beautiful scenery and Blackpool style attractions! The place still has a strong British influence with many churches and a large Christian population living alongside the Hindus and Muslims. Everyone is very proud of their religion and it is the only place where I have seen tuk-tuks decorated in Hindu garlands or with sun visor strips across the windscreen saying 'Jesus is love' and 'Praise the Lord'. Although the centre of town is nothing special unless you are a meat eater- I've never seen so many butchers in one place and for a squeamish, veggie like myself it was quite traumatic seeing the remains of freshly slaughtered goats lying in the road and live chickens pulled from a cage to meet the chop. However, even I smiled when I saw a telephone attached to one cage of live chickens as I thought of them phoning for help. It is easy to pass the time in Ooty and the main activity for western tourists is trekking through the surrounding hills but I was there for another reason, through Ken's friends, I knew of a children's home and I wanted to visit and help.
Mizpah home is a brilliant example of a children's home and the couple who run it obviously do a fantastic job looking after twenty seven children with virtually no help and the husband has a full time job too! Whilst there I was able to help in the garden and hear readers as all the children attend English medium schools to give them the best chance to get a good job and break the cycle of poverty they have usually come from.
On my last day in Ooty I did go trekking with three other tourists and a local guide. We walked eighteen kilometres through gorgeous scenery including a large tea plantation. For lunch we stopped at a very small village and went into a very rustic restaurant, much to the delight of the locals who joined us. It soon became apparent we were receiving preferential treatment as the restaurant staff insisted we had a newspaper tablecloth rather than the bare bench! The food was excellent and it was washed down with a glass of red chai!
As luck would have it the villagers were holding a Hindu festival so as we continued our trek through the village there was music, dancing and general merriment as well as the usual splattering of locals wanting their photo taken. After a further thirty minute climb uphill we were standing on a ridge overlooking a plateau- a breath taking sight. Once we had got our breath back we quickly descended to the village to catch the bus back to Ooty. Now as all of you know, I'm not usually so keen on exercise so as a result my poor body suffered and by the time we were due to get off the bus my legs had turned to stone and seized up.
The next morning it was an early start as I left by bus rather than the famous toy train, which presently is only running to the next village rather than making its full journey due to a landslide.