We spent a lot of time hiking to and from class, and exploring the surrounding area. The town is a hill station from British colonial times (makes sense that the British would build their fancy estates in the part of the country where the climate most closely approximated that of England), so there are lots of interesting old buildings around, but by far the most interesting element of the place was the wildlife. There were wild monkeys all over the walking paths and playing in the trees, and leopards are often sighted in the area… though we were spared the privilege of running into one of those.
While I was sitting in the hospital room alone one day, checking email, I made the mistake of leaving the window open for too long. After a few minutes, I looked up just in time to see this kind of monkey (the more aggressive kind) slowly raise his head up into the window:
After the reprieve of the mountains, it was a bit of a shock to careen back down the mountain and into a sweaty traffic jam with nauseating fumes, but we’ve pretty well adjusted again now. And we made it home in time to celebrate our 2 year wedding anniversary on the 26th! Looking back on everything that's happened, it seems like it's been far longer than two years... we've enjoyed the adventure so far and are excited for the journey ahead.