It was an enjoyable morning visiting a spice garden and a tea plantation. Krishna was my guide at the spice garden and he showed me many of the spices and native plants of South India. It was very interesting to hear how each of these spices/plants are used not only in cooking, but also how they are used medicinally to treat many ailments. I also had a tour of the Connemara tea factory where we got to see the process of how tea is manufactured right from the picking of the leaves to the packaging of the leaves and powder. The tea industry employs about 2 000 000 people in India with about 80% of the tea remaining in India. The Indians love their tea, however, most enjoy the powdered tea that is stirred into hot milk and it is sweetened with sugar. This is not my favourite way to enjoy tea and it is difficult to get a good cup of loose leafed made tea. The women work very hard picking the tea leaves in the fields. They work 8 hour days and for this they receive 20 rupees (50 cents) per day! A very hard life they have!
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