God's Own Country

I went to the Garden of Eden on our offsite this past weekend. Kerala is described as "God's own country" for a reason: it's one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen (only Yosemite, Hawaii, Delphi, and the Amalfi Coast compare). As I mentioned previously, you can get way more bang for your buck in India. In Boston, they took us on a bus to an off-season ski resort in Vermont for our offsite. In India, they flew us to a tropical paradise. I'll describe one of the most incredible events I’ve ever attended below :

We left at 4:30AM Thursday morning and arrived in the afternoon. That afternoon we had team building activities outside where I meet people from the other offices in India. For our "tea break", we had a man take coconuts from the tree, split off the top and put a straw in. Fun fact: coconut milk (well, really coconut water in my opinion) tastes way better than coconut.

Thursday night, I attended an event that was WAY better than any wedding I have ever attended—we had an amazing party on a beach, where we held a charity auction (I bought two roundtrip tickets any where in India), ate a delicious dinner, and discussed the history of the company in India. This place looked better than any high-class tropical-themed wedding I've seen on Platinum Weddings. I took a picture of the sunset from the party. After the beach party, we went inside and danced until 2AM.

On Friday, we had a morning meetings (I did not sleep much). In the afternoon, I went on a boat tour of the Kerala backwaters and played in the Indian Ocean (ocean #3 for me!). Way better than a Ben & Jerry’s tour.

Friday evening was a dinner and awards ceremony. They flew in a famous D.J. who played tunes for us until 4:30AM. Then I wandered the beach with people before heading home at 6AM.

I stayed an extra night (that I paid for, of course) to recover. I spent the next two days sleeping, eating, swimming in their two infinite pools, and going to the spa (for a pedicure and massage). Fun facts: #1 Kerala massages are very different from American ones—let’s just say you wear a lot less clothing. #2 Southern Indian food is delicious and much lighter than northern food—full of bananas, coconut oil, mangos, and yumminess.

Now only one question remains: when can I go back to Eden?