I spent this past weekend exploring the rolling hills and foggy valleys of Vagamon, Kerala, a small town in the south of India. I was there for hardly more than 24 hours, but the experience felt as if it lasted a lifetime and the memories will remain with me forevermore. Vagamon is truly magic—I am going to try (and likely fail) to encompass some of the wonderful comfort, peace, and joy I felt during my time there within this article. The wonder that is this place deserves to be shared with the world.
I have always had a strong desire to travel, but have not had many opportunities yet to venture out of the United States. I am lucky that this is slowly starting to change. At 21, so far I’ve spent time in 3 countries: the US, Canada, and now India. The 6 week long trip I’ve embarked on with CraftHER by Swara this summer has been a life-changing experience, and I promise I’m not exaggerating. Sometimes it’s been hard to express to family members and people from my hometown how badly I want to get out and see the world, how innately I know that there’s so much more out there to see and do, but this trip has only cemented those feelings.
Vagamon, and all of the other places we’ve traveled to over the last few weeks, are incomparable to anywhere at home in the US, much less to my small town in Ohio. The feeling of visiting a place like that, standing on the edge of a lookout with nothing but green mountains ahead, makes you realize your own small place in the world in a way that no other experience can. Driving up and down the hills, on switchbacks and slippery gravel driveways, makes you both fear for your life and value it immensely. But the destination is SO worth it—paradise, an escape from everyday life, from the stress of work and responsibility, where you can coexist with nature and learn, in the words of one of our hosts, to be your own “quiet activist”.
We spent Sunday night at a homestay called Little Flower Farms (check them out on instagram here!). It lives on the side of the mountain, with different levels of guest rooms and buildings set at different elevations within the hill and an intricate set of winding trails and stairs connecting them all. I could have spent hours just wandering aimlessly down different paths within the property. The owners of the property are committed to cultivating a sustainable experience and fostering the natural biodiversity of the area in which they are located. The hills of Vagamon and other surrounding towns are one of the most biodiverse areas of the world, I learned while there, and many plant species are endemic to the region. It was so inspiring to learn how Little Flower Farms and other local residents are working to protect and adapt to live within nature, never extorting or damaging it for the sake of human enjoyment and still creating an amazing experience within these bounds.
One of the other highlights of our trip was the incredible food. Many of the vegetables and herbs used in our meals at Little Flower Farms were grown on site or nearby. We feasted on a mix of traditional Kerala dishes and food unique to the locale, like a delicious salad with starfruit and orange. After dinner, we drank hot chocolate and enjoyed a campfire under the stars. A perfect end to the perfect day.
The next morning, we traveled just a few moments down the mountain to swim in a natural waterfall. Talk about a once in a lifetime experience. The water was fresh, crisp, refreshing—I could go on and one, but there aren’t enough words in the world to fully capture the feeling of sitting under the rushing water and contemplating your own place in the natural world. During our conversation at dinner, one of the wise hosts of Little Flower Farms also told us “people tend to find this place when they need it the most” and nothing could be more true. Overall, I am just so in awe and grateful for the experience as I continue to process everything. I’m so lucky to have found this place, and so lucky to be a part of the program that brought me to Vagamon and India as a whole.
CraftHER is a proprietary project bringing scholars from around the world to study the intersection of traditional craft, feminism, and women’s amplification in Kerala, India. Created by Swara: Voice of Women, the project was established in 2024 with a cohort of 6 scholars but hopes to expand in forthcoming years. Follow @craftherbyswara on Instagram for more details and to follow along on our journey!
