Pure Kerala – Travel with Mary

Travel with someone passionate about the place you are visiting, and you will discover the magic of a place.

Mary Butterworth these days lives in Melbourne Australia and like many Australians her story has been one of migration and adaptation. Her parents were born and raised in Kerala and we spoke both English and Malayalam at home.

Mary writes: “They were a dynamic and extraordinary pair: Fearless, entrepreneurial, creative and ambitious. Certainly Indian, Purely Keralan. I wondered what sort of a place hails people such as these?”

And so, over 20 years ago she began to explore India with friends and family and most naturally her family’s home-state of Kerala.

Mary’s emotional connection with Kerala was so life-changing and enriching, that she wanted to repeat these rewarding journeys with others.

She has developed Pure Kerala Tours – a company offering authentic southern India tours.

Now from Melbourne, Australia, Mary brings together people from their seemingly different backgrounds and seeing them connect and appreciate the common thread of each other’s cultures.

Many of her guests are women.

For instance the woman, grinding rice. To understand she labours for her children as you and I do.

To share a boat ride as the locals travel to start their day.

To learn a new skill, such as tying a sari and swapping a recipe with a local host. That to me, is what extraordinary travel experiences are made of.

In every trip, I have noticed in myself and my friends a lightening of the spirit. It’s amazing ….. I have always loved travelling for this reason and this is what is at the heart of my very personal Pure Kerala tours.  

In Melbourne Mary also offers cooking classes and Chai nights and introduces people to the culture and food of Kerala in these evenings.

Rosemary writes:  I travelled in Kerala on the #keralablogexpress and can testify that traveling with Kerala natives made that trip especially rich – we were introduced to the culture, the language the sights and sounds of this very different part of India.

Forget dry and arid – think wet and lush – Kerala is different from anywhere else in India and the world – they call it “God’s own country”

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