canopy of tall trees. More about that later. We didn't know exactly where we were going and the local people did not give the best directions to our driver, but we ended up on an 8 km drive up a very narrow road with lots of cliff on each side! Fortunately, there were very few cars coming down with which to contend for space on the road! The road was very winding too- did I mention? Winding AND narrow! We came upon a Hindu temple as we drove up and we stopped to look around. About 3 other cars stopped while we walked around. It seemed like a lonely place, but views were nice. The surrounding terrain was very nice. 
We continued up the mountain until we found a car stopped where the road turned to dirt. Scary red dirt. The last 1km or so was on this dirt road with some large pot holes- surely it is impassable by car in the rainy season. The other car had 4 people out for a little trek and they did not know that it was safe to proceed so they were about to abandon their car with it partly blocking this narrow, winding road with the scary red dirt! Our driver assured them they could drive on and they did. We followed at a safe distance. At the parking area ahead there were about 6 cars and one truck. The truck appeared to be leaving and we hoped they would be gone before we had to leave. Our driver said that they were on some sort of outing and the goat they had was to be their meal. We did not wish to participate. We began the long walk up. up, up many stairs- maybe not 620 like the day before, but enough to be painful. However, the views were great and there was a good breeze. We made it to the top of the mountain where we found an old temple with construction going on to expand it with a new temple. It was interesting, but not that much. We took in the views and walked back down to our car for the harrowing ride down the mountain on the scary red dirt covered winding narrow road. We were VERY happy that we did NOT meet any other cars on any part of the road where it would have been a problem. A couple days later we learned the name of the mountain is "Mullaiyanagiri" and that it is the highest peak in the state of Karnataka at about 6000 feet! 
We drove on down and down. The driver mentioned a water fall that was supposed to be not so far away. One of us said "Go"! The other said "only as long as the road is good"! Local people said the waterfall was about 22km away, which is a long way on a bad road, but we drove and passed a couple buses and cars going one way or the other until we got to a fork in the road. Here a guy said that while it was 22km to here, it is another 26km to the waterfall. We saw the lime green house shown in the picture on the hillside. The color IS bright! 
The food was mediocre, but the place was very nice. We also found that they could arrange a tour of a coffee plantation, so we did that. The guide took us almost all the way back t0 the scary red dirt. We walked around in the plantation and he told us about coffee and the history of it in India. The story is that a Muslim saint- "Baba Budan" brought 7 beans to India from Ethiopia and those were the start of coffee in India. The Dutch and later the British greatly expanded the coffee growing. The British bringing experts from Brazil to help and planting tall silver oak trees to provide the shade trees. There are 2 kinds of coffee plants- according to the guide- "arabica" and "robusto". The former trees producing for about 65 years and the later for about 90 years. The coffee beans are picked by hand and then dried on a stone platform for a few days then the outer hulls are removed. Inside there are normally 2 beans. When only one bean is present it is called a "peaberry". The beans are cleaned and sorted by size into 3 grades + peaberrys. The best are normally exported. We met the owner of the plantation and he said that 90% of his crop goes to ILLY in Italy. The beans are not roasted until they are ready to be packaged. "French Roast" or blend has chicory in 15-20% quantity. We left the plantation and went back to Chikamaglur to a coffee business where they roast the beans and package them. Knowing that the best beans may have been exported is not so encouraging, but we'll try the
coffee to see if we like it. In general, coffee in Bangalore seems good. We dropped off the guide and headed back toward Halebid. We wanted to see the place near sunset, and we made it just a little late, but got some good pictures anyway. We went back to the hotel to rest our weary knees and have dinner. The last picture shows a coffee plant- they trim them to be only about 5 feet tall since the women who pick the beans are generally no taller than 5 feet. The silver oak and other shade trees are all around. One of us said it was time to go back and we finally did. We went all the way back to town and then across town to have lunch at a nice hotel.
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