Carol's Travels

This morning the guests on each houseboat ate breakfast. Then we left the boats, and watched a man tap some coconut juice from a palm tree tapping coconut juice for the Toddy Shop. 

Afterward we got into tuk-tuks and rode to our bus. In about an hour we arrived at Paradesi Synagogue which was founded in 1568. The old tiles on the floor were beautiful. No pictures were allowed, though.  

We went to a laundry we people took their clothes to have them washed and/or ironed. Both men and women were employed there.

We walked on a walkway beside the beach. I put my hand in the Arabian Sea. Then we had lunch in a restaurant that used to be a British officers’ club.

 Next, we went to Francis Xavier’s Catholic Church, the original burial site of Vasco de Gama. His remains were later moved to his hometown in Portugal.

We checked in to our hotel. This evening we went to a Kathakali performance. First the actors put on their face paint in front of us. Then the female character that is traditionally played by a man demonstrated facial expressions and body movements to drum music. After the demonstration, the two actors and the drummer performed part of a traditional drama.

We had dinner at the hotel, then went to our rooms.u

This morning everyone ate breakfast on our boat. Then we all took a walk along the river bank. I took Cha-Cha-Cha along. As children on their way to school passed us, we interacted with them. It was fun to see their reactions…lots of smiles and laughter.

We stopped to talk with a young woman who was working outside her house. She invited us inside to show us her partially finished house. It reminded me of when we moved into our house. 

We walked for a while then returned to the boats. A short while later we stopped at a Toddy shop and tasted their coconut beverage that doesn’t taste alcoholic in the morning but becomes that way by evening. They served three appetizers with the drink: muscles, tapioca coconut, and curry. As we were leaving, I went inside the shed where they made the appetizers.

The crew surprised us by serving a traditional lunch on palm leaves the size of placemats. They spooned a lot of traditional foods onto each of our palm leaves, then we ate everything with our right hands. I thought the food was delicious, and it was a fun experience.

For the next two hours we relaxed. Some people napped in their cabins, but I spent most of the time on the deck watching the local people and the scenery as we cruised through the water.

At 4:30 we disembarked and walked through a small market place where we looked at fresh vegetables, dried fish, peanuts, and other items for sale. We walked along a path where we passed homes, rice fields, people, and motorbikes.

Then everyone got back onto our boat and cruised to the place where we would dock for the night. The sun was setting. Some walked along the path to see an unobstructed view of the sunset, but I took pictures from inside the boat where I got some unusual shots of the sun setting behind the palm trees.

We all had dinner on our boat, then we went to our cabins to get ready to leave the boats tomorrow morning after breakfast.

The hotel parking lot was busy this morning with so many people leaving to catch flights at the airport. It took us so much time to get through the airport security line, that we arrived at our departure gate when they were boarding the plane. Paul and I sat in an exit row against we could stretch out our legs.  The captain on this 3-hour flight was female. I got the opportunity to briefly chat with her when we walked off the plane in Kochin.

We were met by Anuja, our attractive female guide.  Anuja was wearing a beautiful red outfit.  I was intrigued by her red draped pants called patiala that she said were worn in northern India.  She wore a tunic over the pants and a long neckscarf draped down her back.

 On the way to the houseboats, we stopped at a supermarket to get snacks and soft drinks. Then we made a stop at the liquor store. Alcohol is strictly regulated in this southern state of Kerala.  
Kerala has been a communist state since it’s first election in 1957. It is the most educated part of India. The cow is not holy here. People eat beef. A fewer percentage of people are Hindu here.

A couple of hours after landing here, we got off the bus and rode tuk-tuks to the water where we boarded one of three houseboats. Anuja assigned Paul, Ellen, and me to be with her on a three-bedroom boat. 

 The two couples who travel together were assigned to a two-bedroom houseboat, and three of the single ladies were assigned to another three-bedroom boat.  The boats started cruising through the water. We sat in sturdy wooden armchairs and relaxed while drinking coconut milk out of coconut shells. 

 A short time later we ate a delicious lunch. The food is a lot different from northern India. Only one dish had curry in it. The curry here is different from the north. We ate rice with a pineapple sauce over it, chicken, fish, some small crispy fried veggies, and some rice noodle pudding for dessert. Anuja said that it is proper to eat with our right hands, but forks were provided too.
After the three houseboats were docked, we all walked with Anuja along the river bank. She pointed out fruit trees and the colorful vegetation as we walked past the homes of the residents. Fathers carrying young children walked by us. We saw both Christian and Hindu influence here.

After we returned to the boat, everyone got ready to eat dinner at 7:00 on our boat. Some of us had a Happy Hour eating deep fried shrimp appetizers on one of the other houseboats. Then we all had a pleasant dinner on our boat.