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Published: December 14th 2006
OUR HOUSE BOAT!
Be sure to wipe your feet before you enter!Wow! So much has happend In the past few days and we apologize for not keeping the blog updated on a day-to-day basis. It's hard to find internet cafes and today the entire country of India went on STRIKE! Ade and I spent the past two days cruzing around the backwaters of Alopy, Kerela in a massive Houseboat. It was a high-point of our trip! It was the two of us, alog with 3crew members and about 1000mosquitos. We relaxed, fished, played dominoes, and slept....all for about the price of a mid-range hotel (1night) in Las Vegas. The boat came with our own personal chef, and every meal was a feast. Why do I feel like I'm the only person in the world who ever came to India and gained weight???? It was great to see life in the backwaters. People fishing, washing clothes and farming. Everywhere we looked families were laughing and children were playing. Life out here is realy incredible and the spiritual-vibe is very strong. I have never been to a place where people are so warm and passionate to out-siders. I HAVE ALOT MORE TO SAY, BUT I CANT WRITE ABOUT IT WITHOUT ADE (I THINK SHES
NEXT DOOR BUYING SPICES???). Yesterday we took a ferry to a taxi-stand, and then journeyd 4hours to Kumali in eastern Kerala. We spent today at the Periyar Tiger Reserve (Morning hike with guide) and then I got my head shaved at the local barbershop. I WAS MORE AFFRAID OF THE THE BARBER CUTTING MY HAIR THEN I WAS OF THE WILD TIGERS ON THE HIKE! The next blog entry will be extra speacial. Ade just got back with a giant bag of spices!!
ADE'S PART:
So... yes, i did come back with spices. but that ain't it😊... hee hee. so what michael failed to mention about the periyer tiger reserve is that the nature walk we did was, although beautiful, was just kinda overshadowed by the fact that there were leeches everywhere. gag. i was laughing when they told me we had to wear these bhuge socks that we put over our pants and tied below the knee.... thinking that the 15 rs (40rs=1$... you do the math) was just another lowballing scam... yahhhh.... well the guide was wearing them and so i decided to follow suit, as did michael, and THANK GOD. in our hubris of jungle
Last Dinner on the Boat
Bowls of Curry. Giant Prawns. Fresh Fruit. Sooooooooo yummy! travel... (we hiked in the amazon with sandals... come on, how much more intense could THIS PARK be-heeelll000... i'll take the amazon over the leech-infested western ghats anyday)...
the whole three hours i spent staring at the ground... and my feet... making sure that the blood-suckers didn't ascend any further than my ankles. it was an time consuming task. they are sick. and creepy... and when it comes to leeches, i am a woos. i tried to flick them off, adn then would jump in place, squeel and jam my finger into the dirt when they stuck to my flicking finger. the guide was so casual about it... eh... just little leeches. omg. SICK. one guy in our group was not as careful as i was about the removal of the leeches from the flicking finger. he got "sucked" between his fingers AND another one found its way up his sleeve only to be discovered at the end of the trip. he didnt' feel it. but there was dried blood. ok. i maybe have grossed you all out enough. suffice to say... the "nature walk" was more of a trial in leech aversion. and (one last thing i swear)
ADE
On the front deck! i would have liked it better if they were the good ol' american, "stand by me" leeches. those were HUGE.. .and easy to see. these suckers, no pun intended were little... eh. i hate them.
kumily (the town where periyer is) is really cute though. our first spy on a "hill station," or mountain town, as we might call it. its real cute folks. we are loving the crisper air andcooler nights. gearing up for the north.
there are more pix & stories, but we're getting burnt out in the lab... more later
and now... the blog you have all been waiting for😊... (to follow)
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taylor Tosh
non-member comment
foreshadowing??!!
Why all the foreshadowing if it already has happened... The leeches scene sounds creepy. but did you see any tigers? Nothing about tigers...