Paradise Found -- Allepey Feb. 20

---

We got to our hotel in Allepey which is just gorgeous -- we are staying in a bungalow right next to the water. We have an open air bathroom where you can look up at the coconut trees and just after we arrived a brown bird with bright blue wings came and sat a while on a branch close by. there is a canoe stop just near our cottage and we can sit on our patio and watch the river traffic go by. In the evening, there are workers and school children returning home, some with their bicycles -- all being ferried across the water -- no engine -- silently gliding past. There is no traffic noise, just the sounds of people living by the water, crickets and birds. The green of the tea plantations has been replaced hy the green on the rice paddies and coconut trees. Some canals don't seem to have any boat traffic -- they are completely filled with water lillies. It is simply amazing here. So, we are here in Kerala in the unbelievably beautiful backwaters, moving from chair to hammock, eating mandarines and the last of the cashews and with a fresh supply of coconut cookies. The patio has a ceiling fan -- brilliant -- no reason to move at all. Watching the lights of the houses on the other bank reflect in the water and being enveloped by the warm night. I tell you, it's a hard life -- and I still haven't made up my mind about what to have for breakfast ... decisions, decisions ... maybe fruit salad?

---