Kerala: Part 2

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Wow! It's been a while since I posted on here and it feels like we've done so much! We left Fort Kochi and headed down to Alleppey where we met 2 women from NZ, a travelling musician and her friend who was visiting her for 2 weeks. We got on very well, and after a couple of days exploring Alleppey we followed them down to Varkarla situated on the coast. We stayed at Sea View guest house, right on the cliff, with wonderful views out to sea. The beaches were a bit smaller than ones we've been used to so far, and the currents were strong! But we had fun. There were plenty of restaurants and shops to choose from, and found it funny at the weekend, as many restaurants brought out their 'under the table' cocktail menus, as Kerala is predominantly a 'dry state'. On Saturday night we enjoyed a local open mic night, as well as Kerala's biggest dance floor - which was extremely small! Also I enjoyed 4 days of Ayervedic therapies, which included a full body massage, reflexology, a massage by foot, and a traditional massage with little bags of powders and leaves dipped in warm oil and rubbed onto my skin. Very exfoliating! We left Varkarla on Tuesday and made our way down to Alleppey for one more night, before heading to Thuravoor where we got taken to our very own houseboat! The boat was beautiful and eco-friendly as it was powered by punting not an engine. We made good friends with our cook, who was our age. He cooked amazing food and enjoyed chatting with us late into the night, his English was good so we could communicate very well. Was interesting talking to him about his culture in the little villages along the canals, although as we found out we also have a lot in common, e.g. music taste and film taste 😊 the backwaters are absolutely stunning and as well as spending time in the boat punting along, we also had the opportunity to paddle out in their canoe which was made of wood, with little wooden oars, felt very Pocahontas like! We saw a lot of wildlife including kingfishers and dragonflies. After staying a night there we slowly made our way to Kumily, which is right next to Piryar wildlife sanctuary and tiger reserve! We have booked onto a trek on Sunday which includes bamboo rafting and jungle trekking which I'm very much looking forward to. We've already seen monkeys roaming around the town, but are hoping to see some elephants too as well as maybe a tiger!! I think it's safe to say I've fallen in love with Kerala!

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