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Varkala
I have two photos from these two days. This one is decidedly less creepy as there aren't countless westerners sunscreening up. 19 March
Ambassador taxis took us from the train station to our beautiful little hotel, only a few minutes walk away from the beach in Varkala. The beach is only a huge flight of stairs down a massive cliff. It's stunning, wonderful, with warm waters and the go ahead to wear swimsuits! Unfortunately I didn't spend much time there. The fever from my intense mosquito bite allergic reaction skin death kept me in bed, close to cold showers and a tv.
20 March
Much of the same. Beautiful views once I'd climbed out of bed. Fever on the edge of breaking. Me on the brink of feeling better.
21 March
Back on the train! I love Indian trains. They are all blue. And have blue insides. Sleeper cars are great to travel in during the day. You can climb into the top bunk above everyone and have a feverish sleep. Even if it's only a short sleep. From the station, we hopped in tuk-tuks to the canal in Alleppey to catch the boat to the backwaters. Some confusion followed this and once out on the water amongst the houseboats, we had to hop onto
a different, smaller boat to navigate the canals. The backwaters are an area of Kerala that lie completely below sea level. The streets are canals, carefully carved and maintained. The city blocks are islands that constantly struggle to stay above the water. In the monsoon season, the streets take over and the homes must only be barely visible in some places. Most of the buildings are fighting to keep from sinking. Over the years with such soft ground many of the houses have started to dip as older buildings don't have proper foundations. Earth is harvested from the bottom of the canals to build up the islands in a never ending battle to keep dry. Behind the houses are massive rice paddies with a smattering of tiny homes and higher islands once home to slaves and now home to happy working families. The area was also settled by a wide variety of people which accounts for the temples, stupas, and churches in the area. For our homestay, we bunked in at three different Matthews' homes (Christian Syrians, of course). The food was perhaps some of the best I've ever had in my life. Fantastic curries, fried plantains, MANGOMANGOMANGO, coconut rice
noodles. Yum.
In the evening we wandered the island a bit, taking special note of the toddy tappers, banana pickers and coir harvesters. Most of the trees in the area have ladders built onto them with coir to facilitate easier climbs to get to the fruit (or to the booze in the case of the toddy tappers). A nice boat ride back along the canals introduced us to some of the old slave songs from the area.
22 March
After even more delicious best food ever, we hopped back in the boat towards Alleppey. Here we boarded a local bus. Local buses in India are an experience. A real experience. The one we were on had no room for luggage, so the only option was to hold it. Where does one hold an 18 kg backpack you ask? You don't. I put mine on the floor and pretzeled myself on top of it and the seat and tried not to kick myself in the face. I was also in a middle seat on the bus bench. Great. The bus was only a couple hours at least. The feeling did eventually come back in my feet. After
I stumbled gracefully off the bus in Kochi.
After a feast of north Indian food (note that Kochi is in the deep south), we headed off on an adventure to see the Chinese fishing nets. Kochi is built on a wild assortment of islands and peninsulas making ferries the easiest transport. And for 2 rupees (4 cents), you can't beat the price. Once across the lake and past Willingdon Islans, we spotted playful dolphins in the harbor! They were certainly a welcome and unexpected sight in the industrial port that is Kochi. Riding the wave of excitement, we headed out on a walk to the nets. The lame-os in our adventure party stayed back and took a few photos while Laura and I tried our hand at pulling up the nets with a group of local fishermen. We got a full lesson in the different types of fish (held up one-by-one for us by our fisherman friend and explained thoroughly - "good fish, yes?") and were thoroughly embarassed at how weak we were in pulling up the net. And what did we catch?? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. But it was fun. And after exerting far too much effort, we walked
back towards the ferry, stopping at an aircon coffee shop which served some of the bestest brownies you can imagine. With ice cream!
The evening out proved to be one of the weirdest I've ever experienced. Bumchum, Phia and I did manage to survive.
23 March
Still in Kochi. Heat? Beyond belief. So we skipped a visit to Jew Town since walking anywhere seemed too unbearable. And what to do when it's boiling out? Go to the cinema! Was "Valkyrie" on as promised? No! What was? Some horribly depressing Tamil movie about a silk weaver's dream of seeing his daughter married in a silk sari that he secretly weaved in the barn. Doesn't sound so bad? His wife was trampled to death, he went off the deep end for Communism, and then his daughter was paralyzed when she fell in the well. So what happens? He cuts the sari off the loom, feeds his daughter rat poison and the last scene shows him seriously mentally disturbed. "Valkyrie" is probably downright uplifting compared to that...
And in the evening...back on the train!!
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