Day 11 Wed. Nov. 28

Today was an early departure so Susan and Robert were swimming laps in the hotel pool by 6 a.m.  The water was warm and the birds serenaded us from the large rain trees hovering over the pool.  After breakfast, we headed south from Kochin.  We are still in the province of Kerala.  We had a 2 hour bus ride to Alleppey along the coast where we were to board a passenger ferry cruise and tour the backwaters.  This area is at sea level and the rainy season which happens from June to the end of November causes major flooding so the people capitalize on this natural phenomenon by growing rice.

Lakuma, our tour guide, decided to teach us all about the Indian cast system.  To simplify her information, I will share some basic facts.

1. There are five casts ... a) Brahmins (religous leaders)   b) Warriors (military)  c) Business (people who control the money  d) Laborers (those who do all the physical work  e) Harigens (untouchable or Children of God) basically the poor people
2.   People can’t marry outside their cast
3. The cast system is slowly fading away.  The cast system is alive and well during courtships and weddings.  If you marry outside your cast, you are ostracized from your family and cast members.

We stopped briefly at a factory that harvested coconut fibers for rope and carpets.  Robert had a chance to make a rope and Kathy checked out old machinery.  The fibers are called coir.  Most of the people in our group need bathroom breaks regularly so the tour guide managed to find a small hotel (Prince) where the bathrooms were somewhat clean.  Milla found a tiger in the lobby and had her picture taken stroking it.

The major attraction for the morning was the boat tour on the backwaters.  It reminded us of the canals in Venice but the waterways seemed a little wider.  There were many house boats of various sizes parked along all the canals.  Most of them were made out of wood i.e. bamboo.  It appeared that some people lived in them and others just rented them for a holiday.  As we cruised along sitting on the upper deck on plastic lawn chairs, we took many pictures of the action.  We boarded a house boat that was being repaired.  One of the workers told us that it would take about a year to complete it.  We passed rice paddies, villages, various working boats, men poling boats, fishermen, churches, schools, fancy expensive homes, and we even passed a Toddy shop.  Toddy is extracted from the coconut tree like we extract maple syrup from the hard maple tree.  Toddy is a coconut liquid which is considered very healthy but the men who drank it in the bars, waited for the Toddy fluid to ferment which made it toxic and tasted like alcohol.  After 3 hours of cruising down the canals in the hot sun, everyone was ready to eat and cool off.  Our tour guide took us to a small town called Changanacherry which is the gateway to the Western Ghats.  These mountains hug the western side of India and we are about to head east.  The bus stopped at roadside restaurant that had a very limited selection of things to eat so we all purchased junk food.  At least we had a chance to empty our bladders.

We are heading through the mountains to a place called Thekkady which is spice country.  We are anxious to see how they grow ginger, garlic, cardamom, vanilla, pepper, cinnamon, coffee, tea, cloves and nutmeg.  We just passed a pineapple plantation and a rubber tree plantation.  I think our hotel for this one night stop is in a place called Periyar just in case you wanted to mapquest us.  I am not sure why some of the rubber trees have different coloured plastic wrapped around them but it might have something to do with the rains.

In another busy mountain town along this ancient spice route called Erumali, we stopped to take pictures of pilgrims and others who were celebrating the festival of the moon.   These men were clothed in lungis only, and decorated with multi-coloured paint , dancing to drum beats, while parading down the middle of the road.  It was quite a party!  They came from all over the Kerala province, walking to this town because the town had a Hindu temple and a Muslim white mosque side by side.  These two buildings were built here to celebrate the relationship between these two faiths.  This is the only city in India where Muslims, Hindi, and Christians all get along. 

 life on the backwaters of Kochin in Kerala province

 robert makes rope from coconut fibers

 ducks even go to temples

  Milla enjoys the boat tour of the backwaters in the warm sun

 Milla gets her strength from the Tiger

  our cabin at Spice Village in Thekkady

This is an eco resort worth visiting - www.cghearth.com

 rob has his breakfast from the Pepper tree

 some pilgrims in Erumali celebrating friendship and understanding between Hindu and Muslim

 tapping the rubber tree sap

 Sue with the coffee tree

 boat building in the backwaters

  Kathy gives us some pointers about fishing boats.

The bus sped to Thekkedy through the mountains because Susan, Robert, Milla, and Kathy have booked massages for 5 p.m. at our next hotel.  Well so much for the massages tonight.  We winded our way through the very high mountains and finally arrived at the Spice Lodge at 7:30 p.m.   The facility is in the town of Thekkedy, a mountain resort high in a very tropical forest.  Each of us has a cabin in the woods that is exquisite.  It is time for dinner so I won’t be able to post today’s pics until tomorrow.  We are all too tired!