March 14-17, Monday - Thursday

March 14-17, Monday - Thursday

After a 07:30 am meditation and yoga practice we enjoyed a late breakfast with two young men and a young lady from Germany. They were headed to Varkala from where we just came. Our plan was to enjoy the day around Cochin. Our tour guide Heather directed us to one of the local bicycle rentals where we rented three bicycles that looked similar to the Wicked Witch of the West bicycle complete with baskets (well Heather's and Jen had one anyway). So off we set out to Jew Town (that's the name) during the hottest part of the day. Besides the heat it really was the best way to cover a lot of ground and really see the streets and goings on. We lasted a couple hours and headed back to the comfort of our air conditioned rooms.

Late afternoon we returned our bicycles and headed to the local fish market and the area where the famous Chinese fishing nets are located. I'll do my best to describe the operation of the fishing nets. The center support is a huge A frame that serves as a pivot point (think swing set). The support the goes between the two A frames supports the fishing net on one end and a group of hanging boulders that are roped together on the other. There are four or five separate ropes each with six or seven boulders attached. The poles that connect to the fishing net and the boulders are lashed together at either end to form an upside-down V shape. When the fishing net is in the water the boulders are suspended above the fishing platform. When they want to raise the fishing net out of the water, four or five guys just pull down on the ropes and with the weight of the boulders the fishing net is lifted from the water. So any fish they catch are the ones that just happen to be swimming by the moment the fishing net is raised up. The whole apparatus is huge. If my description is clear as mud then please Google it.

We departed Cochin for Allepey on Tuesday morning a bit after 09:00 am to catch our departing house boat at 11:30 am. We requested a cab with A/C but about half way through the trip we all concluded that it was cooler with the windows rolled down.

We were dropped off at the "finishing point." This is where the Kerala snake boat races finish. In this case the boats are manned by up to 120 men. I just got this out of one of color brochures from a man working at the pavilion. It is also were our house boat picked us up to start our "backwaters" experience. The backwaters are 650 square miles of man-made islands and canals. They've built up the canals over many years by digging mud from the canal floor and piling it up on the banks. They've also built concrete and stone walls along side the banks to hold back the water. There are pathways along side the edge of the canals and homes and small shops have been built sometimes within a few feet of the waters edge while some larger homes are set back 20 to 30 feet. We paddled around one of these islands and it took us about two hours. This might give you an idea as to how big these islands are. The water pretty much stays at the same level year round except once a year they let in the salt water from the ocean to flush out the backwaters. It also flushes out all the trash as well. I haven't done so but I hear Google Earth shows these canals really well.

About 100 feet back from the water's edge begin the rice fields which are below the water level of the canal. They have gates that they raise when they need to water the fields. They get two rice yields each year so each takes 4 months and they let the field lay fallow the other 4 months. The backwaters are the "rice bowl" of India. Coconuts are also a very important commodity for the locals. In addition to the milk and the edible part coconut, then also use the outer shell for jewelry and bowls, they've combined rubber from the local rubber trees and coconut fibers to make some very nice doormats. The fibers are also used as stuffing for mattresses (no wonder the beds here are so hard). They also use the palm prawns for roofing material (but many homes now use red brick tile). The hard branch part of the palm prawn is used for fire material. Coconut palms start producing in 45 days and with coconut palms everywhere you can harvest somewhere most every day. Banana trees start producing in a little over a year and once the single bunch is harvested the tree is cut down. One single banana tree produced a number of offshoots so the banana population thrives here also.

Anyway, back to the house boat. These house boats have become big business for the backwaters. Our boat had two full bedroom complete with toilet/shower and air conditioning. There was a sitting area on the front deck with a couple nice padded chairs to relax in and a small dining table with four chairs and an area with a small flat screen tv. There was a covered upper deck but it was too hot to sit up there. In the back was a small galley where our food was prepared. We were taken care of by three men, Shrijoo, Fasil, and Joseph. We spent the next 20 hours or so slowly cruising the backwater canals. We tied up near a shady row of palms trees for lunch and then later in the afternoon we stopped at a very small local market where I bought two huge prawns and six smaller prawns which were cooked for our dinner. Around 5:30 pm we stopped for the evening and departed the boat for a walk along the canal. Not far down the path a young lady of 17 invited the three of us into her backyard to enjoy the sunset. We were soon joined by her entire family. I wish I could include pictures along with these writings because my words cannot describe the beauty of the people and of their back water surroundings. Back to the boat for dinner and then to bed. As it has been throughout these past almost four weeks it was hot that evening but a quick start of the boat's generator and the air conditioning came to life and provided a most restful nights sleep. From my cabin window I looked East over the palm trees reflecting in the still canal waters during the night. The full moon was about a week away so there was enough moonlight to illuminate the surroundings. I got up before sunrise to watch the backwaters come to life. There were many varieties of birds and waterfowl flying over the length of canal where we were docked. I must have seen a hundred birds fly by in the 20 minutes I stood on the top deck. Then the water taxi's filled with commuters appeared and then boats towing two large canoes each filled with people going to work. Larger working boats and a couple of small canoe's with two men passed by. I have video of this all with the sun coming up in the background which I hope will capture them moment. A quick breakfast of a masala omelet and the second half of a fresh pineapple left over from the previous evening and we were off to slowly cruise the canals until we were dropped off at our home stay around 9:30 am. It must have been laundry day as many women and a few men were washing (beating) their clothes against the rocks along side the shoreline. I believe the women who do this for a living are called dobi wallas. Heather says if you have an article of clothing you want broken in just give it to at dobi walla.

We spent the next 24 hours at the Green Palm home stay in the village of Chennamkary. Our gracious host Thomas greeted us on the dock as we departed our house boat. My plans are to return there next week for a two days and just enjoy doing absolutely nothing on Wednesday and Thursday, rejoin Heather on Friday for yet another house boat cruise and then enjoy one final night at the Green Palm. The Green Palm is built on one of those man made islands I described about with the canal in the front and the rice fields in the back. At 5:30 pm Thomas took us for a walk and talk around his neighborhood for a very educational glimpse of life in the backwaters. Much of what he told us I have already mentioned above.

We departed the next morning for Trivandrum. A rickshaw was called to pick us up at 10:00 am. He arrived promptly and awaited across the canal to take us to the train station. But first had to cross the canal on a small canoe/taxi which picked us up at Thomas' dock and delivered us dry and safely to the opposite shore. There were seven of us on this water taxi which in my estimation was plenty. Thomas said you could get 18 Indians in that same boat.

The three hour train ride to Trivandrum took almost four and on this train we had to pleasure to share our compartment with a number of cockroaches that crawled around and on us during the ride. Ah, Incredible India.