Kerala, India
Trip Start
Sep 01, 2005
1
41
72
Trip End
Ongoing
Kerala,
India
Sunday, April 2, 2006
In the evenings we take swims, fighting a small rip tide and playing on the waves until the sun sets
backwater cruise
. At night, restaurants display the catch of the day which the fishermen bring in the early morning. Marlin medallions are rubbed with tandori spices and barbequed on tall skewers with tomato and onion: Marlin Tikka. Tuna, kingfish, barracuda and butterfish are all available somewhere along the strip of restaurants. Lobster crab and prawns come in as well. We live easily and well on about $8 a day, which includes marlin tikkas, cashew nut cookies and kilos of succulent oranges- the likeness of large clementines whose peels, fall off in one spiraling piece.We at first talked about staying for two days, but ended up staying five. By the end of that time we had a good notion that we were in India, and we had a vague idea of where we could spend our time. We were also feeling more accustomed to the idea of rough travel again. We've been taking it easy since leaving Livingstone, just over three weeks ago. Online bookings, renting the car, going to large grocery stores and making our own food. It is all right that sometime soon we will be paying for such leisure with uncomfortable situations of all sorts.
We indulge our ease even more by hiring a houseboat for two nights. A quick train ride carries us up the coast where we charter it. Allepey is sort of a gateway into what is called the Backwaters, a series of lakes, canals, and rivers that flow 900km into the tropical lowlands of Kerala
canals
.The vessel is a handmade wooden barge that has been converted from a rice carrier to an exotic houseboat. It is about sixty feet long and nine feet wide in the middle. The ends rise and taper into a headpiece that resembled a coiled raindrop with its tail in the air. A barrel vault made with bamboo, woven palm leaves tied together with rope made from hand pulled coconut fibers covers the deck, making a shady veranda to sit under as we passed through the narrow canals. Rice paddies, acres and acres of them recede in the distance into tropical forests surrounding them. Narrow strips of land, maybe 20 feet wide, but a mile long flank the canals edge and act as flood barriers either for the many wide lakes, up hill, or the large rice paddies below. Narrow houses of the fishermen and farmers dot these strips, leaving just enough room to let a person walk by with out turning their shoulders.
Boats travel through daily. Ferries, barges, houseboats and villages have popped up at intersections or any land wide enough to hold a community. People have adapted to using boats for their primary mode of transportation. Men in canoes paddle passengers across the canals moving form one corner to the next at intersections. Various types of fishing birds from Seahawks to Egrets and Kingfishers to Cranes call to each other through the forest in the denser waterways. They don't take much notice of the boat as we troll by. Rather, they perch on branches hanging over the water looking for a small silver meal in the ripples that we make.
A crew of three: chief, chef and engineer guide us along the water and prepare delicious meals of traditional cuisine. When Europeans were eating potatoes with lard and found spices to be as valuable as precious metals, Kerala served as a spice vein. The Portuguese, Dutch and English all paid heavily and staked claims
chinese fishing nets
. At every meal we were served four different bowls of delightful vegetarian entrees. Peas, potatoes, carrots, okra, cauliflower and coconut were simmered with and served as curries, chutneys, and salads. Coriander, ginger, hot peppers, black pepper, sweet pepper, cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves come together as masalas, malais and tandorisMore than once we found ourselves self conscioulsy laughing at what an incredibly fortunate path we have chosen. At times, we almost feel guilt. Why do we get to do this? Born at the right time and the right time and taking advantage of it. By taking the world just serious enough to check out of it for a while.
Of course, the history goes back much further than the Europeans. Alexander tired and halted in the Northern reaches facing the sanscrit speaking Aryans, who then fell to the Moryahs only after they had taken the land from the Indus valley civilizations, who were traders with ancient Egypt. The Persians and the Huns came as well. 5,500 years of continuous civilization lasts into today. The culture is as profound as their curries; multilayered things that have developed, emerged, enlightened and grown over millennia.
In this time, the men have grown to see the prudence of the skirt. Many wear long wraps around their lower halves, leaving them down to their ankles at times, and doubling them at the knee, wearing them short at others
house boat
. The faces are richly varied. Streaks of white, red and saffron color foreheads and throats. Women, men and children punctuate the center of their brow with markings: dots, patterns and gems symbolizing their faith.In facial structure I see very familiar sights. Dead giveaways for Elvis Presley, Clark Gable, Ret Butler and Joey Lawrence, tinted with iodine. We passed a guy walking in the street who could have been Sammy Davis Jr's twin brother. He had the very same eyes, nose and squint when he smiled. But, he was wearing a doubled over skirt and bobbled his head when he smiled. Most able-lipped men sport a strong moustache. If I wrote that it was alive and well in Bulgaria, the moustache thrives, regally, in India.
More coming soon...
