Back in India

Well, if ever there was a place to get your feet wet in India (and I don't mean during the monsoon), it's Kerala. 

 

As some of you know, we were in India a few months ago for two months before our visa ran out, and it was an INTENSE experience, especially since it was our first country in our India-South EAst Asia tour and when you're dropped into a country of 1 billion from a province of 22 000, it's a bit of a shock. 

 

However, this time we knew what to expect and we didn't land in Delhi, we landed in Ft. Kochin, a port town which was a Portugese colony first (Vasco de Gama "discovered" it and died there) and the green Portugese eyes still look out from many faces.  There is also a strong Catholic strain in Ft. Kochin which, despite my arguments with the catholic church, was somewhat comforting. 

 

We got up one day when the sun was still low and the air was still cool, to see people walking laps around the church block, and to see the fishermen coming in with their catches.  BIG SQUID! Big fish too, but squid are so much more exotic.  They have these huge (15 feet x 15 feet) Chinese cantilevered nets that they dip into the water from the shore and then lever back up to see if they caught anything.  They have the get to the nets quickly, before the birds steal anything.  There is mass in the many churches about 8 times a day and that morning there was some kind of Gregorian chanting going on in the basilica.  We had breakfast at the local food stall (still not sick!) and watched all the uniformed kids go off to school.  Pretty idyllic. 

 

Very friendly down here.  Not quite as crowded as the north, it seems.  And the food is REALLY great!  They use a lot of coconut in their food, and they eat dosas here, which are a rice based bready pancake, instead of a wheat based bread like naan (white flour) or chappati (whole wheat flour).  And the spices! THIS is why the Europeans were so keen to discover India!  There is nutmeg growing and pepper and ginger and cinnamon, of course...and they have this great garlic pickle that we are eating as much of as we can (of course). 

 

We have since moved on to Alleppey where we will stay for a few days until we go out overnight on a houseboat and eat all day and go visit small villages in the backwaters of Kerala.  Should be fun.  We are staying in this great place - a homestay, they call it - where we have a balcony, a LIVING ROOM (we don't usually have one of these), a bedroom and a bathroom and an alcove they call the "dressing room" - all for 400 Rupees, which is the equivalent of about 12$ CDN.  What a BAR-GOON!  We have gone back to making our own food for breakfast and dinner - lots of fresh fruit and veggies down here...ah, the pineapple! And mango season is just around the corner!  Food food food!

 

Well, must go eat again.  The mushroom masala (spiced mushrooms) and aloo palak (potato with spinach) down here are great!

 

ACDB