Kerala ‘Riverboat’ Tour - By Cate, 11/26

Just around the bend....

Our Captain!

The consumate tourist?

Family wash day!

After our clay experience we headed out on our "three hour tour" boat ride that took us through all the backwater canals - it was very cool.  It all seems rather Disneylandish around here...it's like the safari ride that goes through the jungle and you see all the animals and villagers. We saw many villagers going about their Saturday and discovered that it must be "wash" day - and that includes everything and everybody!  We saw every kind of bird - but I would need a bird book to tell you what they are. The Egrets, pigeons, crows and ducks look the same, except there is a grey bird, that looks like a type of Egret that only has it's head above water when it swims. We also saw what appeared to be hummingbirds on steroids that are four times the size of ours, but the same brilliant color and quick as a whip! We also saw a couple snakes in the water and a man herding ducks with his canoe, big sport here on the backwaters! 

Meeting the locals

We felt a little like we were the tourists on display with our pretty little princess wave, but the villagers were accommodating and waved back smiling and the children ran along side the banks asking us for "pens" - which unfortunately we did not bring with us; but they didn't really seem to care, they picked a flower and tried to give it to us instead.  The little boys would run up to the bridges and hang over the edge just to touch our hands; this made both of our days!

After two and a half hours in the canals - and lord knows how many trips around the bend (perhaps the same bend?) - we started to crack up thinking, “when will this ever end”??  We swore we saw the same little man in the canoe at four different points on the trip and Hollie, who had a full blown head cold at this point, was starting to think we would never get back. This was good for a few extreme laughing fits, which there have seemed to be many on this trip!  We got home 3 hours later and took the rest of the afternoon off reading and hanging out.  The weather has been perfect, overcast since we have been here and big rain in the afternoons - it's definitely kept it cooler - but it's still humid and around 80. 

Hollie chilling out at the end of the day

We enjoyed a fabulous dinner (I still can't tell you the names of what we are eating...) that was accompanied by a beautiful Indian dancer dressed in the most amazing costume! Now time for bed and tomorrow is Sunday, we will meet our new friend Renuka (who works with Destination Himalaya) and she will take us on a boat ride to an Ayurveda spa, where they poor butter milk on your forehead which is supposed to cure all ailments (hope it works on Hollie!).  I'm sure that will bring up more laughing fits and I can only imagine Hollie sitting there as they poor buttermilk on her head and cover her in oil as they slip and slide across her body. I just don't think I can do it without cracking up but alas, I will try to hold it together for the sake of everyone.