We're losing track of time, but we think it's been a couple weeks since our last post. Since then, we've spent some hours in NYC, Abu Dhabi, Cambridge, Grenoble (Thanks to Nico and Ana for your wonderful hospitality and your amazing daughters for their impromptu talent show! We look forward to seeing you again soon!), Annecy, and Geneva. It was more than a whirlwind, but now we are in India and everything is backwards and upside down and we never know what day it is...even Chris.
Before this trip even started, when we were explaining the route for our winter plans to friends and family, India seemed to catch people’s interest the most. We’ve heard that the food is delicious, the human suffering in the streets is unbearable, the caste system is too much to handle, everyone gets diarrhea, and lots of other things. So far, it has felt like a pretty soft landing here in the state of Kerala at the southern tip of the sub-continent. The area is well known for its “Backwaters” an expansive network of rivers, canals, and rice paddies where you could truly get lost for months.
Our first day in India (and the 27 hours in transit before arriving) involved a lot of sitting, except for the part where we stood in line for an hour and a half at the airport to get our official visa stamps. The day finally started with a 5-hour drive to Alleppey (with a lunch stop at a place called ‘Jicky’s Nest’), and then a bumpy 10-minute ride down a red dirt road leading to our hotel, and then a short sunset cruise offered by our hotel, and finally a sit down dinner. So about 36 hours of sitting, 1.5 hours of sleep, and 92% of brain dead. Luckily it gave us a lot of time to catch up with our friends, Melissa and Ross, who have joined us for two weeks in Southern India.
The next morning we all took a ride on a Shikhara, a long, wooden boat covered in palm fronds. The backwaters are, for the most part, pretty shallow. We saw men collecting mussels along the stone walls of the canals, many women doing laundry on the steps leading into the water, and ducks waddling up to shore on their very own custom ramps. We also saw gigantic fruit bats, local ferries carrying passengers across the river, rice farmers transporting freshly-harvested rice, famous Keralan houseboats, men in sandals fixing bridges, concrete companies harvesting the sandy river bottom, fish vendors, and dozens of fishermen on our way to visit a local village with a 5th century church.
Next stop was a toddy shop where we tried some local coconut toddy and fish curry. The coconuts are collected the night before, then the toddy is started in the morning and continues to ferment, increasing the alcohol content as the day goes on. Morning toddy is weak and evening toddy is ready for the party. We had something in between and it hit our jet-lagged brains on that casual 85F and 95% humidity day rather quickly.
Later on, we ended up in the city of Alleppey for dinner. The energy in the center of town was very lively. The streets were filled- cars, trucks, rickshaws, bikes, people, spice stands, snack stalls, carrot carts, and an evening prayer ceremony full of drums at a Hindu temple. The tasty dinner ended with us sharing a miniature container of ice cream called 'gud bud.' The guy we gave 30 rupees (40 cents) to assumed we had tried that flavor before. It was pretty 'gud.'
The next morning, we got back in the car to meet our new friend, Deepa, a storyteller guide from Magic Tours of India which developed a community-based tour that supports struggling rice farmers. Leah booked the tour so we could learn more about a small community development project that focuses on diversifying income streams for small farmers in the area. In the village, the farmers have access to farm rental equipment, plant starts, and a public market for their produce, rice, and prawns. The community bank funded the initiative by providing start up cash since the bank almost went under because none of the local people had any money to put in the bank in the first place. Now they are both keeping each other afloat. Yay!
The focus was on Pokkali rice, a local variety that is especially tolerant of the salty conditions in the regions’ coastal backwaters, but it included lots of other information about what being a small producer in South India looks like. The rice is grown from April to October, taking advantage of the monsoon rains to dilute some of the salt in the paddies. We got a chance to visit a local farming family house and catch a glimpse of their rad 'rice room,' which took up a 1/4 of their house, as well as their guard station hut along the river where the farmer sleeps five months out of the year in order to manage the fish and prawns. The rest of the year, when the paddies are saltier, they are used to produce prawns for the market. Currently, prawn production actually brings in more money per household than the rice. Simple screened gates connect the paddies and the river, allowing for an easy way to keep the prawns in, and let the tides go in and out.
Another boat ride was part of the experience too! This time, a narrow, wooden motorized canoe took us down the river from the farmer’s paddies to the community development center. The route took us through a fishing area full of traditional Chinese style nets with a single lamp in the middle to attract fish. Along the way we also passed by men collecting mud in their canoes. The mud at the bottom of the river is used to build up the banks of their paddies before the next round of rains. Local mud sells for 400 rupees ($5.50) per boat load, for farmers who don't have time to collect it themselves. Apparently the mud collectors never accidentally sink their boats. Absolutely amazing human beings.
At the farm development center we saw their effort to replant the demonstration farm after the worst monsoon flooding in nearly 100 years. One home had a visible flood damage line about five feet above ground. In lighter news, we learned that 'coconut harvester' is an in-demand job these days (too bad Chris can't apply) and each village has a coconut oil processing facility. Woah. After getting the full farm tour, we were treated to a cooking demonstration (a lot of coconut oil was involved), followed by a traditional Thali meal where small amounts of many dishes are served on a banana leaf. Of course, the feature was the Pokkali rice, which has a soft, puffed texture and a delicious full flavor. As a way of complimenting the chefs, we folded our banana leaves toward the middle of the table in appreciation for the delicious meal.
Things in the backwaters seem to crawl along slowly with the relaxed pace of the river, pushing through the thickness of the humid air on its way to the sea. We are trying to appreciate this slow-moving feel of the far south. We are continuing to relax (usually in pure confusion), now in the steep tea, spice, and coffee-covered hills of Kerala, breathing in the cool mountain air, knowing that chaos could always be just around the corner.
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