Day 44 (20 July): Backwaters
Today I took a boat trip through Kerala's backwaters through coconut groves.
In the morning, I was on a larger, motor-powered boat that went past various islands and men diving for clam shells from smaller boats that they push with sticks/poles to move. We stopped on an island where the clam shells were being ground into a calcium-based chemical component used by many large drug manufactuers. On the same island we also stopped at and went on a tour of a spice farm.
In the afternoon, we went in a smaller boat that was powered by the crew push sticks/poles into the bottom of the waterways. This allowed us to get down some of the smaller canals and see villages that are more remote. We stopped at two places on this trip as well. One where they were making twine from the 'hair' of coconuts and another where are boat's naviagtor climbed a palm tree, knocked some coconuts out and preceded to chop them open and stick straws in them as drinks. On the way back from this, I got another taste of monsoon rains which were actually quite pleasant to be outside in.
Observations.
1) Local food advice again. An Indian family on vacation from Mumbai was on the boat with me. They also suggested to be very careful with food in India and said they are themselves. The father in the family said he frequently drinks sodas because you know they are clean and offer clean calories.
2) Spices. This may seem silly, but curry always comes in powder form in the US, so I did not really know what it was made from. I learned on the spice farm that it is a ground and dried leaf from a plant. The plants even smell like curry and the leaves taste like it if you bite into them. Other spices they were growing included cardamon, cinnamon, and some others I had never heard of before.
3) The church and business. After talking with the man who runs the hotel I was staying in in Kochin, I learned that the hotel was actual run by the local Catholic Church. In Kerala, only about 15% of people are Christian so they generally don't like to advertise the affiliation he said because sometimes it makes people upset that the church is involved in business. He told me that all the earnings from the hotel get plowed into local Catholic schools and other charities. This just shows that every organization no matter what its main focus has to keep a business orientation to prosper.
4) Island economy. Some of the villages on these islands were pretty amazing since they were mostly self-sufficient with local food growing despite taking a couple of hours to get to and that they were only reachable by man-powered push-boats.
In the morning, I was on a larger, motor-powered boat that went past various islands and men diving for clam shells from smaller boats that they push with sticks/poles to move. We stopped on an island where the clam shells were being ground into a calcium-based chemical component used by many large drug manufactuers. On the same island we also stopped at and went on a tour of a spice farm.
In the afternoon, we went in a smaller boat that was powered by the crew push sticks/poles into the bottom of the waterways. This allowed us to get down some of the smaller canals and see villages that are more remote. We stopped at two places on this trip as well. One where they were making twine from the 'hair' of coconuts and another where are boat's naviagtor climbed a palm tree, knocked some coconuts out and preceded to chop them open and stick straws in them as drinks. On the way back from this, I got another taste of monsoon rains which were actually quite pleasant to be outside in.
Observations.
1) Local food advice again. An Indian family on vacation from Mumbai was on the boat with me. They also suggested to be very careful with food in India and said they are themselves. The father in the family said he frequently drinks sodas because you know they are clean and offer clean calories.
2) Spices. This may seem silly, but curry always comes in powder form in the US, so I did not really know what it was made from. I learned on the spice farm that it is a ground and dried leaf from a plant. The plants even smell like curry and the leaves taste like it if you bite into them. Other spices they were growing included cardamon, cinnamon, and some others I had never heard of before.
3) The church and business. After talking with the man who runs the hotel I was staying in in Kochin, I learned that the hotel was actual run by the local Catholic Church. In Kerala, only about 15% of people are Christian so they generally don't like to advertise the affiliation he said because sometimes it makes people upset that the church is involved in business. He told me that all the earnings from the hotel get plowed into local Catholic schools and other charities. This just shows that every organization no matter what its main focus has to keep a business orientation to prosper.
4) Island economy. Some of the villages on these islands were pretty amazing since they were mostly self-sufficient with local food growing despite taking a couple of hours to get to and that they were only reachable by man-powered push-boats.
posted by Traveling Brian at 7:34 PM
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