Kerala, our taste of Southern India

Hey everyone!
Sorry for the lull in blog action, we have had a crazy traveling schedule these past couple of weeks. We returned last night from Corbett National Park and Tiger Reserve, but that will be another blog entry. Now I want to talk about where we were the weekend before, Kerala. We flew into Kerala which is the southwestern most state in India, on the morning of Saturday the 3rd. Kerala is known for its backwaters. The backwaters is a series of waterways fed by the Lakshadweep sea that divides the coast around Cochin, the city near where we stayed, into multiple islands. Pictures!
Our first night in Kerala we stayed in the quiet, historical town of Fort Cochin. We checked into our first hotel, well guesthouse, and set off to explore the town. We had a seafood dinner and walked down to the water where fisherman fished with huge Chinese fishing nets. These nets were essentially huge wooden pulley systems with a net attached to one end and ropes attached to the other. Check out the pics. The net would be dropped in the water just beyond the beach line off of a dock. A few minutes later the six men it took to work the nets would pull down the ropes at the other end and raise the giant net from the water. This was fascinating to watch and the fishermen even let Dan in on the action one time. When the nets were raised and the fish caught were dumped onto the beach we and the other spectators would huddle around and watch the fisherman sort through them all. They caught little prawns, and lots of little silver fish. Who knows what they were, but my favorite catch was the long, slimy eel. It was kind of gross but hey now I have seen an eel. We watched this for a while and then walked down the road to the fish market where the fisherman would display their fish, you could come up and choose one, and they would cook it for you right then and there. Dan and I did not eat a fish this way in Kerala, me being a new seafood eater didn't think that it sounded all that appetizing :)
After the fishermen and the fish we headed to the Keralan Cultural Center where we experienced the ancient art form native to Kerala called Kathakali. This is a performance art in which actors act out stories that are being sung and put to music through precise movements and facial expressions. This art from involves elaborate costumes, head dresses and makeup. We got there early and watched the make up being applied which is very much a spiritual part of the performance. They use what they grind from colored rocks and mix with coconut oil to paint their faces. The different colors of paint symbolize different character traits. They use red paint to depict evil, green for courage and goodness and black implies a mix of good and evil. Before they take the stage they apply this make up and meditate to transform themselves into the character they are about to play. The stories performed in Kathakali were derived from ancient Hindu temple rituals and became more popular around the time Shakespeare was writing. The stories are usually based on the epic tales found in Hindu texts. These performances in the prime of their popularity started in the evening and went until the early hours of the following morning. Now a days the performances are cut way down. Our performance included two men playing drums, and one man singing the story while the three actors acted it out. Before the actual play began they gave the small audience a demonstration of the art form. They explained that there is a facial expression and motion for every word of the story. One of the actors demonstrated single words like mother, father, happy, sad, and even come and go by calling Dan, me and someone else in the audience onto stage. First by calling Dan politely, me a little more urgently, and then demanding the other audience member's presence. Then he asked politely the other guy to go, me a little more urgently, and then he demanded Dan leave the stage. All of this was communicated without words and it was rather funny and caught Dan and I off guard. Then the actor demonstrated the phrase, mother would you please tend to the baby. This simple phrase took about five minutes to act out. The actual play was very interesting, very expressive and very colorful. In the story a small village is being tormented by a demon and an old man of the village asks the hero to help them. The hero agrees and enters the cave of the beast where he sits down and eats the beast's meal. This upsets the beast and he and the hero fight ending in the death of the beast. It really was amazing to see how this art form basically created a language without words, using only body movement and facial expressions made with muscles I didn't even know existed in the face. Very cool.
The next day we got up early, moved to our next hotel, the Taj Malabar which was stunning, and then set off for our all day backwater boat tour. We were driven by bus about 30 kms from where we were and taken to a small village. Here we boarded a large boat resembling a house boat and set off on our journey through the waterways. We lazily drifted through the large waterways surrounded by fishermen in small boats and islands of lush, green, tropical jungle foliage dotted with civilization. Every home had a boat out in front, these people live on the water. Such a different way of life from anything I have ever known. It was beautiful and extremely laid back. We were taken to an island with a factory where mussels are boiled and de-shelled. The shells are used to make some form of calcium powder which they sell to pharmaceutical companys for the production of calcium tablets. On the island plants are grown for all sorts of natural medicinal remedies. Kerala is also the home of ayurveda which is a form of natural medicine, healing, and massage.
After checking out the factory and eating a fresh, locally made snack of cooked muscles with Keralan spices and seasoning (soooo good) we headed back to the village we started from where they had a huge south Indian style meal waiting for us. The food in the south is way different than the food in the north. The south uses different spices, lots of coconut, curry leaves, and red chilies. Everything we had was delicious.
After lunch we left this village and drove another 7 kms to a different village. Here we all (one younger Indian couple, one Indian family, and a man from France) boarded a much smaller boat and toured much smaller waterways. Here we really felt like we were on the Amazon. Very tropical surroundings with very tropical villages. On this part of the journey we saw tons of Kingfishers, ducks, and some snakes. Halfway through the journey we got out of the boat and watched a guy climb up a tree knock down some coconuts, chop off the tops with a machete, and stick a straw in them for us to drink. We did this, then handed him back the coconut and he cut it in half and scooped out the fruit which we also got to eat. He then plucked a fresh wild growing pineapple and chopped it up for us to eat also. It was great. The smaller waterways of the backwaters were just as beautiful and tranquil as the larger ones. This was such a unique experience and so much fun.
After this we headed back to the Taj Malabar ate and went back to the Keralan Cultural Center where we finally got to see some live Tabla and Sittar. These are two major instruments in classical Indian music. The sittar is a string instrument and the Tabla is two drums which are played with the finger tips, have a very shallow sound, and is usually learned throughout the course of ones life. The Tabla player we saw has been playing for 15 years, ever since he was 5. It was really amazing. We have been trying for the entire 3 months we have been here to see these instruments played live and we were so excited to finally get to see it. It was really beautiful and all improvised.
The next couple of days were mostly spent relaxing in the lap of luxury. We lucked out on Sunday for our backwaters tour and got mostly sunny skies with the occasional cloud, but never rain. This is rare since the monsoon season is starting and we were right on the water. The next day we weren't so lucky. It rained pretty much all day. This was fine with us, we shopped a little, and hung out at the Taj. The Taj was awesome, check out the pics, the pool had no ledge and looked out over the water. It gave the effect of the pool water merging with the sea. It was really neat. This Taj also had a ayurvedic spa, we didn't use it for that purpose, but it did have a ping pong table which was a good time. We had some great meals, especially the grouper, and caught an AMAZING sunset. The hotel was literally right on the water and there were always fishermen in their boats right next to wherever we were sitting, in the pool, eating dinner, watching the sunset, it was very peaceful.
It was fun to be in a place where the main transportation was boat. Weather it was houseboats, ferries in between the busy islands and the city of Cochin, fishing boats small and large, or home made sailboats with old cloth for sails. It created such a sense of tranquility, and relaxation. The scenery was lush and green, a much welcomed change from the dusty, HOT, dry city of Delhi. It was fun to be in a place where they even dress differently. The men all wear lungis or dhotis. These are essentially wraps, like skirts but for men and I must admit I like them a lot. They seem very practical in such a tropical, wet climate. It was fun to be in a place that seemed so different from the northern part of the country. Southern India really does seem like a completely different country, with a completely different culture, and a completely different way of life. Kerala was beautiful.
Love and miss you all!
-Courtney
P.S. Stay tuned for the Corbett National Park posting in the next couple of days. And check out the pics!