Day 15 - The Kerala Backwaters

I woke up three minutes before the 6:00am alarm to get the shower warmed up. At most places we've stayed hot water is only available for a couple of hours in the morning and a couple of hours in the evening. When it is available, one generally needs to run the hot tap for five minutes before any hotr water makes it to your tap. After five minutes the hot water wasn't going to get any hotter so we jumped in for a lukewarm (at best) very quick shower. No dramas, that's just the way it is.

We arrived in the hotel restaurant for our per-ordered breakfast to learn that a number of our crew had taken ill overnight. Maggie was feeling a little "off colour" as was Trudy and Tracy was still trying to shake off the cold she picked up 48 hours earlier. Alan copped the worst of it., He was still in bed after a really bad night with no sleep and unable to hold anything down, even a glass of water. The poor chap!

Pooja, in her efficient and caring way, quickly made arrangements for Alan and Chris to remain for a little while longer in the hope that he night be able to recover a little. They'll catch us up at out next stop, all things going well. We headed off, two short, for our drive down the mountain back towards the western coast. The road was winding and very picturesque, passing through many little villages and past endless tea plantations along the way stopping after a couple of hours at a really nice little bakery for a comfort stop and coffee.

Back on the road again for the final couple of hours to our destination on the famous Kerala Backwaters. The weather was warm and humid once again now that we were back at sea level. This is an large body of interconnecting lakes, rivers and canals covering an area of about 900sq kms to the south of Kochi and running parallel to the coastline. It was once use to facilitate the transport of tea and spices and other produce from the Westerns Ghats to waiting ships. Those goods were transports on barges which have since been converted to uniquely styled tourist houseboats. This region is well known for its rice production and for coconuts.

We stopped at the town of Alappuzha to cruise on one of the houseboats to our destination about 3.5 hrs away. We parked and unloaded the bus in a nearby car-park and started walking to the dock when disaster struck. Roads and footpaths are notoriously dodgy in India and this proved to be no exception. On the very edge of the road, trying to avoid traffic, Kerry misplaced a foot and came a cropper in a big way, grazing most of her lower leg in the process. Not wanting to take a chance, we headed off for our second visit to an Indian hospital. She hadn’t twisted or broken anything but it was important to get the graze properly cleaned and maybe dressed.

Into a tuk-tuk went Kerry, Pooja and me and off to a nearby hospital. Hospitals are everywhere in India, just Google Map any town to see how many there are. Once again we just waltzed straight into emergency and were attended to immediately. Pooja and I went off to do the paper work and by the time we returned (15 minutes) Kerry’s wound has been cleaned and a doctor has completed an examination. He was suggesting an x-ray but we refused, He then prescribed some antibiotics and a few other things to help with recovery. We took the prescription to the on-site pharmacy, paid for the drugs and waited for our turn for them to be dispensed. We were Ticket No. 210 and they were dispensing 191 when we arrived. We had gotten to 198 when out of nowhere Pooja arrived with the drugs in hand. She had been assisted by this lovely chap who greeted us when we first arrived in emergency. Somehow, we had managed to jump the queue and we were out of there!

Back at the dock our companions were patiently waiting. We hopped on the houseboat and slowly made our way down river. It was very pleasant to be sitting at the front of the boat with the gentle breeze taking the edge off the humidity. We were served lunch while cruising and also enjoyed beer and a soft-drink – both self-provided. Many people run cruising companies along this stretch of the Backwaters and there was no shortage of boats either docked or in-flight to attest to that. After 3,5 hrs we reached our destination, a “home-stay” accommodation run by a former Intrepid Travel tour manager.  Before dinner he took us on a guided your of his village if about 300 people which runs along side the Pumpa River, sitting on reclaimed land,. He told us how and why the land was reclaimed (a very common practice in these parts), talked about the struggles endure buy the lower castes and talked about the various plants and shrubs we passed. The walk ended where his ancient, long boat (like a giant canoe) was moored. A chap holding a long pole and standing at the rear if the boat was gonna pilot us back down the river to our accommodation. This little cruise lasted about 30 minutes ans was a real pleasure to part of. We just slowly and silently sailed down the river under the power of nothing more than a long pole.

When we returned we had a short rest, packed our bags for tomorrow and then enjoyed a lovely home cooked meal.