Vaikathu House, Patanamthitta

Hey folks! When we last left you, we had endured a 20 hour bus ride to finally arrive at my friend Julie's family's home in Patanamthitta. George, her 76 year old father, is the only one around, as her brother & his family had to go to Delhi. No problems though, George speaks English well, and is very good company. And the house is really amazing, as you can see.

We spent our first afternoon here wandering around in town. Our present residence is located approximately 1 km from town, so it was a very enjoyable walk - especially after sitting in a bus for what seemed like forever! It's a town like many other towns in India that we've seen, either up close and personal or from a bus window. Lots of dusty shops selling all manner of things. Right now X-mas stars are big, and always, jewelery shops are the largest and most prominent. There is a LOT of gold in this country.

We arrived back home at 7:30 to find that George was a bit worried about us. We can make it all the way from Vancouver to Patanamthitta, but he was worried about us finding our way back to the house. We ate a delicious dinner of fish and chicken curry, and by 9:00 pm I was down for the count. It's amazing how tired you can be from sitting on your butt on a bus!

Yesterday started out a little bit unorganized. However, in the end, we went to Kottayam to take a private boat ride through the backwaters of Kerala.

It is December of course, and Santa made an appearance on the water. Since skin here is dark, they have Santa masks complete with red hat and beards attached. It's a little bit creepy seeing these masks in the shops (usually hanging up). At any rate, Santa and his cohorts came by on a boat with blaring music, and I think he was throwing candy for the kids.

We also got to try our first Toddy. It's palm "beer", and as George pointed out, it is for drinking not smelling. I took a whiff before he poured my glass, and I made a bad face. It's definitely an acquired taste but if you can get past the smell, the flavour of the milky, slightly effervescent beverage is quite pleasant, kind of like a shandy. We were also told that there is morning made toddy, which is better than yesterday afternoon made toddy. Who knew! I can't imagine what yesterday morning toddy would taste like!

Our lunch stop included fish curry on kappa(?) (curry spiced tapioca root). This was a lovely change from rice, and it was very tasty. The main was an entire fried-up fishy - flat and not too big, tasty, but lots of bones. The leftovers were thrown to the very obedient small dogs that were sitting near our table in the shade. The dogs were very well behaved until the food was tossed to them - then it was no holds barred growling and snapping. Keep your fingers out of the way!

The waterways offer a sneak peek into the lives of those who live there. The water is used for transport, but also for the washing of dishes, clothes, and people. One of my favorite sights was the tractor on the two boats - Dave, I hope this inspires you.

Once we left the canals and got on to Vembanad Lake, we went past some pretty glorious looking resorts. Perhaps on the next trip!

Next stop - Periyar Reserve on the lookout for a tiger. Life is an adventure!