Backwater Cruise Take Two

Our canoe ride through the backwaters

I'm going to try and catch you all up on our busy weekend!  The internet is being slow and keeps kicking me off so we'll see how this works out.  Since Eric is visiting, we've been super busy.  Friday we took a backwater cruise so we could see some of the country side and how people live there.  If you remember a few months ago, Jason, John and I took an all day cruise so Eric and I opted for something different.  We went with another travel desk and this trip was with a group.  We started out in a big canoe going through some smaller backwaters and seeing the houses close up. 

Eric said he wanted this house since it's orange.

Again, this post will have lots of pictures, but I'll try to keep the typing to a minimum.  Or.. you don't have to read it all, whatever you want to do.  I'll never know.

The term "backwater" is when the water comes down from the mountains during the rainy season as fresh water and out to the ocean, but then comes back as salt water.  That's how the guide described it, but a better explanation is found here.  The backwaters also include hundreds of smaller islands, some of which are completely uninhabited.

A houseboat cruising along the backwaters

Along the canoe trip, we were supposed to stop at a tiny village that makes rope.  We didn't get to stop due to power outage in the village, but one young girl was still spinning the fibers on the wheel and making rope.  You can see the piles of fibers lying behind her.  

Eric not too sure about the lunch served.

 After the canoe trip, we got on board a houseboat and had lunch.  Eric asked if there would be fried chicken....  Sorry, Eric.  I know he was (half way) joking because Kerala loves fried chicken!  We have a KFC, Chicago Chicken, Merrybrown and at least one more that I can't remember the name to.  Even though they did not serve fried chicken, he still ate most of it.  I thought it was very scrumptious, traditional Indian food and even got seconds.  If I asked for more, you know it's good.  

A guy climbing the coconut tree

Insulin Plant

Eric drinking his fermented coconut juice and mussels - and the Australian dude in the back laughing

After cruising around the backwaters for a bit, we stopped at an island that only had a few people inhabiting it.  On this island, they are known for the mussels they bring in from the backwaters and ayurvedic plants.  The mussel are boiled so that they can get the meat out to cook and then the shells are fired into fine powder that contains calcium.  The guide told us that the people here do not take calcium supplements to help strengthen bones they simply eat mussels.  We roamed around the island for a bit and visited a small homestay (similar to a bed and breakfast) that had an ayurvedic garden.  Among the plants we saw were cinnamon, black pepper, curry leaves, vanilla, pepper plants and the most interesting - an insulin plant.  Around this area, many diabetic patients do not take insulin shots.  Instead they eat one insulin leaf and it's enough for one day.  Interesting, huh?  

We also saw a guy climb coconut trees and get the oil.  Our guide told us about how they ferment the coconut juice and it turns into 6% alcohol.  For 60 Rs, we tried a bottle of it.  Apparently it is known as "toddy" around here although I had no idea what that really was.  We each tried a sip of it, but it wasn't that good and we left the rest for the group to try for New Years Eve.  I'm not sure anyone else tried it after Jason was telling us they shut a bunch of toddy shops down for putting methanol in it.  Opppss..  good thing we only had a sip or two.  The bottle was only about half full so even though the picture makes it look like we drank a lot, we did not.