Ron and Sally Jo Blog

We flew to Cochin on the western coast of southern India.  We took a bus and then a tuk tuk to our houseboat.  It seemed as though we entered a new country.  Very few horns, less traffic, and greener environment.  We spent two wonderful nights and days traveling on a quiet river and lake, stopping to visit villages.  We saw a lot of bird life (not many photos) and lots of fishing boats.  We saw daily life of the people who live in this area.  During the first half day there were a number of other tourist houseboats but by afternoon of the first day there were only the two boats of our group.

Southern India has a larger population of Christians (20 %) as well as more Muslims (20%). Hindus make up only about 55%. Catholic churches are often topped by the India cross with a dove at the top and a lotus flower at the bottom.

We took several walks through villages.  The first day we were on the boat was U.S. election day.  We talked with a number of villagers about the election.  Others invited us in to their homes to see the incoming results on CNN.

One highlight during a village visit was riding the school bus.  We had walked quite a ways and were waiting for a local bus to ride back to the houseboat.  A school bus stopped and we joined it.  The children were so excited. The eyes of those that got on after us grew big and surprised when they got on!  Other times we saw school children on their way to school or on their way home.

Colorful homes and beautiful locations.  One noon we had a typical South Indian meal in this area—served on a banana leaf.  Good.  In fact, the food on the boat was great the whole time.

We saw a duck farm with several hundred ducks.  We disturbed two boatmen trying to herd their ducks to a special stop.  Rice has just been harvested so we saw rice being bagged and transported.

We found a man high in the coconut tree collecting juice.  The juice will be taken to a cooperative brewery and made into alcohol.  Later we tried some.

Visited the birth place of a local Catholic Saint—St. Kuriakose Elias Chavara born in 1805.  He founded the first Catholic school and became the first Indian to make the Profession of Religious vows.

One afternoon we came across a volleyball game and got some front row seats.  Another morning we came across a “pick-up” volleyball game the men were playing before they went to work.

Scenes from the boat.

Scenes in the villages.

 

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 13th, 2016 at 12:06 pm and is filed under India. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.