Art enters with light into the world of darkness....

That is a quote from Desmond Rebeiro, a local artist here in Fort Kochi where we are staying for the next 3 days...it is always nice to stay in one place for a few days...you can relax, spread out and find some local haunts and a routine! Since leaving Kovalem, and our new friends Audrey, Mary, Steve and the plethora of canine compadres, we have had some harrowing and dreadfully boring experiences and none between. The first day was a 3 hour taxi ride to Alleppy for our houseboat ride. When we arrived, the taxi driver (we called him weasel) made sure we were aware that he would be sleeping in his taxi, as a hotel room would cost Rs300 and he could not afford it...a comoon practice with taxi drivers, the guilt trip. We are so used to it by now, that we just smiled and said, "alright, see you tomorrow." We then walked down a wet alleyway towards hundreds of parked houseboats ranging from VIP yacht status to mini fisherman quality. As, this is Melissa and Alex, we assummed we would get somewhere midrange. So, when we arrived at the boat called Granma, we were not surprised. It was a nice enough houseboat with some broken floor tiles, a dirty bathroom and stained sheets. Of course, being on the backwaters of Kerala and seeing the Prince Sashmi and King Diamond boats whizz by during the monsoon downpour did fill us with a bit of resentment, but overall, this was a great experience. The mosquitos were killer though and my legs look like kebab meat! We did have a plan for them though and after the 3 men who stayed on the boat with us to cook, drive and navigate, turned in for the evening, we put the plan into action. Alex sprayed each bed adn the window and door panels with the bug spray we purchased from the UK, while I drowned myself in Odomos Mosquit Repellant Cream from India (which is both soothing as well a mouisturizing). We plugged in our electric mosquito repelling pack that heats up and also burned a mosquito repelling coil. Then, we quickly jumped under the mosquito net that hung above the bed area. All this and we only got 1 bite each...what a success...it is a bit disappointing to wake up the next day after that whole process to see the 3 Indian boat men sleeping in their long skirts called a Lungi, with no spray of net or cream and not a single bite on their skin...they do laugh at us trying despararely to avoid the sun and bugs...I suppose we do look a bit desparate. The food was on the boat was alright minus the one curry that tasted like cigarettes and the soggy toast so Alex and i made up a plan in which i would cough and she would throw it overboard, of course not realizing that the staff in the back of the boat could see it floating past. We also enjoyed watching the people who lived along the backwaters bathe themselves in the water, clean their clothes and dirty dishes, brush their teeth and pretty much do everything there is to do in the water humanly possible (and this is warm water so I am sure some pees and poops have snuck out over the years). We kicked back and just enjoyed the scenary when I noticed another houseboat driving by and the boat employee was washing the boat dishes in that very water so we can only assume that our boat dishes were washed in that water as well...at least we saw this after we ate our meals for the day! We wound down the morning with a nap and then took a stroll along one of the tiny heavily overgrown walkways along the water when a cocnut fell from a tree and almost hit me in the head...and we all know what happens to people when a coconut hits them in the head...they become a bit special! Then, met Weasel for what was the most horrific drive to Periyar and a total wasted journey. Getting off the boat was an experience, as they parked it beside 2 other boats so we had to climb over make shift bridges from boat doorway to boat doorway made out of a piece of timber from one boat to the next with backpacks in tow to the peir where our driver was. We both did well balancing on these percarious timbers, as the Indians looked at us laughing, as they did backflips and cartwheels across the planks! We did tip each boat employee, but tipping is always a stressful and strange time and we hate it...Alex always makes me do it so I have gotten very good at balling up the money with the biggest bill on the outside and the smaller ones on the inside and just kind of throwing it at them and running away as fast as possible! Periyar has a wilflife sanctuary in the villiage that encompases 777 square kilometers and houses bison, elephants, sambar, wild boar, langur and about 46 tigers. The road to this village is the windiest smallest road up a mountain we have ever travelled on and Weasel drove so fast that we had to pull over several times so that I could be sick...it was horrific. We did eventually make it to the hotel, which was gorgeous minus the monkeys that attacked the balcony door at 4am scaring the life out of us. I am so glad we closed that door, as we were toying with the notion of letting the fresh breeze drift us off to sleep! Before we retired for the evening, our driver took us to this Sanctuary for the longest 2 hour waste of life boatride ever. We did not see anything exciting and just when we thought it was over, a little boy had some sort of pooping fit and we had to pull over on the side of the manmade river so he and 6 sanctuary employees could accompany him around the corner behind some trees to have some sort of explosion and then helped him back on the boat laughing the whole time. He had a bad day and when he got back on the boat, we realized that he also broke his shoe while racing to get behind a tree and have his explosion in some sort of private moment. Then we thought we must be close, but we pulled over to pick up some random people that just appeared from the forest. Did I mention that there were 1000 screaming babies and children with no manners on this journey, as well as a multitude of pervy men (although they all fell asleep at the beginning of this riveting ride so they were no bother really)? Well, that was just the added bonus. We did find out that 6 months ago, this boat ride actually capsized, as everyone in the boat moved to the same side to see some deer in the distance and 45 people actually died. That was the most interesting bit of the whole ride, and that was tragic, but why would 45 people run to see a deer?! We did actually see this boat, as it was parked and left right by the entrance as a sort of reminder. So that is why we had to wear these huge orange life jackets on the slowest longest boat ride ever. This morning, we did get to take a tour through a magnificent spice garden and a tea plantation and this was a right treat! We loved hearing about all the medicinal qualities in plants and how lovely they all smelled and how to cultivate each of them. We them made it to Kochi via taxi and the roads were empty, as there is a strike due to the price increase in oil. No day has been empty since we arrived here in India so it is interesting to see what makes people stop working because it certainly isn't the weekend. We arrived in Kochi and found a reasonably crappy place to stay, but there is a television so that will be nice. We walked around and this place is such a bonnie little town with tons of things to see...we are going to Jew Town tomorrow..yes, it is called Jew Town. We thought we would take a relaxing stroll along the "beach" after a delicious fresh fish dinner, but the water that splashed against the rocks was the colour and consistency of mud and we actually felt sorry for the sea...we also clocked some strange man following us at which time I gave him the stare down and pointed from my eyes to his so he got the message and left...I am very scary and intimidating when I need to be! We are now going to retire and take our first shower in over 72 hours...we stink of shit, but somehow we still don't want to take one. Hmmm, maybe we can make it another day or two!