Back on Dry Land - Cochin, South India

The backwaters of Kerala are endlessly fascinating.

This region where the agricultural land is below sea level as in the Netherlands and where gondola-like canoes are the transportation method of choice. Then there are their big cousins!

I just spent the night on the water in a kettuvalum. "Kettu" means "tied" in Malayalam. The hulls are made of boards fitted, tied, and sealed into a seaworthy vessel. Typically domed with a palm-frond living compartment these lumbering boats look like cartoon caterpillars crawling slowly up and down the main channels of the canals.

But after 6 PM you won't find them on the main waterways. The next 12 hours are given over to the fishermen who work he deeper waters while kettuvalums hug the shore. You are just as likely to find yourself anchored in front of a rice paddy or a small village once night time comes. I learned this morning that the traditional question the children as visitors on he boats is "May I have one pen please?"

Kerala has 98% literacy rate. If I had known before I came that ballpoint pens were the coin of the pre-teen realm here I would have stuffed my bags with them. Who can resist a cute kid shyly begging for a pen (and then running off to show her friends her new prize!)

Rima here had her choice between a white and a blue one. She chose the blue one.