Green Beauty

Kerala makes me thing of a sleeping beauty. Ke-Ra-La should be a female name, It sounds beautiful and it is beautiful. It wears a green dress embroidered with mango, jackfruit, guavas, coconut trees and myriads of rice fields. Not to mention the flowers that seem to sprout effortlessly, almost accidentally. My garage is filled with yellow flowers that fall during the day and many more keep reproducing in the arch that adorns the gate…Kerala is full of life everything grows fast, including mold. Yes, if you leave something outside you will find it with a layer of something green after a few days.

Every weekend I have had a date with this sleeping beauty. My traveler’s heart is excited to know my surroundings. I am still in tourist mode and I plan to let it be for a while. It still remains a magical occurrence for me to get to places. We were guided by our expert friend and fellow traveler Candy. She has a penchant for traveling and she loves backpacking and exploring. She is a major asset to our team as she figures out all the directions. I helped in my own personal way by trying out the local language and never being afraid to ask. My role as an interpreter still has a place here as I pick words here and there and I understand the heavy accent of some locals.  I also follow the “You can get to Rome by asking” motto every day. Everything is written in Malayalam, so, we must trust the local people, and so far, they have not failed us. We knew where to take the bus but we didn’t know which bus to take unless we asked every single driver if they were going to the intended place. I can’t read Malayalam, not yet, so I am officially illiterate in this land. Every single day is an adventure. We leave our house trusting that we will make it to our destination and that we will make it back home.  So far , so good.

Some Members of the Group

The second Thursday of our internship we went to the Vazhachal Forest. We saw the Athirappaly waterfalls that claim to be as beautiful as the Niagara falls. They didn’t disappoint.  The riverbed was rock and the falls were strong and abundant. The place was green, full of cheeky monkeys. Around that area there were several “elephant crossing” signs but no signs of elephants. I wish I had seen a free one.

Vazhachal Forest, Clothes and All

Athirappaly Waterfalls

When we “embused” in our trip to the waterfalls, we asked and we arrived to the right place, but once we got there we did not know where to go next. Somehow, from what seemed like thin air,  a boy just started to ask questions about us. He was coming from school and was very friendly. I answered all his questions even if these questions were a bit intrusive: “Is any of you married?” “why not?” “how old are you?” (dreaded question!). They were becoming increasingly personal, I feared he was going to ask if I had showered that morning, or whether I had waxed my legs… It was a bit awkward for me, but I understood that it wasn’t out of impertinence or malice, he wanted to know how to address me. As I am older than he (he was only 18) he could call me “chechi” which means “older sister”.

We might be the wildest of animals around here...

All of us

My “younger brother” and God’s sent guide, took us to all the cool places around the main waterfalls. I ended up bathing in some gorgeous waterfalls, clothes and all! My fellow hikers followed, and we had an unforgettable shower in the forest. It was so refreshing! We had been walking for many kilometers and it was hot and humid. The shower was very welcomed.

My younger brother was quite excited to show us around and we were glad he showed up to guide us. He did so willingly and gladly. He even took us back to the bus at the end of our trip. The trip was very much enhanced by his appearance.

Younger Brother that cut class to go to the waterfalls

This sleeping beauty has endless water, I had the privilege to visit Kerala’s  back waters last Sunday. It seemed like an impossible place, with channels Instead of roads connecting the little houses. It took a while for me to  understand that I had been in the "alter Macondo" or rather, the Asian Macondo?   Yes, only there you can see houses floating  around carrying lovers seeking a romantic night adrift. There are also groups of friends that rent a bigger houseboat to party while the sun sets in the horizon.  The houseboats are a signature of Kerala. They are big boats with everything you need inside: bedrooms, dining room living room and of course a nice deck. I am not sure if technology has reached the houseboats yet, but I would not be surprised if they have wi-fi.

Houseboat at Alapuzha

My friends and I witnessed the spectacle of a sunny day shining upon the channels and rice fields. We rented a Kayak for about 25 US$ each. We ventured in the small channels and visited the floating neighborhood. We saw families of ducks, a snake, three majestic king fisher birds, many eagles, dozens of crows and the much less majestic and quite abundant goats.  We spent 7 hours paddling, resting, taking pictures, eating and paddling again. We crossed many low bridges, including one so low that it is called the limbo. One must lay down in order to cross it. We saw many people tending to many mundane needs out in the open, by the water. They do their laundry in the channels, bathe their children in the channels and unfortunately also throw their trash in the channels.  I did see remains of fruits and other organic debris but actually the one thing that truly grossed me out was to see a plastic bag full of trash. I only saw one. The organic debris seems to blend in with the green scenery, but plastic floating in the channels seems like a travesty to me. Despite this contamination I fell in love with the backwaters of Kerala. Oh, and to make this even more interesting there, there is a floating supermarket that travels around the neighborhood, so you can step out of your house and go shopping! Amazon, you are not nearly as cool as that.

Life in the backwaters

My dream day was only disturbed by dozens of ants that climbed on my right foot during lunch time. Unwittingly, I stepped into one of their houses. I can’t blame them; they were defending themselves with their itchy venom from the giant that dared to stand on their house.  They marched on me all at once and my only defense was to put my foot into the sink, right there, on front of all the onlookers that were getting ready to have lunch.  It was a bit embarrassing but necessary. It was the only way to make them go.

Right after being the lunch of a bunch of ants and right before my lunch

With the unique faceless falcon (according to my friend Patricia)

Sunset in the backwaters

The south of India is at the same latitude as the North of Colombia, so the vegetation is very similar to that of the Isle of San Andres. Whenever I walk around my house I think of my distant Colombia, half the world away. I smile when I realize I am connected to my Colombian family by one imaginary line that crosses the world from west to east. I love seeing the mango trees full of fruit. It reminds me of my childhood in Barrancabermeja. I love to see the jack fruit hanging heavy from the trees. It is from the same family as the bread fruit. In a recent walk, we found a passion fruit just lying on the road. It was an incredible sight as I only see these beauties in the Colombian supermarkets.  I have also seen plants I had never seen before. For instant I saw the black pepper tree a few days ago, for the first time.  This plant is responsible for many of my chocking episodes though. Food here is very peppery sometimes.

Having my own Titanic moment without Leonardo