Age of Aquarius

A shout out to Tony, my wonderfully optimistic and fun loving travel companion. From the moment our feet have hit the travelers trail there hasn't been one dull moment. As I write this tony is laying on the bunk above me in our swanky A/C sleeper cabin on the train reading The White Tiger. We are on rout either to Hampi to do some rock climbing or to Goa to check out the beach scene. We really can't decide though and have zero plans. It is so wonderful! Our train brings us to the state of Karnataka tonight, and from there we will see which way the Indian wind blows us. Each new state has completely different tastes, sounds, scenery, cultural and language oddities. We are leaving the state orf Kerala, famous for it's Kathakali traditional theater dances, backwaters, aurvedic massages, and tea plantations. They can also throw a pretty wicked Elephant festival. After our slip n' slide session with the ayurvedic massage place in Varkala we headed to Alappuzha to check out the famous backwaters often referred to as the Venice of the East. The train ride up was a blast. We got seats in the local low class section, meaning we literally rubbed shoulders with the locals. It was intimidating initially but we taught one Indian Vegetable Vendor to play crazy 8's and we were in with the rest of the group in no time, laughing at the Bollywood movies playing and sipping chai.

Alappuzha (which is just so much fun to say) knows it's own lure, houseboats will line up by the hundreds waiting to take you on an overnight tour of the canals. We peeked at a few of the houseboats and tried to bargain them down in the price, but no one was budging. So in the end Tony and I ended up renting a small canoe paddle boat with a frail but bad ass old Indian guy helmsman to push us around the canals for $4 US an hour. This actually turned out to be better because we floated into some of the smaller channels where you could feel the stillness and tranquility of the water sliding beneath you.

The reflections were gorgeous, colorful and vibrant. It was like we were floating on a mirror for 4 hours. It was such a perfect day, unfortunately I was sick as a dog with food poisoning that night from the sketchy lunch we had. So that was not so much fun.

After Alappuzha we headed North to the town of Fort Kochin, famous for Kathakali, an Indian traditional theater dance. We arrived at the theater early to watch the dancers put on their makeup. The performance revolves around the actors hand gestures and intricate eye movements so you need to pay close attention to get the storyline. We also got a quick demonstration before the actual show began. Every part of the face was utilized to communicate the intricate emotions of an elephant. The dancers arms would swing in huge circles up and down as his feet stomped the ground and I swear even his ears grew bigger. Sop after the demonstration came the real show which was a battle between Baka, a violent murderous forest-dwelling demon wearing a red mask and the most powerful and noble green faced hero Bhima.

Since this is an ancient art form it is usually an all night event with the final crescendo coming only before the dawn of an alluring festival. We just cut to the case though in a two hour performance show for tourists. Fort Kochin also has this old tradition of fishing with huge Chinese fishing nets which at sunset are gorgeous to behold, although there is the slight tinge of sea lion in the air.

One day while in Fort Kochin we rented bikes and accidentally-on-purpose got lost in the locals neighborhood. This was an amazingly crazy fun time because it was elections that day, so the entire town was gathered around this bridge shouting and chanting and verbally willing their candidate to win. Tony and I being very devout Americans decided to take the communist side, and scored some awesome paper commie visors and highfived so many Indian people. It was nuts. During elections the government restricts the alcohol and the entire state is dry for 3 days. I'm thinking this is the best possible solution after the thick rally we participated in. If those Indians were drunk it would have been shenanigans to the extreme.

I wanted to upload more pictures to facebook but Foxfire is being a royal twat, so you will have to eagerly await the photos from our debauchery until tomorrow!