I could feel that Kerala was unique from my taxi ride from the Cochin airport to my guesthouse in Fort Cochin. Kerala is so green and beautiful. I believe it’s the richest state in India, and you can feel this to a certain extent, though you by no means sense wealth. The monsoons started basically when I arrived here, which has been a bit frustrating, but I’ve still managed to see what I’ve wanted to, albeit a bit wetter than I had planned on being.
I’ve completely lost my sense of time here. I kept asking travel agents for reassurance that 3 days was enough in Cochin, to which they replied it was plenty of time, without realizing I actually have 5 days here. I’m enjoying not having to think about the days of the week.
My first full day I spent in the backwaters, which was really serene. That night I met up with a friend from Goa and a group of us decided to take a trip to the tea plantations in Munnar. I wasn’t really expecting much more than some tea leaves, even though we were told that Munnar is the “heaven of Kerala” (which is no small statement considering that Kerala is the self-proclaimed “God’s own country”). Munnar really is stunning though. Some of the views left me speechless. I attempted to capture it on film, but my pictures can’t possibly do Munnar justice.
The next day, despite the pounding monsoon rains, my friend Lyle and I explored the sites of Cochin, including a synagogue, a couple of cemeteries, and a Dutch palace. We found ourselves on the roof of someone’s house at one point, and after introducing ourselves, and explaining that we are tourists (pretty obvious from just looking at us), they asked what our hidden agenda was. I can’t quite figure out what they were expecting to hear. That night a group of us went out in search of beer, which is hard to come by in Kerala. It was far more expensive than any other beer I’ve had in India, but at 190 rupees ($3.50) for a large beer, I can’t really complain.
Today I’m off to explore Ernakulum, another part of Cochin. And then tomorrow, I’ve got just half a day left of my solo tour of south India until I head back to Mumbai to meet up with my group and settle in Gujarat for the next couple of months. I wish I had more time to spend traveling, but I’ve left myself a long list of places to come back to.
