We arrived in Kottayam, which sits on the backwaters on Sunday. We took a room at a little guest house in the middle of nowhere. We wandered up and down the little rural road, and soon had a crowd of kids following us. They showed us the way to the shore of the lake. Then, since it is almost Christmas, they asked that we teach them a Christmas carol. Maryanne taught them “Jingle Bells”, and it was fun listening to the kids sing about snow in a place that probably hasn’t seen snow since the last ice age.
Kyle wanted very much to go for an overnight trip, and luckily our guest house owners had one available. The next day, which happened to be Kyle’s birthday, we headed out onto the backwaters of Kerala. The boat was very comfortable, and had two bedrooms and an open porch. We had three crew members to take care of us.
Our first stop was in the middle of a large lake. Here we went for a swim, and the crew scooped up handfuls of clams from the bottom. Here we were served lunch, and then we started sailing down large canals. Behind the walls that contained them were bright green rice paddies. It appears that the land here has been reclaimed much like in Holland.
That night we tied up at the corner of two canals, where a couple had a small store (and a cow to provide milk). Several other boats tied up next to us. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset, a delicious dinner and then went to bed.
Unfortunately, I became violently ill in the night. I was sick for all the next day, but managed the bus ride from the dock to Allepey, where we took a hotel room. In the end, it took me 2 1/2 days to fully recover, but I seem to be better now.

Most of the houses here have brightly colored stars on their porches for the holidays. At night they become lanterns, and make it feel like Christmas, even if it is close to 90 degrees.
On Friday we went for a tour of the are, which included several churches. One of the churches dates from 355 A.D! Raj’s father owns a small piece of land which was a coffee plantation, and we made a stop there. He grows his own coffee — which I have happily tasted. Also on the same plot of land are pepper vines, papaya trees, banana tress, ginger and tumeric. At the house there is a passionfruit vine, a ‘butter fruit’ tree, guava tree, coconut trees and more papayas.
Pineapples are also in season now, and cost 10 rupees each. I plan to eat myself sick on them.

In contrast, Christmas day was very quiet and relaxed. All the guests got up late, and then sat on the porch drinking coffee. Even in the morning it was quite warm, certainly the warmest Christmas I’ve had.
When Raj’s parents got back from Mass we opened presents. Each of us got a Mundhu (Sp?) — 4 meters of white cloth with colorful borders that are wrapped around the waist like a long skirt. This is the traditional clothing for the men here in South India. They are very comfortable in the heat.
In true Christmas fashion we were fed lots of food. Raj and I almost ate ourselves sick on steamed coconut cake.