Thursday, December 23, 2010

23 December in Cochin, Kerala

Hot here. Touristy town, an old port city for the Portuguese. Lots of Catholic and Christian churches here, so lots of celebrations for the holidays. We went on a long and slightly wild ride up to the Western Gnats, a series of beautiful old mountains that made me think of Nepal. We saw thousands of acres of tea that looked like a trim rug in designs of green. And went to a spice plantation and saw a monitor lizard for Bill and lots of exotic plants like kokum and tamarind and tamarillo.

On the way back we saw a procession from a local Catholic elementary school. Lots of music and kids dressed like santa claus. Plus a manger scene filled with angels and mary and joseph on the back of a small trailer. Mothers in colorful saris walked piously behind...it was pure India!

We go back up to the cool Gnats tommorrow for a couple days to stay at a preserve with an old Brahmin family. Cooking class two coming up.

Sorry there are no photos. I'm having a hard time uploading them.

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