| A few days ago I did a full day tour of the "backwaters", a large network of rivers and channels that runs along the coast of this state. Our little tour group (me and a half-dozen Belgian students) spent an hour and a half in a small bus going through, and then out past the edge of the city. Finally we came to a river, where we got into a little open boat that a local man poled across the river and then along a narrow channel. We stopped to visit things like spice farms and gawk at the beautiful lush country. Then we had a traditional meal served on a banana leaf, and finished the day on a larger covered boat on a big wide channel. Another interesting excursion I made was to the city across the bay, to look for a "teach yourself Malayalam" book and try to find a synagogue I had heard about. I found the book in the first bookstore I tried, and then found the synagogue at the corner of Market Street and Jew Street. (Really) A Jewish guy, one of the few left in the city, has a goldfish store in the space in front of the shul entrance, and has been carrying out a long-term project to fix up the synagogue, though it's hardly ever used. But it is very beautiful. Tomorrow I leave Kerala and fly to Colombo, where I'll be for the next five or six days. |
| Created on 16 February 2020, updated on 16 February 2020 by Samuel Ethan Fox |