Kovalam Dec 29th

We arrived in Kovalam late in the night and had to take a boat to the island where we were staying. The resort was on freshwater, but about 100 feet away there was a sand bar where the ocean hit the beach. The waves were big and very powerful. I managed to sprain my ankle while being tossed around by one of these waves and I have been hobbling around ever since.

The beach was really nice.

We sat around drank some beers, swam and played with the local kids. They are always happy to hang around and have their picture taken. They love to see the digital images of themselves. Shaggy had bought a cricket bat and he, Ang and BG played a game of cricket with the kids and then gifted the bat and ball it to them. They were really happy with their prize.

For lunch we took a boat to a close by floating restaurant where they made some fish fry. We had a Snapper and some Seer Fish. I have been pleasantly surprised how much I have loved the fish here. Fish is one of my favorite foods, but I am very particular about how or rather, how much, it is cooked. Typically I have found it to be cooked perfectly. This was another one of my favorite meals. We also had a cheese parotta, which I found to be quite lovely. I am sure it is made specifically for tourists, as Indian cooking doesn’t use much cheese. The closest thing they have is something called paneer, which I am also quite fond of. It is more of a hardened cottage cheese that is often times cooked in curry.

Again, it was really cool to see the local village communities coexisting with the modern day world. We watched villagers in boats carved out of logs. The kids who were clothed were wearing a short skirt like cloth that some how managed to stay on them in the rough sea water. We watched kids bathing cows in the river as well as mothers doing laundry.

The trip is winding down. Our Paramount airlines flight was canceled so now we are stuck driving 11 hours back to Coimbatore. We will chill there for a few days then we will head back home….