Short bulletin from Kochi

After two weeks on the road in India and 2000 km. we've adjusted to driving at mad cap speeds with little more than a foot of distance between our van and the object ahead, which could be a truck,motorcycle, mo-ped , bicycle or another van full of terrified tourists. I've stopped applying my imaginary brakes and surrendered all safety concerns to Mamood, our excellent driver, who magically misses pedestrians, dogs, baby carriages, food carts and religious processions by a hair. By a hair!!

Let's see..we've visited temples and then temples and more temples, an ashram, spice plantation, churches, synagogues, museums. We've stayed in luxury hotels (we're in one today), basic hotels, on a houseboat and in a traditional home stay. We've eaten Indian food up the wazoo - what else would you expect? Tonight we eat with Nimi Paul who teaches Kerala cooking classes in her home. 

We've paid one dollar for a meal and just now for lunch we paid $12.00 each for ayurvedic mocktails...lemonade with mint and a slice of cucumber for garnish. Detoxifying they say - I don't feel any less toxic, only lighter in the wallet.

Tomorrow we leave early and fly to Bengalore then drive to Mysore. In a couple of days we'll wash up in Goa to rest and relax for a few days before the long trek back through Dubai and then via Emirates Air, all the way home in one 17 hour flight.

Nemaste.