The others went their own ways, with hopes of meeting again in Hampi, that's the way it is with travelers.
It was an hour and a half bus ride to Ernakulam, honking all the way. Thought we might die a few times, but we survived, fortunately. That's also the way it is with travelers. We arrived at the inconveniently located bus station, hoofed it through the noisy and dirty city, found the ferry landing and waited another hour for the boat across the channel to Kochi.
We found a room in a simple but pleasant old hotel, high ceilings giving evidence of faded glory, all in all quite okay. Since we weren't dead yet, it was time to go for a walk. Got only slightly lost on our way to the synagogue in "Jewtown".
Established in the 1600's, that means it's had a long history. The current dilemma is that right now there are only fifteen Jews left in town, old ones at that. Hope historic preservation catches on…
The district was filled with antique shops; we did find some good junk. We liked the furniture and contemplated shipping charges, $125 per cubic meter to the US, not really economical. The erotic wooden panels were nice, I thought.
We walked back to the waterfront - it was Sunday evening, the locals were out promenading. An acrobat leapt through rings of fire, his wife alternating between filling bottles of kerosene and chasing their sooty-faced toddler, who kept trying to escape into the crowd. Smart kid.
Fishermen set up tables on the lawn, the idea was for us to pick a fish, then a cook. Both fishermen and cooks were very happy to see Steve and I, rupees in our pockets and food on our minds. Dinner was quite good, again with no barcodes. It was almost a Mediterranean ambiance.
The next morning, we took the ferry back to Ernakulam and met up with Etienne at the local Indian Coffee House branch. The waiters all dress up in white uniforms, shades of the Raj. And the coffee was really good, too!
We spent some time on the Internet. I composed a marvelously funny and observant email to many people, which Yahoo destroyed immediately when I tried to send it. Computers malfunction, the world over.
That night we went to a Kathakali dance performance. The theatre opened two hours early so we could see costuming and makeup preparations, which took that much time. It was a Ramayana performance, the rescue of a kidnapped maiden. With drums and cymbal accompaniment, spectacular even if the plot was a bit obtuse for me. The dancers train for years - only men dance, playing both male and female roles. A cultural experience for sure.
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