Mom's visit part 2: Fort Cochin

So I'm a bit behind on blogging or possibly just too busy to keep up. After Kovalom, Mom and I headed up to Fort Cochin. It's a small peninsula in Kerala that was the center of the trade routes of yore. So a lot of foreign influence - colonized by the portuguese but some clear african and east asian influences. Lots of spices. Chinese fishing nets (pictured). Really touristy - like backpackers. And honestly there's not much to see but it's a nice small town that you can walk around - and I was craving the ability to jog, it was perfect. Famous for its jewish settlement and oldest european church - we visited both and can't say I was overwhelmed. They were built like 2 minutes ago in comparison to the rest of this country!

Mom and I spent a lot of time playing scrabble and parcheesi. But that's our MO around the world. We also ate a lot of good food, good coffee, best apple pie I've had in India. I skipped the Ayurvedic Massage Barbecue but I must say I was intrigued. In one of my jogs I found the beach where locals swim in the morning. Or to be more specific, men swim. It was like 200 men in small unflattering swimsuits. I felt like I shouldn't be there - as if I had wondered into a men-only country club. On the way back however, I noticed two young girls were also in the water, so it must not be totally exclusive. I also enjoyed the young man roller blading - decked head to toe in unfortunate neon spandex - about 12 years old and at that severely awkward stage of life. The best part was his mom who was following him on a motor scooter!

Anyways, mom and I went one night to a Kathakali dance show. Kathakali is a traditional Keralan dance form with elaborate make up. The dancers don't speak - it's all through expressions and gestures. They have to train for like 6 years before they can perform. The story is told through songs sung by a narrator. Also, they're traditional stories that most people would know. It was really quite impressive and unique. Sorry the picture is fuzzy - we weren't allowed to use flash and they wouldn't stop dancing!! It was clearly a performance for tourists (can't say I noticed any indians in attendance) but it didn't really bother me because it meant english (and a lot of other languages) translations of the story and a demonstration of the various expressions and what they meant. Some were quite intricate - the elephant took like 3 minutes to portray.

Mom left on Saturday, after a very satisfying brunch and an unfortunate trip to the Central Cottage Emporium to pick up a special request on what we later found to be the two days a year they close for inventory before tax day. So Carolyn and her husband Todd arrived a few hours after mom left - hopefully I'll get a chance to talk about that in the next post!