Kathikali and Kottayam

On Friday evening, after a long day of class, we all bussed to a nearby palace where they had a private performance of the Indian Kathakali dance. It's a mix of theater, dancing, singing and acting- of ancient epics (it kind of reminded me of the stories that the little girl told in "A Little Princess"..). They wear crazy dramatic makeup and costumes that are purposefully designed to portray elements of their character (villain, pure, wealthy, male, female, etc). The majority of their acting is in their face though- it was amazing how much emotion and plot they could communicate just by weirdly vibrating their cheeks and using their eyes. They squeezed the juice of a special seed into their eyes to make the whites into reds...it looked pretty freaky on the villians. This story was pretty confusing to follow but it ended up with the hero killing the villain and eating his intestines (red painted cloth)- very dramatic, but an amazingly entertaining cultural event!

Saturday morning 9 of us booked it to the train station to head to Kottayam, a city about 150km north of Trivandrum, and nestled in the backwaters of Kerala. We sat in a Hogwarts Express-esque train cabin that was surprisingly comfortable considering the bunkbed seats and good air conditioning. We arrived on time and drove through the city towards the outskirts where all of the houseboats are docked- it was a much more lush and vegetated city, and a little more hilly. It is also called the "Venice of the East" for all of the narrow windy tributaries and canals that run throughout & around the city. Our houseboat was amazing! We had 3 large bedrooms, 3 baths, and a huge dining/living area with comfortable seating and a great little bow to lay on in the sun. It was so nice to relax with friends, goof off and enjoy the scenery- it was surreal to be in such a serene, palm-tree-filled and luxurious environment for 24 hours. We were fed delicious fresh fish and probably the freshest chicken so far on this trip.. since we docked right next to our captain's house that was fluttering with lots of fat hens and had chicken curry for dinner. Got back at a nice time this afternoon, and had time to catch up at an internet cafe with a veggie samosa on the side..we are starting our case study this week about Food and Nutrition in the area, and will be exploring what students and locals consider healthy foods and healthy BMI etc.. should be an interesting week full of interviews and immersion!

Hopefully will be getting to go off for a day with Appu to our host family's ancestral house where they have a pet elephant! He said we could feed, sit on, and bathe it... that would make my trip!!

Thought Dad would appreciate this guy's Basilic/Cephalic vein..

Matching "Boat Buddies" henna tatoos, steering wheel included

The crew

Captain Boopsie

Delish Dinner

House Boat!

Eating the intestines of his enemy post-battle.