Go with the flow, baby!

So we decided to take a day cruise along the Kerala backwaters, which are these series of canals surrounded by rice paddies and homes. Our guide described the boats as canoes and then he gave us a choice of motored or paddled. I thought I said motored when I arranged the date, but when we arrived there was an ancient man standing next to a canoe with no motor, just a couple of tiny paddles and three fat Americans. I asked about the motor and ...well...let's just say there was a communication breakdown. 

I shrank with shame as I climbed into our boat and the trip began. We had booked a 5 HOUR cruise because our guide said it would take that much time to see everything. And I started out the trip worrying about how boring it would be to slowly paddle around in a canoe on this lazy river. And how mortifying it would be to have my great grandfather doing all the work. I was convinced that being motorized was much more exciting and that this communication breakdown had ruined the day.

Well, as is usually the case with my assumptions, I was wrong! We had a great adventure. Our old man was far from feeble or resentful. Right at the start of the trip, he donned  a brilliantly colored umbrella hat and a brilliant smile to match it. His canoe was decorated with flowers, an auspicious peacock feather and a book with the writings of Amma, the hugging saint, we had just visited. And Jake got several opportunities to jump up and do some paddling as well.

As we drifted through the backwaters we saw so many things up close. Things we would never have seen from the a larger boat. Being close to the water meant that we could reach out and touch the beautiful purple flowers that were floating next to the boat. We were so close to shore that Jake could hop out of the boat and stroll along the paths with the villagers as they fished for dinner, washed their clothes in the water or just sat by and watched the day pass. Jake stopped to chat with one family and all cheered "Barack Obama" after he told them we were Americans. I loved how I could make eye contact with the women washing clothes or dishes along the shore. And the children skipping along the pathways waved and said in their perfect English, "Hello, how are you?".

We stopped for lunch at this one place and easily got to hang around as long as we wanted to since we were the only passengers in the boat. The owner of the tiny restaurant served our lunch on a banana leaf. We ate a traditional Keralan meal of coconut chutney and mango pickle and rice and curried veggies. I got to have a green coconut which is really delicious. They poke a whole in a green coconut and give you a straw to sip on the cool water inside. Then, when you're done, they split it open and you scrape out the coconut jelly on the inside. To top off the visit, Jake and I had the awesome privilege of holding an eagle on our arms, just because we happened to be there at that time and the friendly keeper of the eagle liked us.

The journey was wonderfully peaceful without the loud buzz of a motor and our little canoe could explore down tiny little water pathways that would just gum up a motor. We got to explore all the different backwater neighborhoods up close and witnessed their pretty idyllic lives with beautiful rice fields for back yards.

Yes, we all agreed at the end of the day surrounded by a golden sunset on the backwaters of Kerala that paddling in a canoe was a great way to go with the flow.