Update update, slow boat pictures

Our boat arrives

Repairing the boat. Notice how the boards are sewn together and the seams are packed with fiber caulking that expands when wet. The whole thing is then sealed with fish oil, which darkens the wood in time.


At the entrance to the hospital



Men paddle by

Our chef proudly puts out the first lunch

Various pickles with the meat of water buffalo, served with papadams

A light snack of tapioca root and spiced beef

The toddy collector

His tools. The handle (barely visible) used for cutting the palm to release the sap. The bone is to beat the stalk to encourage the flow (I think) . The vessel is for collecting the liquid that has collected overnight in another container

At the river's edge de-licing

Making twine from coir (coconut fiber)

Sails made from feed sacks

Sunrise from the boat

A late afternoon paddle

The slow boat was splendid. It moved through the canals, lakes and rivers at about the same speed as this Internet connection. We're at a cardomom plantation, 4,500 feet up in the Western Ghats straddling Kerala and Tamil Nadu. We look out on tea plantations and flowering trees lusher than all the flowering vegetation in the entire history of time. We'll get a report onto the blog when the Internet situation improves, in a few days maybe. We're learning Malayalam at the same rate we learned Hindi, but otherwise we're lapping everything up.