Now that reports are out of the way, I can tell the rest of the story of last weekend.



At 8:00 A.M. Sunday morning we presented ourselves at the tourist kiosk to check in for our 8:30 departure only to find the kiosk closed. We were informed that someone would be there by the owner of a closed coffee stand. Sure enough at 8:25 the agent arrived and collected Rs 425 for the back water cruise. At 8:30 the mini-bus came and off we started. The countries represented were Canada, USA, England, Australia, Germany and Israel.



The morning was spent on a larger boat with motor. We went through the lake and saw about 26 islands of varying sizes. We stopped at a calcium hydrate installation. This is where the left over shells of something like a clam are turned into calcium hydrate. The shells are heated over coconut shells which have been ignited with kerosene. Once the shells have been heated and their chemical composition changed, water is poured over them. The water reacts and the shells turn to powder. The powder is sifted and packaged and sold to pharmaceutical companies to make calcium tables. Once we returned to our starting point we had a Kerala lunch on board.



After lunch we were back into the mini-bus and off to another community. Here we boarded a dug-out in which chairs had been placed on the floor for our comfort. With one man in the front with a pole and a second man in the back with another pole, we were off on a wonderful journey through many man-made canals. We stopped at a coir works. Here the husk of the dried coconut is soaked for several days to soften the fibres. The dried fibres are then placed in a pile and a process similar to a spinning-wheel (for wool) takes place. As the fibres rotate they pick up other fibres and so a coir rope is made. Several of these coir ropes are then wound together to give strength. A relatively simple process which allows people living away from a city to have meaningful work and earn money. We continued on further and stopped at a coconut plantation Here we watched as one of the men climbed a tree and cut down several coconuts. We each were given a coconut so that we could sample the milk. Once we had drained the milk the shell was cracked open so that we could scoop out the soft slimy interior. It certainly did not taste like coconut. Once we had finished eating our fresh coconut we walked back and boarded our dugouts for the return to the bus.



The maximum speed of the bus on the highway as just under 60 km. Not fast by our standards! Now I understand why there are so few accidents on the roads as no one really goes very quickly at all.



The return trip to Ooty on Monday only took 9 hours instead of the 13 to go down on Friday. Back to school by 4:30 tried from a bumpy bus ride but otherwise non the worse for wear.