Kerala, part two: life on the water

In part one I wrote about the birds. This post is about the water itself, and the people who live along it. The Kerala backwaters are a web of canals and lakes with coconut palms and thick greenery on both banks. My visits fall in the monsoon, so the green is at its fullest, and I never get tired of it.

A boat under the palms.

There are canals everywhere, and for the villagers they work almost like roads. A boat is how people get around here. For many houses the front yard is the canal - it provides transportation, food and present the opportunity to make money by renting out a house boat. Taking a ride along the canals is a popular way to spend a few hours here, and it is how I saw most of this. From the boat you see what people are doing as you pass: washing dishes at the water's edge, or preparing fish that was caught earlier. The kites have noticed it too. They watch those spots and swoop in to steal some of the leftovers. This frame is the one I think about most from the trip: a woman washing at the stone wall, and a Brahminy kite coming in low over the water just beside her.

A kite coming in for the leftovers.

The houseboats are for rent, and people live on them for a few days at a time. They drift along the same canals, slowly, past the same houses. They also do have best spots for sunsets watching. I have never stayed on one through the night, but we rented a smaller boat to go around the backwater canals.  The bigger boats are beautifully fit the landscape around as they quietly float along the shore. 

Midday break

Thatch and wood, up close.

A house on the canal, with its boat at the door

Waiting for the passengers