View of mainland from Cochin harbor - Lorre Weidlich

    Before we were finished, we had gone to four shops (where I bought nothing), Santa Cruz Basilica, a ginger factory, and the spice market, while he charmed, entertained, and flirted with me. "Are you married?" "Not any longer. Are you?" "No. Should we get married?" "No, not unless you want to live in America!" I had learned that he was Moslem, supporting a mother and sister, and his name was Shaheerin.
    I knew he would ask me for money after he had finished driving me around, but when I said so, he protested, No, not a single rupee!-- not that I believed him. I could have ended this nonsense any time, but I was having far too much fun. He finally dropped me off at the ferry to Vypeen Island -- with the expected plea for money. Business was slow, he said, he needed money for lunch. How about 100 rupees? I offered him thirty. "But I can't eat on that!" I rummaged through my bag and located a 50 rupee bill to give him. Where else could I have had that much fun for 50 rupees?

Days 3 and 4: The Backwaters and Vembanad Lake
    On my third day in Kerala, I arrived in the small town of Alleppey to begin a day and night on a houseboat -- my own houseboat, complete with a crew of three -- in the backwaters of Kerala.
    The backwaters of Kerala are a network of lakes, lagoons, and channels that crisscross the central lowland part of the state. It's not possible to capture the beauty of the backwaters in words. The waters are tranquil, surrounded on either shore by palm and banana trees. Little purple flowers -- possibly a type of lotus -- grow out of the water. Occasionally, a bird rests on a stick protruding from the channel, a boat glides through the water, or someone by the waterside washes clothes on the rocks. An infrequent cow, goat, or chicken wanders the shore, and white birds swoop low over the surface of the channel. Traveling through the backwaters