As Good As It Goetz: Tea & Coconuts

Floating down a lazy river lined with coconut trees and rice paddies on a slow moving houseboat is about as far from the chaos of Mumbai as you can get without leaving India. It’s also pretty far from the type of landscape I expected to encounter in India. But, that’s where, thankfully, I found myself along with my new traveling compatriots after a mentally exhausting first week in India.

From Kerala Backwa...

Fleeing Mumbai, we made our way south to the state of Kerala. Like the United States, India is made up of about 25 states (that number fluctuated recently when one state divided into two or three so my count is likely off). While it’s only the second state I’ve visited in this massive country, Kerala just might be the most scenic and enticing of them all. The state hugs India’s southeastern shoreline just a few hundred miles up from the country’s southern tip. It boasts one of the best education and literacy rates in the nation as well as decent - for India - infrastructure. It’s also home to the world’s first democratically elected communist government - ponder that for a minute - and although the hammer & syckle is seen frequently it feels a lot less ominous here.

Kerala’s best feature by far is it’s entrancing landscape. The areas closer to the ocean are thickly covered with coconut trees, rice paddies and a series of interconnected rivers, canals, inlets and lakes that give it a tropical island feel. Further inland, the landscape makes a sharp ascent in the form of formidable mountains softened by a covering of green leafy trees and tea plantations. Whether floating down one of it’s waterways or strolling through the mountainous tea plantations, Kerala is far from what I ever expected to find in India - and I’m happy to have found it.

It provided the perfect antidote to Mumbai’s madness. Despite only a week in India, we all needed a break to collect ourselves a bit. That break came in the form of an overnight houseboat trip drifting down the web of rivers and canals that make up Kerala’s remarkable backwaters. The houseboat was a simple sloop covered with a thatched roof and almost wicker like wood walls that enclosed two simple rooms giving Jen, John and I the run of the place for twenty-four hours, along with the crew of three.

The boat put-putted it’s way effortlessly through the maze of canals as we sat on the covered front deck, our attention fully captivated by the charm of the seemingly secret world surfacing all around us. In stark contrast to the India we’d witnessed thus far, the small communities that make their homes on the tiny slivers of land that split the grid of waterways seemed serene havens with tightly knit communities living off the bountiful fruit borne by their careful cultivation of the fertile lands surrounding them.

As we floated by, schoolchildren returned from school via the local bus - a long canoe. Women washed the family’s daily laundry or dishes in the river waters, farmers refreshed themselves in the same waters after a long days’ work tending the nearby rice fields, and small markets came alive on the riverbanks as family’s came out for a round of socializing with their downstream or upstream neighbors. As the sun set over the placid waterway that would be our overnight resting place, a hectic, overwhelming India seemed worlds away.

The following day we traded the peace of Kerala’s backwaters for the tranquility of it’s mountainous tea country. The hill country, as the locals call it (but they are definitely mountains), seems to be India’s version of Napa Valley, but with tea plantations assuming the roll of vineyards. Having never found myself in the vicinity of a tea plantation, I’d never have imagined them to be something worthy of a visit. But, Kerala‘s immaculately manicured tea fields, draped across soft undulating mountains, were downright exquisite. Nearly every turn down one of the area’s numerous twisting country roads revealed multiple post card perfect settings.

In the morning a cool mist rises over the mountain valley as the small communities come quietly alive to tend to the tea fields. The fields are carved up into sections,each of which is harvested every two weeks, year round, on a rotating basis. The fields are immaculately manicured and almost seem like royal gardens than tea fields. As the late afternoon sun hits the fields, they glow bright green filling the valley in green-yellow hues. As the sun goes down locals and visitors flee to the loftiest grounds to take in the sunset as it dips behind the verdant mountain range. It all makes for a pretty remarkable place and its easy to see why the area is a favorite among Indian newlyweds.

After four relaxing days, we reluctantly said goodbye to the serene, tropical backwaters and immaculate, tranquil mountainside tea fields of Kerala. As we took our seats on the plane, I noticed that the angst and exhaustion so pervasive in our first week in India had managed to evaporate somewhere between the rivers and mountains. Kerala's unexpected natural beauty and laid-back enclaves provided the perfect counterbalance to chaotic Mumbai, restoring our natural equilibrium and reviving our curiosity to continue delving deeper into India.

KERALA BACKWATERS PHOTO ALBUM (click photo):