On to Alleppey

Things are looking much brighter on the houseboat front since our arrival in Alleppey this afternoon. Chicku, our host in Varkala, called ahead to her friend, Alice, who rents out rooms in her large colonial home in a quiet western residential area of this "Venice of the East". Alice had a man, Chaco, meet us at the rail station, and now we're staying in her beautiful house -- but shortly after we got in, Chaco set us up with an air conditioned houseboat at Rs 6000/night, sailing tomorrow. We booked two nights. And Alice has already called ahead to a friend in Kottayam, our next stop on the road to Periyar Wildlife Refuge. She also has friends with whom we can stay in Periyar; and then in Munnar, high among the tea plantations; and in Cochin, from where we're flying home. So, a lot of planning has taken care of itself in the last two hours. We went into Alleppey for a thali lunch, and to an ATM to pay the next installment on the Honeymoon. We're taking a chance by not having inspected the boat before booking, so we'll see how I feel reporting back in a few days, but if it's anywhere near as comfortable as their home, it bodes well for the rest of our accommodations on the trip. We've been graced with some excellent inexpensive rooms. We've had only one off night, when Chicku had a full house of RSVPs that squeezed us out one night. She sent us to a nearby spot, Bamboo Haven. I guess the manager is a friend of hers, but I had to tell her it was not a place worth recommending, or associating oneself with. It was infested with ants, and had no protection from mosquitoes. I asked 4 times during the day for a mosquito net, and each time was assured they'd put one up soon. When it came time in the evening to close the windows, the ceiling fan began pushing increasingly hot air around and became quickly unbearable. I went back to the office, and instead of providing the net, the guy upsold us to air conditioning for Rs 300 more. When we came back from dinner and cranked up the air con, we found we were sharing the space with two gigantic wolf spiders. Non-toxic, maybe, in the sense of venom, but extremely toxic to comfort and relaxation. Anyway, long story short, we were glad to find the next morning, that Chicku's RSVPs had bailed and she had rooms available again.

We've gained, in the past week, great appreciation for the miracles of velcro and plastic fly screens, in halting the advance of disease-spreading pests, and for the miracle of the ceiling fan. Air conditioning has really proven unnecessary in a room with a fan and open windows. I'm sure, however, we'll be grateful for it after a day lounging on the deck in the sun. Oh, that reminds me: we need to get more sunscreen...