Daily Archives: February 10, 2009

India: The Arc of the Himalayas–Dispatch 2

We are on our way!!!  Actually, it’s 5 days since we got underway and much has transpired since I last wrote. 

I arrived in Cochin on a flight from Delhi, carrying with me a good strong dose of Delhi Belly, which laid me low for the first 36 hours in Cochin.  So, whatever happened our first day there, I couldn’t tell you. 

Once I was classified as walking wounded and able to shuffle about, Bernard and I took a tiny  ferry across from the Willingdon Island where the Rally group was staying, to Fort Cochin itself, a passage of 10 minutes.  Along the shore there are tall delicate fishing nets strung up on high poles which are lowered into the water right by the shore using a system of pulleys made up of thick jute ropes and big stones. It’s mesmerizing to watch the blue nets, like lacy trampolines, slowly sinking into the water, and then see them slowly rise dripping and glimmering in the sun.  They catch quite a lot of small fish this way, and the small fish markets along the water’s edge are full of a variety of mullet, giang prawns, king fish and more. 

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