It turns out that it is a Hindu festival and the music from across the lake was blasted through speakers starting at 5:00 am. I have received contradictory information as to how long this lasts but it is somewhere between 5 and 10 days. At 6:30 I knew there would be no more sleeping and wondered out to the front deck. The cook was somewhat surprised to see me so early and hurried off to make coffee.
At 7:00 sharp the engine was started and we were once again on our way. It was nice watching the sunrise as the fishing boats were busy pulling in their nets. After a couple of cups of coffee we were served a breakfast of eggs and toast.
Prior to leaving Alleppey I arranged a home stay about two km before the city of Kollam. The captain pulled up against a peninsula and announced that we had arrived. The house we are staying in is surrounded by water on three sides with a collection of cashew nut trees and palms. Our room has large picture windows on two sides affording us great views of the lake. Our deck has lounge chairs and tables along with hammocks. The village that we are in is small with very modest dwellings. It is very evident that they don't often get visitors as both the children and adults were very curious about us. As we are out of pens, I asked one of the children to come to the shop with me to pick out a "sweet". After he picked what he wanted I cleared out the rest of the shop keepers inventory to give to children along the remainder of our walk.
The motto for the state of Kerala is, "Gods Own Country" and sitting here writing I understand why. I could grow old here....
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