We finished our stay at the Coconut Lagoon by taking a sunset cruise on the lake and having a wonderful seafood supper by the lake. All the fish and shellfish are caught locally and everything was radically fresh. Earlier yesterday, we attended a cooking demonstration as the chef taught us how to make two different traditional Kerala dishes, one vegetarian and one fish. This same chef cooked for us later that evening.

We learned a great deal about the lake. The hotel is an award winning conservationist effort and they had two biologists on staff to teach us about the lake ecosystem, the birds, the dragonflies and the plants. We saw many bird species and even some butterflies and dragonflies.

We took the boat and then a bus to Cochin. We had a tour of the town with a guide. Cochin is considered the cultural capital of Kerala. We toured an old Palace, the oldest synagogue in India and the oldest Christian church here. Kerala was very important in the spice trade and the Portuguese, Dutch and English were all dominant here at some point since the early 1500’s. Kings who were unique in India ruled the province. They were very focused on sharing their wealth with the people.  When India gained independence in 1949, the King became an accountant and blended into the community. In other parts of India, the royalty were more conspicuous because of their palaces, etc. The Kerala kings shared their wealth so they did not maintain castles etc. like their northern counterparts did.

We managed to walk through a film set and take pictures of the stars of the event. There was absolutely no way that the director could control the set or have any way of keeping people out of the scene. They just made do.

We went to a Kathakali performance in the evening. We went early enough that we were able to watch them put on their makeup. The performance included a man teaching us about the moves and skills a Kathakali performer needed in order to do a good performance. Then we watched a play (actually a kind of ballet). It was a good thing that they had explained everything in advance; it made it easier to follow.

Tomorrow we are off to Mumbai and the next phase of our adventure.