Keralan Craziness

The phone call in the tuk-tuk was to ask me to intervene on an emergency American citizen situation. Without going into detail an American citizen older gentleman and a young Frenchman had washed ashore in a sailboat with faulty equipment and the authorities were not so happy about it. I spent the next four days being the messenger girl between the gentlemen and my contacts back in the Consulate and beyond, bringing food and ice cream and water to the boat, and generally trying to be of help in a strange situation.

The first night just finding the boat was difficult because we had no idea where we were and it was storming (a large factor in why the boat had come ashore). However, the next morning I was able to see what a beautiful place it was. There was a large mosque near where the boat was docked and lots of fishing boats so that when one looked to the shore around the cove there was a harbor filled with colorful boats and pretty almost Mediterranean looking buildings. To get down to the boat we would drive down this pretty shoddy road where goats kept blocking our way and looking snidely at our car like, "yeah, I could take you".

If we turned the other way instead of going down the hill we would get to a pretty touristy beach town. Over the next few days we got to know that beach well as it was there that we would go for our meals. At the end of the beach we were able to climb a small cliff to get to a lighthouse which we were able to climb. One awesome thing about India is the lack of safety precautions which allowed us to climb all the way to the top and then get to the outside balcony. What a view!!! Mountains in the background and gorgeous ocean as far as one could see.

So much wonderfully delicious fish! The hotel had awesome baked yogurt which became my new favorite food! Because I kept not knowing when I would check out and we kept renting a car, the hotel loved us. They sent us free desserts. The head housekeeper came to meet us (I thought we were in trouble at first) and give us gifts (cute little frames!). When we called for room service and asked for tiramisu they said "We are sorry but we are out of mascarpone, would you like us to make it using vanilla pudding instead?" Um, no, no I didn't.

Although much of the time was pretty stressful juggling phone calls and changing stories and regulations, the area was beautiful and we did meet some great people. I can't wait to go back to Kerala and do a backwaters tour...and be completely on vacation!

beginning of the end of november

The end of November was quite a ride. Luckily I was chosen for quite a few opportunities. I got to help with a Foreign Commercial Service trade tour for energy efficiency products companies. I also got to go to Kerala with Natalie. Originally I was sent there to do a welfare and whereabouts visit, which is when a consular officer visits an american citizen child who has been abducted, in many cases by one of the parents, to ensure that the child is safe and accounted for. Kerala is beautiful, tons of palm trees all over and beautiful temples and the ocean and gorgeous light. We had to take a pretty long car ride inland up into the hills for the visit. Our driver did not speak much English and I didn't really know where I was going. After many stops to ask random people directions, the car stopped in front of a house. A very nice older lady beckoned for me to come into the house. She apparently spoke no English but smiled a lot and kept waving me in. She sat me down and looked expectantly at me. "Tea?" "Tea?" "Tea?" she kept asking quizzically. "Sure, thank you" I replied. Then I saw out the window that people were surrounding Natalie and it appeared she was motioning for me to go outside. So outside I went. Down the lane and behind the car a woman and a kid were seemingly conversing with Natalie and I thought maybe these were the people I came to visit. But no. They were just curious about the redhead in their lane. And it quickly became obvious that this was in fact not the house that I was supposed to be going to. Another man came down the lane. He got in the front seat of the car and drove with us to make sure we made it where we had in fact been heading. The visit was fine and Natalie had a nice time wandering around the village during it. Once we were back at the hotel we decided to try the other mission: figure out if an american citizen woman who was reported dead was in fact deceased and if so and if possible to get a copy of the death certificate. I had only a vague address but I found a tuck-tuck and took off for the general area. Thankfully I found the woman alive and she was a lovely lady. Unfortunately the power was out and so she had to go looking for I.D. by candlelight. It simply added to the strangeness of the day, which would only get stranger. On the way back to the hotel my phone rang, starting the really strange journey that was to occupy the rest of our Kerala trip.