by Duarte
Houseboat Travel in Kerala, India
The most exhilarating travelling experience I have ever had happened in the Kerala region in the southwest of India. My wife and I went on a special cruise in the backwaters of the Kumarakom Lake. There we stayed in a house boat and had the chance to enjoy what I consider the most relaxing experience in my life. In the Kumarakom lake waters flow gently and time does not, the only thing that matters there is the scenic landscape with palm trees all over, the birds flying by, a lone fisherman here, one or two kids playing on the lake margin, water lilies floating on a mirror, and quietness, all but an absolutely relaxing portrait. In this house boat I lived delicate moments with my twin soul. The intimate silent, the occasional glances, there we were discovering ourselves and relearning the road to one another. The boat kept continuously cutting through the water mirror, until that time when the sun started to fade and a huge purple sky invaded the quiet waters.
At night we enjoyed the local cuisine prepared by our discreet crew. The meal passed by interrupted by a funny joke here, a comment there, the cutlery laid over the dishes. Then we chatted over our table for two. Not much to say, all we could chat about were simple things as simplicity is all there is in paradise. Love did happen that night, sweaty inert bodies laying over a twin bed, and then quietness, that quietness that could only momentarily be broken by the gentle waves hitting the rocking boat.
The sun stroke our window, a new day was up, the rattling of the motor on the background, the displacement of the floating house. Nothing changed, the water mirror, the lone fisherman, everything repeated in this timeless scenario.