by Judy Handley | Mar 4, 2010 | India, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 129, Year 5: Birthdays
Date: Thursday, March 4, 2010
Weather: Hot and Hazy
Location: Bolgatty Hotel Anchorage, Cochin (Kochi), India
If my mother were still living she would be 102 today. I was too stubborn to let myself be born on her birthday, so my day is tomorrow. But today is my brother-in-law Joe’s birthday, so “Happy Birthday, Joe.” March 4-5-6 are birthdates of other friends as well. Happy birthday to Susan on Sea Bunny and Alan Kanegsberg back in Concord, NH.
I spent my day doing laundry and baking once I found out that no one would be coming to work on the freezer today. We don’t know why, but no one was available even though the team that left late yesterday evening said they’d be back this morning. When we called this morning, we were told that someone will come tomorrow and will definitely get the freezer running. We shall see. Mark found a place that works on alternators so he took our big alternator there this afternoon. We are not sure how long that repair will take, so we just have to take one day at a time. We are still planning to check-out on Tuesday and leave on the high tide on Wednesday. Lynn will be returning from the US early Saturday morning and once she is rested, the final provisioning will begin.
Now it is time to start the boat cleaning process. Everything on the deck is just filthy from a month of Cochin pollution, so sunshades and cockpit seat covers were sent home with Nazar today to be washed. We will start soaking lines tomorrow. You cannot tell that they were once white. Most everything is a lovely shade of dark gray now. I will also work on cleaning the waterline tomorrow. So tomorrow is a cleaning day for me. Mark will be working with whoever is here to work on the freezer. And if there is time at the end of the day, we are planning to make an artichoke (out of a can) pizza for my birthday dinner. I love artichokes and think I have had them on my birthday for the past 36 years. Don’t want to break that tradition.
by Judy Handley | Mar 3, 2010 | India, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 128, Year 5: Two Compressors, but No Freezer
Date: Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Weather: Hot and Hazy
Location: Bolgatty Hotel Anchorage, Cochin (Kochi), India
Three frustrating weeks and a thousand dollars later we find out that we may not have needed a new compressor after all. So now we have two compressors but no freezer. A different team was sent today. They thought they were coming to fix a refrigerator, not to install the new compressor. They had no knowledge of the previous problems and it took Mark and hour to try and explain why we had been told we needed a new compressor. And then it took ALL day to do the installation because the new compressor had different connectors from the old one so the day was spent making new connectors. When it was finally connected, the compressor worked great but this team is saying that the problem is a leak in the expansion valve connected to the cold plate or the cold plate itself. And that in order to diagnose this, the cold plate has to come out and go to a shop. We honestly don’t know what to do. If we take out the cold plate, we have no idea if anyone here can really get it reconnected corrected. So tonight we are sorting through the options. We can remove the cold plate ourselves so we know it is done correctly, but then if there is a problem they can say it was because we removed it improperly. We can do nothing and just not have a freezer for the next eight to ten months, but then we have the same problem when we reach South Africa. We could go to the Chagos and then return to Thailand or Malaysia in June to get things fixed, but then what? We would either have to stay there for another year or head south to Cocos Keeling and across to Mauritius and South Africa late in the season. That is feasible, but it means we would miss seeing Madagascar. All I can say is that this is just no fun. So that’s great news from Windbird for today. I hope I can be a little more upbeat by tomorrow.
I left the boat today before the refrigeration team came just so I would not be in the way. My birthday is on Friday, so I decided to go over to Fort Cochin and buy myself a birthday present. Our settee covers are micro-fiber and have been wonderful, but where we sit on the port settee cushion constantly, it is wearing. So I went off in search of some sort of cover. In doing so, I learned all about pashmina and Kashmir wool. The pashmina comes from the beard of the goat and the Kashmir comes from the stomach. When the pashmina is truly authentic and in natural colors, you can smell that it is real. Some scarves are hand embroidered in the finest embroidery that you can imagine. They are out of sight expensive. One scarf costs $200 US and would be $600 in the United States. It takes ten goats and one month of labor to produce such a scarf, so I am sure they are worth it. I just can’t afford them. But they were thrown over my shoulders and I was walked to mirrors to try to persuade me that I just had to own one. I resisted. And there are so many beautiful quilted wall hangings here. I was sure I could find one that would make a great cover for the settee. But unfortunately, all of them have sequins sewn on and they just wouldn’t be comfortable. But I did find an embroidered silk throw rug that had just the right colors, so I bought that. I also found a State-supported cotton shop where pants and shirts are made as you watch. Everything there costs 150 Rs which is about $3.50 US. I just had to buy a few shirts and colorful baggy pants for women that are so popular here among tourists. I love them for their comfort and their kicky colors. Unfortunately my good day ended when I returned to Windbird and found that things weren’t going so well. I just had to sit in the cockpit and read for the remainder of the afternoon while the work continued below. The refrig team didn’t leave until after 6 pm and if they return tomorrow morning, I think I’ll leave again!
by Judy Handley | Mar 2, 2010 | India, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 127, Year 5: Strike in Kerala
Date: Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Weather: Hot and Hazy; 92 degrees F inside at 6 pm
Location: Bolgatty Hotel Anchorage, Cochin (Kochi), India
We are not buying fuel here in Cochin because the price is way too high for this part of the world. The prices here are more like Australian fuel prices. And evidently the entire state of Kerala has been in an uproar about this. So today they declared a 24-hour transportation strike. Mark, Ed, and I took the dinghy to shore about 1:30 this afternoon. We walked along the waterfront and saw no ferry activity, but that didn’t clue us in. We then rounded the corner and found no auto rickshaws, no veggie and fruit stands open, and even the little shops that sell snacks and cold drinks were all wrapped in tarp. We looked up Bannerji Street and there was NO traffic. We felt like the end of the world had come and we didn’t know about it. When we reached the street there was a vendor selling lottery tickets and we asked what was happening. He said, “Strike.” And then an English speaking couple wandered by and explained that the transportation workers were on a 24-hour strike. All transport workers including bus, taxis, and auto rickshaws. And very few stores in town were open, probably because no one could get to work. The people of this country depend heavily on public transportation, so Ernakulam was like a ghost town today. We walked up to Market Road just to see if the main fruit and veggie market was open. Some stalls were, but most weren’t. But the ones that were open allowed us to buy what we came for. Supposedly, everything will be back to normal tomorrow. Since nothing was open, we couldn’t buy a newspaper, but what I read on the internet suggested that the strike will end tonight but that the bus system will go on indefinite strike as of March 11 unless they are allowed to increase fares. Evidently even the educational institutions were closed today and the annual examinations in the schools scheduled for today and the University examinations were postponed. Our latest planned departure date is March 10, so on this front our timing is good.
Evidently not all transportation was closed today as our compressor was delivered by Blue Dart, a subsidiary of DHL here. We cooled down a bit overnight and decided that we had no choice other than to pay the unfair duty costs. We still plan to investigate this with the Customs officials here, but we really expect to get nowhere. Tomorrow morning the refrigeration team will come to install the new compressor and hopefully it will be up and running by tomorrow night. The toilet repair kit left New Delhi yesterday morning, but we heard nothing about it today. Maybe because of the strike. Hopefully tomorrow that will arrive and we can be finished with worrying about whether or not things are going to arrive. We received another package from our daughter today, so the West Marine toilet repair kit is the last thing we are waiting for.
But now we are having a diode disaster. Tonight when we turned on the engine to charge our batteries, Mark saw that the voltage output was not as high as it should be. When he looked in the engine room, he could see one of the diodes on our main alternator sparking. That is the same alternator we had rebuilt in Thailand, but something is not right. I have no idea if we can get this repaired here, and I know we can replace the main alternator with our spare, but I also know that means that we will have to run the engine much longer to charge. I’m not sure we can carry enough fuel from the Maldives to Chagos to make this work, and if we continue on, we will still have four to five months after the Chagos before we reach South Africa where repairs could be done. Soooooooo . . . we will have to have this checked out and then make decisions on what to do or where to go from here. This has definitely not been our year. We just go from one big problem to another. I’m hoping that St. Patrick’s Day might turn all of that around!
by Judy Handley | Mar 1, 2010 | India, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 126, Year 5: Back to Reality
Date: Monday, March 1, 2010
Weather: Hot and Hazy
Location: Bolgatty Hotel Anchorage, Cochin (Kochi), India
We are back on Windbird after a wonderful little trip north to the Chinakkathoor Pooram. We got home mid-afternoon and had Ed over for dinner tonight. It is always good to get home, even if only after one night away. But unfortunately we got home to more unsettling news about the shipment of our compressor. As soon as we got home we got on line and found no update. That was not good. Then we got a call late in the day from the shipper saying that the compressor is now in Cochin and he will bring it to us tomorrow morning. BUT we will have to pay about $130 US in Custom’s Fees. We should not owe that much at all, but now the problem is whether to fight it or just pay the price and get our compressor. That will be our decision tomorrow morning, so we’ll have to report on what happens in tomorrow night’s log. Let’s just say that this whole Indian shipping process has been one of the most frustrating things we have ever had to deal with in our time sailing around the world.
by Judy Handley | Mar 1, 2010 | India, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 125, Year 5: Chinakkathoor Pooram
Date: Sunday, February 28, 2010
Weather: Inland HOT
Location: Ottappalum, State of Palakkad, India
The Chinakkathor Pooram makes Carnival in Panama City look like a birthday party for a one-year old. Carnival was interesting, but the festival today was totally unbelievable. Just getting from our hotel in Ottappalum to the Sree Chinakkathoor Bhagavathy Temple in Palappuram just five kilometers away was quite an adventure in itself. Once we got to the temple festival grounds, the mass of humanity was overwhelming. And we could see nothing but people jammed in the highway for as far as you could see in either direction. The kuthiras or huge, stuffed horses on a platform carried by at least 40 men, the caparisoned or decorated elephants, the live music from scores of small bands continuously beating out a rhythm for five hours, the dancers in ornately decorated masks, things that looked like whirling Christmas trees, each ‘tree’ carried on a person’s shoulders. It just went on and on. I’m not sure there is any way to describe it to really share what it is like. I think getting the photos posted will help tell the story, but you have to hear the people and the constant beat of the drums to get the full effect. We’ll get video up as soon as we can, but in the meantime, you can search for this festival and see video of past years on the web at http://www.keralatourism.org/video-clips/chinakkathoor-pooram-707624724.php. It was definitely a once in a life time experience that we will never forget. There was one big disappointment in that the parade of the decorated elephants was so late in the evening that we couldn’t stay to see it. We did get to see the elephants, but not in all their glory. But the decision was to either stay and watch the elephants and walk through thousands of people in the dark or leave before sunset and miss the elephant parade. Walking through the crowds after dark just didn’t seem like a good idea, especially since we were the only white people among the thousands, so we left early. There were also a few apprehensive moments during the day and evening, but there were so many wonderful people who made sure we were safe that all was well. So that’s the short story. I’ll now continue with the detailed version of the day.
Our day began with a ride to shore with our agent, Nazar. We then hopped in an auto rickshaw and headed to the Ernakulum Junction train station. Our train arrived about a half an hour late, but before 10 am we were headed north. I was really sorry that I hadn’t brought my laptop as there were actually laptop plug-ins on the train. We were in an air-conditioned car with fairly comfortable seats. Two hours later, we arrived at Shonaur Junction. We exited our AC train car and were greeted by the hottest blast of wind I have ever felt. It was obvious that we were no longer on the coast. The heat of the inland was intense. But on we went. We hopped in an auto rickshaw and made our way to the Hotel Aramana in Ottappalum. I had called to make reservations and talked with someone named Krishna Kumar. When we arrived at the hotel, he came to greet us and knew I was Judy without me saying a word. He had expected us two hours earlier and I had to explain that we changed our plans. I felt bad that I hadn’t called to tell him, but I’m not used to people caring whether or not you arrive. India is different. Once you call someone to make a reservation, they feel they must take care of you. What a nice change from what we are used to in the US. The hotel looked great, but as we walked by the hotel bar, it was sounding a little rowdy and it was only noon. Kumar explained that the festival time is special and people really celebrate. We learned as the day went on that ‘celebrate’ was an understatement. Kumar took us to our rooms, made sure the AC was working and told us to have a little lunch and rest and get to the festival before three o’clock. There was a room at the end of our corridor that said ‘AC Family Restaurant.’ We opened the door and went in to find about four tables and a waiter. Obviously food was being brought in from a main dining room somewhere, but we loved having the convenience of eating in a quiet room just a few doors from our rooms. It was about two o’clock when we finished, so we decided to head to the temple. Kumar found a rickshaw for us and off we went-but not far before we found ourselves behind a huge group of men blocking the road as they were carrying one of the horse motifs to the temple. Immediately our rickshaw driver made a left turn and off we went through the back alleys of somewhere. He would head back toward the main road from time to time, see the traffic blockade due to the parade, and head off in another direction. He tried to cross police barricades, but that didn’t work, and finally he indicated that he had taken us as far as possible. We got out and started walking. Mark and I didn’t have hats with us and the sun was unbearable. Some young guys sitting in the shade saw us and came to us with paper visors. I then got out a silk scarf I was carrying and also threw that over my head. The road was lined with people and still more people were walking toward the temple. There were drumming bands and brass bands in the road along the way. Some were playing, some were not, but just walking among so many people was quite an experience. The people got thicker as we approached the temple, but when we looked behind us, we were glad we had come early. There was just as huge a mass of people behind us and in front of us.
When we got to the temple we found a place to stand in the shade where we could see the kuthiras or stuffed horses. I left Mark and Ed to walk closer to the temple to take some photos. As I walked in that direction, I started feeling a little uncomfortable. Not only was I the only white person in sight, I was the only woman. So I scurried back to where Mark and Ed were standing. They had met a man with two young sons and another man who was trying to explain things to them. About that time, an older gentleman approached us and basically told us to move. At first we thought he was being rude, but then we realized he was trying to get us to go into a covered shelter where the press and policemen were standing. He kept saying something about fighting, so we went and the police let us enter the special area. Because we were obviously foreign tourists we evidently had priority seating (although there were only a couple of plastic chairs). I felt uncomfortable at first, but once the festivities were underway, I understood why we were there. Each of the huge stuffed horses being carried by more than 40 men were in a competition. One kuthira or horse motif would move to the center place and the men holding the platform would work into frenzy and then throw the horse and platform into the air as far as they could. We then realized that this was an athletic competition of sorts and then we also realized that the platform bearers were drinking some alcoholic brown liquid and that tempers easily flared. A fight broke out and I was glad to be in a shelter with the police. They were doing nothing to stop the fight, but at least we felt protected. The throwing of the horse platforms was spectacular, but it was marred by the flaring tempers. Eventually police came out of nowhere and escorted a couple of men from the festival area. By this time we could see the parade of elephants far in the distance and we thought they would arrive soon. But at least an hour went by and there was no movement. Finally, Mark and Ed left me in the protected shelter and they went in search of elephants. I stubbornly stood in my little space in the shelter where I would have a chance for a great photo when and if the elephants arrived. I was pushed and shoved in all directions by other people, but I held my own. Then Mark and Ed returned and said they had been able to get good photos of the elephants and that we should probably leave as it was approaching sundown. I agreed, although sad that I wouldn’t get to see the parade of elephants. But I did go to see them up close. They were magnificent with large, intricately designed gold plates covering from the top of their heads down onto their trunks. The backs of the elephants were covered with brightly colored carpets and each elephant driver carried a decorative parasol.
As dusk approached, fireworks went off, temporary temple structures lit up and more and more people arrived. So we tried to head down the highway. But the road was packed with bands, floats, and more people than I could imagine. A friend that we had met earlier in the day found us and said we should follow him. I have no idea how he found us among the thousands, but he did and he walked with us for at least a kilometer or two to get us out of the packed crowds. At one point, we head someone say that there was a fight ahead and we realized just how precarious our safety could be. In such crowds, you could easily be crushed or trampled by people innocently running from a fight. We were shoulder to shoulder with no place to run, but we just kept following our friend who eventually helped us find a rickshaw back to the hotel. Whew! It was a long, hot afternoon with some spectacular memories. But we were hot, tired, incredibly dirty from the constant dust kicked up by human movement, and really glad to get back to Hotel Aramana. Krishna Kumar met us again and made sure we were all set for the evening. Needless to say, we slept well.
by Judy Handley | Feb 27, 2010 | India, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 124, Year 5: Time for a Vacation
Date: Saturday, February 27, 2010
Weather: Hot and Hazy-No Sign of Rain Forever
Location: Bolgatty Hotel Anchorage, Cochin (Kochi), India
Lots of Indians travel their country as tourists. Many come here to Kerala which is known as God’s Own Country. One of the main attractions is the backwaters, and all of the tourist boats come right through our anchorage. The tourist boats come very close and we hear the guide blaring on the loudspeaker about visitors from America. Then everyone on the boat looks at us as we are washing clothes, hanging our underwear on the life lines, cleaning stainless, or whatever we are doing. And I realize that we are the attraction, not the tourist. I’m sure the ladies doing laundry in the backwaters by slapping clothes on rocks feel just like I do when the tourists take photos of me doing my laundry. Interesting!
After our trip to the mountains a couple of weeks ago, I emailed my daughter-in-law Jo who is from the UK asking her how so many young people from there can afford to travel in India. She sent back an explanation and a link to a website that totally astounded me. The website was a Wikipedia site comparing the vacation time required by law organized by country. I quickly scanned down the list and saw that many countries require twenty-some days, some more, some less, but when I got the United States there was nothing but a footnote. Here’s what the footnote says: “US law does not require employers to grant any vacation or holidays and about 25% of all employees receive no vacation time or holidays. (There was reference here to the No-Vacation Nation.) For employees that do receive vacation, 10 working days with 8 national holidays is fairly standard. Members of the US Armed Services earn a total of 30 vacation days a year, not including national holidays.” So the US with 10 days and Canada and Mexico with one to two weeks, makes North American look just like Asia. China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Viet Nam all listed 7 to 10. And India listed 10 days. All European countries all seemed to list four to five weeks. So, not only are Americans far away from European or Asian vacation spots, they wouldn’t have time to go there even if they had the money. Americans work hard, and it is really difficult to find that balance between work and life when the time is just not provided. It is a beautiful world out here and I hope my children will get to see more of it while they are young than Mark and I did. When I left on this circumnavigation, I had only been out of the US two times to visit in Canada. Mark had been to Canada once and Mexico once and had worked in Samoa for two years. But that was it. And speaking of circumnavigations-our friends Jean and Ken on Renaissance 2000 are back in the Caribbean completing their circuit. They were in South Africa the last time we heard from them in late December, but they went speedily north to Martinique. Congratulations to Jean and Ken on their dream fulfilled!
Update on shipments: DHL still says our compressor is enroute from Chennai, the toilet repair kit from West Marine left Paris last night, but no further word on that, and we received a package from our daughter Heather today with important tax info, basil and arugula seeds, and clock replacement parts for our ship’s clock. We’ll have to wait until we return from out little foray north on Monday to check with DHL and FedEx again. But things are looking up.
This morning I read in the Lonely Planet that indeed you can book train tickets ahead of time. I had understood from the Tourist Office here that you cannot, but when I went online I found that India has a most sophisticated reservation system ever. I spent an hour getting us into the system only to find that I could not use a Visa bank card to make the reservations. It had to ba a local bank card. But I could see the train schedules in detail which was wonderful. Wish I’d read the back section of the Lonely Planet before today. So Mark and I went to town to see if we could make reservations at the station. I had been there once before and found it overwhelming–so many people, so many posted schedules, and long lines to stand in to get information. But we kept standing in line and asking questions. At the ticket counter we were told we could not buy tickets until in the morning. But I went to the Tourist Information counter and found out there was a reservation office somewhere outside the station. We kept asking people and finally found the place. The reservation office was very organized and efficient. What we found out was that we could not make a reservation on the 7:30 am train we had planned to take north because it was just a ‘regular’ train (fight for your seat), but we could make a reservation on a 9:20 am train for ACC-air-conditioned chair. Sounded good to us, so we did that. We will get to the festival just after noon, but that will give us a whole afternoon and evening of festivities. We will return on Monday and arrive in Ernakulum at 1:30 in the afternoon. Just going to the train station and figuring things out was an interesting experience. And I’m sure the train ride will be interesting as well. We’re looking forward to the ride and to the festival. I’m not sure we will have internet where we are going, so it will probably be Monday night before we log in again.
After leaving the train station, we walked down Durbur Street toward the waterfront. There was one fabric shop after another, and I just had to duck in and look at the beautiful cotton and silk fabrics. Saris are sold as a long piece of material with a separate piece sold to be made into the blouse and another piece as the scarf. Other combinations are sold to make pants with a long tunic top and a scarf. I love the embroidered materials and if I had the money, I would buy every combination that I love just to look at them. We ended up buying a few pieces. With each purchase, Mark would ask what I was going to do with the fabric. I respond by saying that this one looks like so and so and this one looks perfect for another so and so. By the end of the afternoon, he was asking, “Whose sari now?” If you are old enough, you’ll get the connection.
