We went just for a few days, but it was just enough time to see and experience everything on our list. We visited the St. Francis church, India’s first Christian church and the original burial place of Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gamma.
We wandered the extensive markets of Jew Town and Mattancherry, the original spice markets and trading centers, now converted into rows of shops and stalls selling everything from tapestries, historical artifacts, scarves, hundred-year-old post cards, artwork, jewelry, spices, and books, to touristy trinkets. Coming in off-season, shopkeepers lay idle in front of their shops, calling us eagerly from their storefronts urging us to take a look at their products. It was the perfect place to buy souvenirs and gifts and just marvel at all the beautiful cloths, colors, and artwork.
One evening we wandered over to the waters edge where the sun was just beginning to set behind the ancient Chinese fishing nets. The fishing nets are giant apparatuses fixed in the land and are operated by a team of six or so fisherman. They use a pulley-type system to drop the nets in the water and pull them back out with their catch. The name “Chinese fishing nets” came about because of the unusual nature of this net as it is not seen anywhere else in the country. As the nets rose and fell almost mechanically and the orange bulbous sun lit up the entire sky sending yellow colored rays across the waves, one team of fishermen invited us aboard their rig. They explained the mechanics of the nets to us, showing us their day’s catch, and even letting us try operating them ourselves, letting us pull the ropes rapidly to drop the net into the water and again to pull it back up. They let us walk all the way out to the end of the beam to see the catch and watch them scoop it up and separate the different types of fish. Afterwards, we wandered along the beach watching families splash in the warm waves.
That night it was back on the bus and back to studying for the finals we had managed to ignore until now.