Dining companions

So, right after I swore up and down I'd been good about not touching the animals here, I fell.

When I left you last, I was on my way to the wharf to eat dinner (so here comes a food entry, OK?). In Fort Cochin, the fishermen pull up their boats (or, in some cases, fixed nets right in the harbour), and unload their catch directly into the fishmongers' stands lining the waterfront. You stroll, you look, you buy, and your fish (sometimes fresh enough to still be flopping) is immediately carried by a runner to one of the open-air restaurants a few feet away. You sit down, they grill your food, and about 15 minutes later you're eating it.



Now, as I mentioned before, Cochin has a number of cats who prowl about the waterfront, on the lookout for tasty tidbits. And, in the evenings, even the dogs wake up and start to look interested. I know it's bad form to encourage dogs to beg by feeding them from the table, but the cats just weren't interested in my shrimp heads: too big, perhaps? (I got tiger prawns, which looked to weigh about 4-5 oz. each). So I made friends with a cute little orange and white dog, who ate the heads oh-so-delicately, holding them down with one paw while he dug the meat out of the shell. He so very clearly wasn't rabid or scabby, I figured he was also petable. He seemed to agree. Then a friend of his, whom I was told was named Chenamyn (or perhaps "Chinaman?" It did occur to me), came over to play and get some attention. I took pictures, of course, and will post them when I get the all-important interface...




Oh yeah: the prawns were delicious. Tonight, Goan food -- which will be a mixture of Indian and Portuguese, basically, with lots of spice. I need it: food in India hasn't been spicy at all yet.