From 7.45 to 13.30 I sat on the bus from Mysore to Calicut feeling happier with every passing mile until it got to midday and we were still coming down round hairpin bends. A short crackling call from Djalma from Mumbai assured me that they were running late too and so I arrived well before them and spent a good ninety minutes trudging round the street with my backpack looking for a hotel with vacancies, fun. I found a relatively well priced option while sitting at the train station waiting for their bus to arrive, after another ninety minutes of sitting and waiting anxiously scanning the interior of every bus I went down to the hotel to check in and drop off my bag. On the way back I got a call from Djalma and Danila who had arrived at the station and were waiting for me – excellent timing Sarah!
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| From Varkala, Kerala, India |
We ran into each other arms Sound of Music style except hotter, sweatier and dirtier than Julie Andrews could ever be and went back to the hotel to sort out the rooms. We went straight down to the city beach to find a decent restaurant and chill out on the beach. It was beautiful and deserted where we got onto the beach but walking up to the busy section we passed more than a few fresh intestines washed up on the shore – they were huge and looked like enormous jellyfish until you identified the large and small intestines, mmm. Dinner was nondescript and we headed back to the hotel after deciding to head further South the next day.
We spent a good eight hours the next day on the train heading south to Aleppey, we decided to stay on the train until Varkala part of which is on the cliffs overlooking the Arabian Sea, the town is about 5km further inland. We got a tuk-tuk to the coast and sweated our way round the dirt paths winding between the masses of coconut palms trying to find an affordable hotel with spare rooms. After a recommendation from an American who'd been chilling out in Varkala since October 2010 we ended up in Hiwa Residency Hotel a five minute walk from the cliffs. We got 750Rs rooms for 400Rs, unloaded our bags marvelling at the big clean rooms which were easily the nicest we'd stayed in while in India and headed out for some much needed dinner.
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| From Varkala, Kerala, India |
Lining the cliff edge were a mass of small shops and two tiered fish restaurant most of which with a distinctly Tibetan feel, we stopped in Little Tibet and tucked into some decent grub Danila ordering the first of his many fruit juices.
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| From Varkala, Kerala, India |
After a spot of yoga in our room, a dip in the sea and breakfast, we spent the next day chilling out outside our hotel rooms. In the afternoon we wandered down to the beach, wandered down as in climbed down. The cliffs were stunningly beautiful coloured a deep sun baked orange red topped with palms trees moving in the sea breeze. The beach was full of families, couples and groups of friends but not packed. We walked up and down by the waters edge enjoying the view and the relaxed beachy atmosphere, it truly felt like the beginning of our first real holiday since starting our trip on the 2nd of June 2010.
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| From Varkala, Kerala, India |
We resolved to have some fresh fish and prawns that night and we stopped by a different restaurant, Blue Moon Café and ordered a big red Snapper and a plate of the biggest Jumbo prawns I had ever seen with garlic, butter and lemon sauce with chips, rice and salad. It took a good hour to find it's way to our table, but when it arrived it was easily worth the wait, we tucked in and demolished the succulent seafood like ravenous food-crazed maniacs congratulating ourselves on such an excellent choice. We waddled our stuffed bodies back to the hotel to lay down and sleep, preparing ourselves for the orgy of food to follow the next day.
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| From Varkala, Kerala, India |
After an invigorating dip in the sea trying to catch crocodiles and an unsuccessful and sandy attempt at yoga on the beach we had fruit smoothies, omelettes and pancakes for breakfast with lots of garlic toast (my new favourite breakfast item) we did some more chilling out. We tried to find the fish market (and failed) before heading back for lunch which was a biggie – like all our meals were. After allowing for some digestion time we headed again out late in the afternoon to walk further down the coast to try and find a beach to ourselves.
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| From Varkala, Kerala, India |
The afternoon was warm and beautiful (like all afternoons) and we followed the coast leaving the cliffs behind and drifted over black sandy beaches, golden beaches and mixes of the two. We walked through and past groves of coconut palms all rustling in the breeze providing a beautiful tropical backdrop to the warm blue green sea.
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| From Varkala, Kerala, India |
We eventually found a near deserted beach, a quiet old man and hawks hardly count, so we dumped our stuff in the rocks and headed into the surf.
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| From Varkala, Kerala, India |
I tried to catch some crocodiles with the boys but I'm really not that good at catching waves and ended up on the bottom my face inches from the crunchy coarse sand being mercilessly hauled along by the powerful drag.
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| From Varkala, Kerala, India |
I got out after that, I wasn't quite ready for such a thorough facial ex foliation and left the sand burns , wrenched shoulders and grazed knees to those hardier than I. I sat taking pictures of them riding the waves in, missing plenty of wonderful photo opportunities (so I was told) when I got distracted by fishermen,
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| From Varkala, Kerala, India |
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| From Varkala, Kerala, India |
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| From Varkala, Kerala, India |
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| From Varkala, Kerala, India |
We stopped at another restaurant to have dinner, we selected another bigger snapper and a few King Prawns to have with garlic butter sauce and chips and salad. After another looooong wait – all the restaurants were similar in terms of wait time, slow service and great food we tucked into another incredible dinner eating far too much and having to waddle our increasing bulks back to the hotel to flop out on the bed.
The next day was Danila's last full day so we decided to hire a taxi for the afternoon and go to a different beach 66km further south in the city of Kovalam.
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| From Varkala, Kerala, India |
We went to the Lighthouse Beach first, so named because of the Lighthouse jutting out at the end of the beach, the atmosphere was a lot different there to our beach in Varkala which was heavily populated by backpackers rather than package holidaymakers. The beach front was heavily developed with lots of colourful hotels and small shops selling the same Indian clothes (that only foreigners wear) as in all traveller orientated areas. The water was clear and the sand was clean so we rented out a couple of deck chairs, an umbrella and a couple of body boards for a couple of hours.
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| From Varkala, Kerala, India |
I sat and kept an eye on our belongings while Danila and Djalma enjoyed the sea, having first taken a dip so I could sit in wet clothes – much cooler than dry. I sat and watched the masses mill by old leathery skins hanging off bodies which had seen firmer days and the odd lithe tanned (but not tanned enough) woman sunning herself underneath the admiring gazes and dripping salivating mouths of lustful local men. Cliffs aside the main difference between that beach and the one in Varkala was that the lifeguards kept the Indians and the tourists separate, any time an Indian wandered too close, whether in the sea or on the sand, to the “white” area they blew their whistles and motioned them over to the black side – and there I was naively thinking that open segregation had ended. I didn't actively notice this until Djalma commented on it when we walked to the end of the beach to get the next one and noticed distinctly more brown skin than white. The nasty taste in my mouth aside it was nice to see another beach – it made me appreciate the one we were close to more. We got back in the taxi for the hour and a half ride back to Varkala.
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| From Varkala, Kerala, India |
Danila went down to the beach while Djalma and I headed out to find the elephants which were supposed to be in the big parade finishing after three solid days of music and singing at the local temple near our hotel. It wasn't difficult to track down the music and the people, both were quite loud.
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| From Varkala, Kerala, India |
We watched inside the temple as a big float was hefted on the shoulders of men around the temple followed by rapidly congregating parts of the “circus”, there were men painted as gods and goddesses in Hindu mythology who stood around and posed for photographs before dancing into the temple area and around the temple several times followed by; running/dancing men hauling big colourful one man floats atop their heads, a white and orange clad marching drum band, red, painted whirling thingamajigs, groups of dancing men, a straw sheep and finally two big chained elephants (no metal hooks in sight). We waited until it was clear they were only going to circle the temple repeatedly and went on our way to find Danila (and try a couple of the fried festival snacks on the way).
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| From Varkala, Kerala, India |
We eventually found each other and went to a restaurant further away from the hustle and bustle looking out over the water which was twinkling with the bobbing lights of the night fishing boats on the horizon. We ordered and ate the best food I have ever tasted, Danila got a big fresh bright red Grouper with a side order of garlic butter grilled King Prawns, Djalma a mountain of delicately spiced fish biryani and I got my mouth around a truly delectable fish Malaberi with garlic naan bread. We were in heaven, the food was the best we'd eaten since arriving and it had all been good, we sat and enjoyed the evening breeze on the open second floor while I repeatedly exclaimed how good the food was, enjoying our last evening meal together. We walked back along the front stopping occasionally to admire the view and have a look in the little shops. After a little rush to get back before an unfortunate incident of public defecation we found ourselves back at the hotel and relaxing with our engorged stomachs unashamedly sticking out like only food babies can.
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| From Varkala, Kerala, India |
The next morning we went down to the beach for Danila's last look at the sea before heading back for a breakfast feast of fresh fruit salad and juices with banana pakora with Nutella and ice-cream. We waved Danila off from the hotel and then kicked back until our lift came to take us to a photo shoot at a 4* hotel about 10km away. The manager was friends with the boys running the hotel and the boys asked us if we would like to be put up and fed for free while they took pictures for an upcoming brochure, ummm... yes please!
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| From 4* in Paravur, Kerala, India |
So that afternoon we had lunch at the hotel – a fancy thali with fresh juice, had our pictures taken in the games room playing chess and in the honeymoon cottage on the lake front. It felt a bit weird surrounded by several men shouting orders at each other and then insisting on a romantic atmosphere while we bobbed amongst the candles and the rose petals in the little pool kissing each other. We finished up for the munching on some unappetising white vegetable sandwiches and drinking water before heading back to the restaurant for some more fancy thali which wasn't quite as good or as hot as lunch. We decided to stay the night because they wanted to take some more pictures the following morning.
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| From 4* in Paravur, Kerala, India |
Our wake-up call was at 6am to be ready for 6.30am sharp, so we started at 7... ish. We lounged around draped uncomfortably over the prow of the hotels tour boat before heading back to the honeymoon bungalow to be photographed standing outside in the morning sun drinking coffee and bouncing around on the flower strewn bed. Two and a half hours later we were allowed to finish and get some much needed but uninspiring breakfast.
We enjoyed the use of their computer and free wifi before being dropped off back at our hotel in a taxi at around midday. We spent the rest of the day relaxing but feeling a bit grim – there's nothing like a loose bowel movement to darken your day.
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| From Varkala, Kerala, India |
The next few days we spent in various states of relaxation – relaxing by the beach late afternoon/evening, chilling and relaxing in the sea facing restaurants, reclining in bed and watching films, snoozing and going for little walks. We did walk for about an hour up the coast further than the beach we found with Danila and we had a quick dip in the sea. The beach was a long stretch of black and golden sand with lots of colourful fishing boats drawn up to rest while the fishermen sat and mended nets.
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| From Varkala, Kerala, India |
We got to a quiet point and left our things by some rocks and jumped in the warm sea to catch some crocodiles, I managed to wrench my neck trying and failing to duck under a big wave in time so I sat out after five minutes in the water. We walked back along the sea soon after sunset for cocktails (a strawberry margarita and mango daiquiri) and a light fish dinner of ginger and lemon grilled red snapper, chips and salad which we beefed up with extra salad and lots of cheese and garlic bread. Groan.
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| From Varkala, Kerala, India |
After another day of pure relaxing, man I love beach holidays, we decided to plan the next part of our travels and move on the following morning.
After a breakfast of puttu (the Keralan special breakfast of wheat, fresh coconut, mashed banana, honey and milk) and omelette with garlic toast we packed up our things, checked out of our lovely hotel room and got several buses down to the Southern most point of India – Cape Comorin!
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