THE SPICE COAST-VARKALA

Writing in retrospect once again.... Can't say what takes up so much of the days in India but the time does go....

Alison & I flew down to the South of India on Oct. 8th, spent a couple of nights in a unmemorable coast town, then followed that up with a week in Varkala. We were looking for someplace laid back and "beachy" and it certainly fit the description. Between all the prep for the trip, moving out of my house and working right up to the very last day, it was our first chance to pause in many weeks.

Varkala is essentially a small "resort" village along the cliffs overlooking the Arabian sea. A bit seedy but friendly and so much more easy going than the cities up north. For those in my generation, think of a spot where Deadheads might go between tours or Amsterdam ala early 80s. Shake, rattle and roll..... While we stayed at a simple hotel, it is still possible to rent a basic room there (some with indoor plumbing even !) for less than $5.00 a day. If a person was looking for a cheap hideout or place to escape to for some time, they could do worse than Varkala.

Unlikely that Varkala will remain the same for much longer. Major hotel complexes are being built further down the beach and once those have arrived, they are likely to push out the small businesses that are there. If for no other reason than they don't have to share the tourists' money with them (or give them an idea of how cheap India can be...).

During our lazy beach week, we did also "manage" to have a couple of day trips. In both cases we arranged with a local tour company to have outings specifically as "non-touristy" as possible. The first one was in a motorized rickshaw (they are everywhere in India !) which took us around a few neighboring villages. We also made a stop at a large lake where a local took us out in his boat to an island with a Hindu temple on it. It happened that the family who "owned" the temple were there that day conducting various ceremonies. The head of the clan apologized to us that the temple had not yet been "prepared" for tourism. Wish I could of made him understand how glad I was for that ! Where India can be so loud and busy, the lake was very quiet and surrounded by a forest of palms. Thought palm trees only came in groves until then...

We also had another day trip to the back waters of Kerala. While it was a less commercial version of a tour (by canoe), I believe I'll let Alison blog on this subject. For me, I think I might have had the same "feeling" if we had been viewing the poor folk that live & work in the Louisiana swamps....

One thing I will never forget about Varkala were the lightning storms each evening. Incredible displays that lit up the entire sky, flashing reflections back off the sea and illuminating the (brave ??) fishermen on their nightly trawls. When the heavy rains followed, the sound through the palm trees was an entire stadium applauding....

Next blog on Kochi....

Brett