Varkala

When you live inland, any town that’s on the ocean is exotic; and we chose Varkala as our beach destination of relaxation. We deserved it. Yes, and we knew we deserved it. So we got two cute, little chalets on the top of the cliffs overlooking the sea and basked in Kingfishers (served in mugs because few of the restaurants here have liquor licenses) on the beach. That first night was golden—Jessie, you are so right—and we settled into our friendship and discussed things that were actually important. Evan made railroad tracks in the sand for three hours while we listened to the ocean and the stimulating conversation. It really is just too nice to sit down with people of common thought. I miss this in India. I’m just now feeling this in Rutland.

That three-hour dinner began a series of pleasant evenings that really made me settle into the trip; but that also make my empty apartment even more quiet now.

The next day we walked the beach and decided it was, although scenic, not so friendly to Western beacher styles, so we climbed the hill to a 5 star hotel pool where we could show some skin and not get carried away by the fierce rip tides. The hotel had a kiddie pool for Evan and Eli and an in-pool bar for the rest of us. Another tasty lunch later we were heading for a nap in the chalets before walking the tourist strip up north. Shopping paradise is what we found, particularly because it is the off-season so Patrick was able to negotiate his merry way down to some good deals. He enjoys it perhaps too much, but it’s pretty amusing to watch as he bargains over 25 cents.

We didn’t even reach the end of the strip before we decided to turn back and settle into one of the myriad restaurants that sport warm, red lighting and fresh fish displayed by the sidewalk. This place apparently had a liquor license, because my fancy drink came in a glass rather than a tea cup. Another lazy dinner later we rickshawed to our chalets and slept comfortably in the sea breeze.

But an early morning awaited us as we were to drive up to Alleppey to catch a houseboat into the backwaters of Kerela!