Beautiful Rocky Cliff Overlooking Arabian Sea

May 14-19, 2008

Varkala, India  

(Amber)

From Alleppey, we planned to head to Varkala, which is a town along the far southwestern coast of the subcontinent that's still in the state of Kerala.

The guy at our guesthouse told us the train times, and we decided to try to make the 7am train. We were up at 5:30am, in a rickshaw by 6:00am, and waiting on the platform by 6:20am or so. The station was relatively sedate and pretty easy to navigate. I wish I could say the same for the train.

The train, which we expected would take 2-3 hours, was packed like sardines. It was stuffed. Matt muscled through and put our bags on the luggage rack, stepping on and over people to make it happen, and we stood crammed in with hundreds of others in the aisle. I finally kind of squatted in the aisle but had to stand up every few minutes to let new people on or by and to let the coffee man (who has a really miserable job on this route) through.

After about an hour, a seat opened up, and I somehow slipped into it. Matt stood for the entire time watching a local movie in Malayalam, the state language of Kerala. He said it was just awful but that it probably would have been much worse if he had been able to understand what the actors were saying.

Luckily, it was a short ride, so after only a few hours, we arrived. Since it wasn't the final stop, we had to again muscle our way off the train. It was all so packed (especially with our backpacks in tow) that we sat on the platform in Varkala and regrouped before heading out to find a taxi.

We hopped in a taxi, who of course tried to tell us our hotel was closed for the monsoon. Nine times out of ten on this trip, taxis get you in and try to take you to a hotel where they make a commission instead of where you want to go. We told him he was full of it and to take us where we agreed. We arrived, and of course it was open.

We ended up at one across the street, because it's closer to the ocean. It's called Wood House and is great. We were even able to arrange to have our laundry done. Before India, we did laundry about every week. Here we've done it twice in 5 weeks, so it was way more than time. We were very smelly.

Varkala is gorgeous. I love it. It's one of the prettiest and most unique and dramatic coastlines I've ever seen. It's primarily sheer rocky cliffs with bright red dirt faces and black moss-covered rocks at the bottom. There are little sandy beaches tucked throughout. Coconut palms line the entire coastline, and dozens and dozens of eagles (the same type pictured with us on the backwaters) soar over the sea plucking fish straight out of the water. Iguanas lounge on the palm trees, and brown mongooses play in the rocks around the cliffs. It's amazingly beautiful.

We have a great room overlooking the ocean and have spent a really really nice 5 days here just relaxing, listening to the ocean, and breathing fresh sea air that's totally untainted by exhaust pipes. In the evenings, we walk along a path up the coast for several kilometers to a small fishing village and gorgeous stretch of sand where almost no tourists go. Along the way, we pass fisherman, friendly children (see photo of a few hams bathing their cows), Muslims going to pray at one of the several beautiful Mosques that dot the coastline, goats, boats, and women bathing children, doing laundry, and drawing water from the community pump. Very few tourists do this walk because everyone is excited to see us.

We are continually greeted by that gleaming Indian smile and head wobble we have come to know and love. Where we are staying is in at the far northern end of the stretch of guesthouses and restaurants geared toward tourists. Our area at the northern end, by Black Beach, is extremely quiet and peaceful, but it's definitely a tourist scene. Walk an hour up the coast, and you're in the heart of coastal India, where fishermen rule. It's perfect.

Everyone along our walk waves and smiles, and some even ask us to photograph them. The only creepy thing that's happened is that several young men emerge from the palms each day and offer us drugs. Mainly marijuana....but one offered Matt some unknown brown stuff yesterday. Funny though....when we say "no thanks," they apologize profusely. We've been offered drugs all over the world (this is an unfortunate market that forms all over the world because tourists partake, and there's money in it...it's terrible for local culture across-the-board...not to mention an incredibly silly and dangerous thing to do in a foreign country....Lisbon, Portugal of all places is one of the worst for men following you around whispering the word hashish over and over again at your back), but this is the first place that the dealers immediately become contrite.

At the end of our long walks, we swim in the ocean. The tides here are insane and could definitely be dangerous. In fact, our book says that many swimmers get swept away here each year. It's not because of large waves. It's because of crazy tides and come in and out at sporadic and odd angles. But it's really fun to play in. Best to do it in pairs I think. Matt, who has just gotten over itchy-rash 2008, had the nerve to say to me after a swim...."If something bit me, I hope it bit you too, so I'm not alone this time." That struck me as a really odd thing to say to someone.

The food here has been hit or miss. Breakfast has been wonderful, though pricey for India ($9). Corn Flakes, fresh juice, fruit, eggs, toast, and coffee on a grassy lawn overlooking the ocean and lots of eagles getting their breakfast. Lunch and dinner have been generally awful. Matt branched out and decided to try some fish. It was fresh, but it wasn't prepared well, so he was really disappointed. I've eaten noodles and veggies....and not a whole lot else.

I love Varkala. It has been a total pleasure. Now off to Pondicherry. Matt booked us a flight to Chennai (where we'll hop on a bus to Pondicherry) that was very cheap compared to others. Turns out, it's at 3:30am, so it's going to be another long travel day. We will be deposited in Chennai at 4:40am and make our way to the bus station in the dark morning streets. More from the former French colonial city of Pondicherry.

(Matt)

Varkala was very peaceful, which is a luxury here. I really loved to walk the mile or so up the cliffs to the fishing village where the cliffs end. It really has the best stretch of beach in the area, and very few foreigners go there, preferring instead to stay at the main beach. I love fishing villages generally, and we got some really cool pictures while making this walk every day.

Anecdote: One evening, some young guys intercepted us by our hotel and asked us to come to a party at one of the bars along the cliffs. We were noncommittal and told them that we would see what happened later on, fully intending not to go. As they were walking off, I said "Y'all have fun!" One guy looked at the other one, slapped him on the back, and started laughing and pointing at him, "AHHH!!! He called you elephant!!! Yea, you are my pet elephant!" The friend was immediately crushed that a foreigner had levied such a crippling insult at him, that he would be someone's elephant. After we figured out that "Y'all have fun" did sound a little bit like "elephant," if you say it with an Indian accent, Amber and I both tried to interrupt and explain, but neither understood. The elephant boy walk far ahead of us and his friend, who kept yelling, "Hey little elephant, slow down!!" I thought that was funny enough to repeat. He was crushed and probably has a new nickname.

Journey to Chennai

So I accidentally booked us a flight at 3:30am in a city an hour away from the beach. Oops. It wasn't that bad really, but it was a rude awakening from the cliffs of Varkala. We traveled from midnight until noon the next day.

We got a cab that took us straight from the beach to the airport in the capital city of Kerala state, Trivandrum. We got to the first security check at the entrance of the airport. There were 2 X-ray machines, a right side and a left side. Only the right side said Indian Airways, our airline, so we chose the right side. Upon waiting in the line to check-in for 20 minutes, we were sent back to go through the left side.

We boarded without incident. Then the plane took off, and the most frightening wheezing sound started coming from the emergency exit door next to Amber. She looked at me in a really scared way and asked if I thought that the door would fly open and suck her out. I assured her that I thought it was fine, but secretly I was worried too because there was nothing fine about the sound emanating from the door next to her. I become very spiritual when we fly on Indian airplanes, taking to frequent prayers during these flights, because they make some really dreadful sounds. We are always thankful to make it to our destination, and this was certainly no exception.

After arriving at the airport, we disembarked the plane and, at the end of the jet bridge, had our boarding passes checked, which was strange. Then, before leaving the secured area, were immediately sent through a security screening. We had to send our carry-on baggage, fresh off the plane, through an X-ray machine. Even at 4:30am, this was clearly bizarre. I guess if we had weapons that passed the security screening at the previous airport but were not used on the plane, then they wanted to catch them here to prevent us from hijacking a rickshaw after we exited the airport.

Upon arriving in Chennai, we opted for a pre-paid government taxi that took us to a street where buses passed heading to Pondicherry, about four hours away. Luckily the cab driver was nice, and helped us flag one down because none of the bus signs were in English, and my ability to read Sanskrit is not so good.

After a few false starts, we jumped onto a bus that had slowed down enough for us to dive on. We got into an altercation with the big-city bus attendant who didn't like the size or location of our backpacks, and after some yelling, we settled in for the ride to Pondicherry. After arriving, we easily grabbed a "cargo" rickshaw to Hotel Surguru, which has a good restaurant in the basement and was fine until I pulled a thief out from under the bed, and the manager went to his defense....

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