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As Close to Heaven as it Gets

INDIA | Saturday, 24 March 2007 | Views [822]

Under the road sign for the beach town of Muzhappilangad, “As Close to Heaven as it Gets” is written in black writing on a silver sign. They are absolutely right. We go no further than 5 kilometers from our hotel and hit a little fishing beach. We pull right up to the beach, and grab our camera and head for the ocean. Immediately fisherman and auto-rickshaw drivers, curious to meet the strange westerners invading their beach, approach us… “Hello, Sir, Madam…. Where are you from? Which country? What is your good name?” Everyone greets us with big smiles, and the few lines of English that they know. Beautiful little girls run up with open arms and ear-to-ear grins, to check us out, and practice their English. Two guys on a motor scooter drive down the beach to have their picture taken with us on their cell phone camera. A fisherman carrying a bag of muscles comes up to talk to us about his free-diving lifestyle of catching muscles and to show us the scars on his legs and arms from making his living. Kerala is a really special place. It’s predominately Muslim, and there’s also an influence of Christianity and Hinduism. There’s a ton of money in Kerala. The homes are architected with posh British style & influence. The state government was communist for years, and is now democratic. Apparently there’s a lot of influx of cash here from overseas Indians working in the Middle East. We enjoy the beach and then stop into a little local hole in the wall restaurant for lunch, which was so yummy- fluffy parota with vegetable and fish molee with mouthfuls of flavors including coconut, cinnamon, cardamom and star aniase. This is paradise!

Tags: The Great Outdoors