Kurtis and I took a 15 hour busride from Pondicherry to Trivandrum in a "luxurious" bus...we got the last sleeper! A nice soft bed with windows on the top looking out at the world of India passing by. We got on and got to see the sunset and pass through wild towns and the woke up to a suprise of Mountains and Palm trees...absolutely beautiful.
We treated ourselves to 1.5 hour rickishaw ride to Varkala beach - well deserved and inspired by the lack of english at the bus station - and it sounded great especially because the soft beds don't keep you from rocking back and forth in your little cubby home on top of a bus. And besides...if our friends can spend time in a rickshaw for 2 weeks we can do 1.5 hours! We got dropped off...with no booked room of course, and lugged our packs on the beach to the walk "strip" path. It was a bit of a struggle...and hot...and tripping over a rock and faceplanting into the sand with a HUGE pack on my back didnt make the experience any more pleasent...Kurtis described it that I looked like a turtle and I was grateful to have a pack on the front of me too to break the fall. After I fell a big Indian man in a speado came over to offer his life guard skills and Kurtis proudly explained that he too has skills....and of course I wanted all attention drawn to me to go away. In the middle of getting through the pain and embarassment I looked down and noticed my sparkling ring shining through dirt and sand and sweat and took it as a new moment of beauty and awww and moved on.
After a bit of searching around we found our new home: shiva's moon - which actually is a great little nook of an area off the main "vegas Strip" in the central part of Varkala beach. What is great about the strip is it is on top of cliffs and therefore when you are at the beach and in the ocean the selling world and resteraunt world is seperate! We spent the first day settling into our new cozy mosquito net room and wondering around the strip and shops and beach and getting our toes wet. We celebrated our new laid back - definitly not harrasing India, pure white tourist culture - home for a bit and sat and had a wonderful fresh seafood dinner (We actually go and pick out the fish we want and they prepare it Kerala style) while watching the sunset. It was an absolutely picture perfect spot and evening...being with the love of my life, watching the movie of magic a perfect romance happen around me and as the sun set into the Arabian sea little lights of fishing boats started to pop out and eventually form what looked like a city floating in the water. Later we walked on the moon light beach and watched and listened and felt the white waves crashing.
The next day we woke and ate and headed off on a unplanned walking adventure. We wandered in the back streets of the strip that took us along paths of resorts, coconut tree farms, and banana tree jungles. We ended up back on the same path the shops are on but further north. Everything opened up into simple places, deserted beaches, local boat men and seafood gatheres, black beaches, and absolutely amazing beauty that continued to unfold every step that we took. It was such a peaceful and beautiful day..as is most of Varkala is.
