The next 12 days I would be exploring Kerala. Kerala is a state in the South West of India, and is known as the least corrupt, and healthiest state in the country. They are considerably better off than other Indian states with the highest life expectancy (74 years vs. total India at 65), and highest literacy rates (94% vs. total India at 74%).

I landed at the airport at Trivandrum, and took a taxi to where I was staying in the North Beach area of Varkala. The crappy weather must have followed me from Goa, because it was steamy and overcast when I arrived. I checked into my hotel, dropped off my things, and went to explore the area. My hotel room was nice, but over budget. The plan was to splurge the first night, and shop around for a room for the following nights once I got there.

I walked down to the cliff overlooking the beach, and down the main strip that is lined with restaurants, shops, ayurvedic massage, and yoga spots. There are no cars allowed on the path so it is just people, scooters and rickshaws. Everything about this place just felt fresher to me than Goa. The shops were less dingy, the air felt lighter…. it’s hard to put my finger on why. It was clearly geared toward western tourists with everything in English, and the radios playing classic rock and Coldplay. Maybe because there isn’t much in the way of nightlife, it doesn’t have the kind of “sceney” feeling some big beach towns can have. All in all a nice place to sit on the beach, and do nothing for a couple of days!

I spent the afternoon walking around hunting for a room with no luck. I looked at about 10 places, but didn’t love any of the ones in my budget. Eventually I stopped at a store to get water, and happened to overhear a girl with an American accent at the checkout. I started talking to her and we swapped info – where she was from (St. Louis), when she got here (a couple of hours before), how long she was traveling for (over a year). After blocking the entrance to the store for too long while talking, Nicole and I went for a drink, which led to dinner. It felt good to have someone doing a similar trip to relate to – but aside from that she was genuinely cool and interesting. I ended up not finding a room that afternoon, but was relieved to have met another friend after my dry spell!

The next morning I woke up and went for breakfast on the cliff. While I was eating I asked the owner if he could recommend a guest house, and he gave me a couple to check out. Afterwards I went to visit both, and ended up going for the slightly more expensive one with AC. It wasn’t a fancy home base, but it was very clean, and had a little balcony. I may have also been swayed by the welcome gifts on the bed (mints, mosquito cream and scented soap).

There isn’t much to do here but lay on the beach, read, get ayurvedic treatments, and do yoga – so with my room situation settled, that’s basically how I spent the next 4 days. I went for a massage at “Lakshmi’s” based on the recommendation of some lady as she drove off in rickshaw. Lakshmi’s place wasn’t much – a small dark room in a building behind a restaurant. One table, a curtain and a fan. An hour and a half massage for $20. I didn’t have high expectations. To describe it as “life changing” would be a bit dramatic, but it was close! As she worked her way through my muscles I felt like I was melting and purring at the same time. I became a Lakshmi devotee, went back for more in the following days, and recommended her to whoever would listen.

The other thing I wanted to try in Varkala was yoga, so I asked Lakshmi for a recommendation, and she sent me next door to Sunil. I have tried yoga a couple of times before, and have never really gotten into it – but figured I should give it another try while I’m here. I joined that evening’s class on the roof of a building overlooking the ocean. It was just me and one other girl – which was perfect since I’m a total beginner. I followed along clumsily through the positions and breathing. It was peaceful on the roof, with the ocean breeze cooling me down. Sunil finished the class with a final relaxation exercise. He spoke in his melodic accent as we layed there with our eyes closed. “You’re toes are relaxing, you’re toes are completely relaxed”. Then worked his way up the body parts. “You’re ankles are relaxing. You’re ankles are completely relaxed”. This was nice. But then in between he would chant “Ommmmmm”, which made me flash back to the meditation meetings my grandmother would bring me to when I was little. I would sit in a circle with all of the adults, eyes closed “Huuuuu”ing. They believed you could have out of body experiences through meditation. At the age of 7 or 8 this was unbelievably boring, so I would sit in the circle, and peak through slits in my eyelids periodically, while brainstorming on the lies I would tell about the out of body experience I just had. Bringing it back to yoga class – as Sunil “Ommm”ed, I un-relaxed, my brain snapped to attention, and I had an overwhelming urge to peak through my eyelids. I got over it, and by the end I managed to “completely relax” after all. Enough so that I went to another class while I was in Varkala. I don’t think I’m a yoga convert, but I can appreciate it.

The next couple of days I explored the beaches, hung out with Nicole a couple of times, and indulged in my yoga and massage. Everything moved slowly, with almost no schedule. Which is good, because things frequently stop working for a while. Power, wi-fi, water. The best solution seems to be to go away and try again later.

After 5 days in Varkala I was ready to move on, and caught the train to Alleppey.

The main reason to visit Alleppey is to explore the backwaters (a series of canals and lakes that wind through a large stretch of Kerala). There are villages and towns throughout the backwaters, and peoples daily lives revolve around them. Their homes are built on the canals, it’s where they bathe, wash dishes, and fish; they irrigate crops from the waterways, and they often travel from place to place by ferry or canoe. There is a whole industry built around houseboat rentals and tours of the canals. Originally I was hoping to stay in a houseboat for a night, but I ruled it out after reading about how much pollution and damage the industry was causing, and instead booked a homestay in Kuttanad (in the heart of the backwaters).

Getting off the train I met a couple of Western girls – Jenna from Germany, and Natalie from England. They met in an ashram, had spent the last couple of days in Varkala, and were hoping to rent a houseboat for the night out of Alleppey (ideally an eco-friendly one) before going their separate ways. Perfect! I asked if I could join up with them, and cancelled my homestay. A great morning with the train ride, and random meeting that changed my plans all around. My feelings about traveling in India changes by the hour – but I am loving India right now!!

From the train we took a rickshaw to the docks and asked around about houseboats. I watched our bags while the girls checked out our boat options. There wasn’t a “green” houseboat to be found, and the boats were expensive!! Finally they were able to negotiate the cost down on one, but we couldn’t leave until the next day. The rickshaw driver and boat salesmen tried to hustle us into a room, but we ended up going to a place I had gotten as a back up recommendation from my last hotel. Very basic, but for under $5 US each a night it helped offset our houseboat splurge. The whole process of bargaining prices, and avoiding scams is exhausting. (Cranky and annoyed with India right now.)

The next day we left to catch our boat, and stopped on the way for beer. The sale of alcohol in India is strictly controlled, so you can’t buy it in a lot of places. Our rickshaw driver drove up to a building, said “small door”, and pointed to a sketchy looking unmarked open door next to a convenience store. 5 minutes later Jenna walked out with 6 Kingfishers, and we were on our way.

A couple of pics from the drive that brought up things I meant to mention:
– Communist political parties are widely supported throughout Kerala, and they have been electing communist officials government off and on since the 50s. You can see graffiti and communist flags around.

– Kerala has a crazy mix of religions. Hinduism, Christianity, Islam. You’ll walk by a store with Ganesh and Jesus paintings, and then pass a woman wearing a headscarf.

We met our boat hustler at the Finishing Point docks, and boarded our boat. It had mysteriously been switched from the one Natalie was shown the day before, but it was comparable so we let it go. We settled in, pulled out of the docks, and spent the rest of the day eating and lazing through the backwaters. The food was some of the best I’ve had in India – but spicy!! (Loving India again!)

The next morning I was the first up (shocking), and sat for a while on the front of the boat while the other girls slept. The cook was the only other one up, and he quietly straightened up and prepped for our ride back to Alleppey. As I sat there lost in thought, I heard a splash to my left. I looked over. The cook had tossed the bag of garbage we carefully set aside into the river. I heard another splash – an empty water bottle. I felt ashamed knowing that I was contributing to the pollution of the canals. I looked to the right at the houseboat moored next to us as it splurged out dirty water from a pipe. Just a little further to the right – a naked kid swimming, and his mother washing dishes. I’m a guilty, guilty polluter. (India – why can’t you throw the garbage in the garbage can?)

After we got back to the docks, Jenna, Natalie and I took the public ferry for a 2 hour ride to Kottayam. The view of the canals was mostly the same as from the houseboat, but the company and activity on the boat was completely different. Stopping every 15 minutes, people got on and off going from one town to the next, some carrying huge sacks of rice and vegetables, some just sleeping through their commute. Note how subtle we are in trying to get a picture of the back of the boat….

From Kottayam we said our goodbyes, and I took a rickshaw to the bus station. I was headed to Munnar in the mountains…..