I've been caught in this position before , but there is nothing quite like waking up to a blaring phone alarm in a hotel room at 8 in the morning but being unable to turn it off due to the fact that my arms are asleep from the shoulders up and the only portion of my upper torso able to move is my head.
Unfortunately, heads cannot grab phones and turn off alarms so it went on for like 2 minutes.
There is also nothing worse than being held hostage in your own body like a turtle, with only your head poking out and only your back legs work.
Riane wanted to know why the alarm went on for so long - now she knows.
My arms were asleep and super heavy and above my head on the pillow and I was on my stomach and I couldn't make them grab the phone. Instead, I was just chasing the phone around the bedside table with completely numb arms and hands that couldn't make out what they were feeling waiting for them to come back to life and stop weighing me down.
That was how our days in Varkala started.
Actually, our time in Varkala started the night before by taking advantage of the 5pm to 10pm happy hour(s??) and ordering Jamaica Mama's and Hawaiian Honey's in hammock chairs on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea to reward ourselves for riding 3 buses in one day for 7 hours to the other side of the state. From the mountains to the sea.
Varkala is a beautiful spot. But Varkala has made a spot for itself in Lonely Planet and all of Europe recognizes its presence and it feels very, very, very unauthentic.
There were no Indians here, relaxing on the beach on vacay. We can't even wear tank tops, much less should we wear shorts or bathing suits. We could here, because it is basically a European beach. but still, when one dumb European lady, who apparently did not read her Indian etiquette book, took off her bathing suit top... I felt bad that I was being so... not Indian and respecting and understanding culture and sitting on this beach in a little blue bathing suit.
I mean, we had a lady sing to us on the beach and slice us a pineapple and we stayed in a bamboo hut for $16 dollars a night.
But we also got vanilla lattes and chicken sandwiches and Bob Marley and made a nice dent in our shopping lists.
Actually, this is the off season, so no tourists means we could name all of our own prices, because the vendors will take anything you give them as long as they make some money that day. So we did. And we walked around proud owners of lots of fun things.
I mean, where else can you limit yourself to $20 and walk away with 2 shirts, a dress, a bathing suit, an incense holder, hanging birds, a pair of pants and a scarf?
I got up the first morning and as soon as my arms reattached themselves to my body, I went for walk.
Maybe this was a mistake, because it was like 8 am and already absolutely sweltering and I was melting in my own skin but I got some pictures before the space was invaded by Europeans.
Interestingly enough, I was asked, (est.) 3 times if I was Russian. Apparently I dress like a Russian woman? Compliment?
No, our dress was decidedly hippish, maybe due to the environment... I mean, we bought scarves specifically to wrap around our heads...
So yea, we spent a day and a half here, eating familiar if completely bland food, drinking smoothies, shopping, playing in the ocean and only eating at restaurants where we could sit directly under a fan. Every place had a great view - mutiple stories with great big comfy chairs.
That is what we did most of the time - drink smoothies under fans at tables overlooking the water. We spent an hour and a half on the beach and about died, plus Riane almost killed a crab that was hiding under her shoe. When the day results in death, we find other things to do.
Poor Mr. Crab!
Hiii from Varkala!
beach huts
So then, after one more yummy smoothie, we headed out of Varkala on a train to the tip of India, Kanyakumari.
We rode the train and I kept saying "lookit! lookit!" because out in India on a train as the sun is going down, there is a lot to see.
We were racing the world, racing time to get to Kanyakumari - we wanted to see the sunset.
Then we were there!
We were at the tip of India, where the sun rises in the same place the sun sets, and the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Bay of Bengal all mingle and laugh over rocks.
We were greeted with small alleys and bouncing music and children dancing and clothes hanging on the line but it was dark, so we grabbed dinner and gabbed all night long and watched a movie in the hotel room.
Then we got up at the ungodly hour of 5:30 to watch the sunrise and did some minor tourism action before packing it up and hopping another bus/train combo to Ernakulam.
All in all, Kanyakumari, for being the tip of India, was really disappointing. We felt really uncomfortable - there were a lot of beggars, and lots of people without limbs, which is not unusual in India, but you couldn't get away from it, and the town was very dirty.
BUT the reason we were there was because we wanted to reach the tip of India and say we had been there - and we made it! How cool is that!
Success and Happiness!
And we were there for less than 18 hours, but here is what we saw:
wake up sleepy town
The ocean meets the sea meets the bay meets the Little Mermaid
We had a sing-a-long session ("look at this stuff, isn't it neat? wouldn't you think my collection's complete? I've got gadgets and gizmos a-plenty, I've got whozits and whatzits galore..") at these memorials:
Indians have no concept of personal space, so getting to these places by boat, standing in a line was absolutely ridiculous. Everyone is in such a race to get everywhere, so cutting the queue is just a game played by all. This is Riane getting spooned from behind as this woman, I suppose, tries to nudge Riane and give her the hinthint that she wants through, in front of us. (This woman has no clue we are tots making fun of her. In fact, is she smiling?? maybe it is due to the fact that she has the worlds largest bindi on her head and she is touching an American--> "Barack Obama!"):
I was being a tad more aggressive - the man who was trying to get in front of me had an elbow in his stomach. He did not give up, for some odd reason, and continued to press against me. I suppose he was trying to make me break down... what he didn't know is that my first word was "no" and I was the proud owner of a Shetland pony that I matched wits with a number of times.
I am not weak, India.
happy travelers.
so then, yea. we hopped another bus and another train back to Ernakulam where we would catch a cab to our plane back to Hyderabad. Our trip was coming to an end.
But, only after we had one more delicious pile of Kerala Paratha.
