Downtime in Kerela

After a few months on the road, I needed a little break, so I headed down south for a week of R & R in Kerela. Flew down from Delhi (via Bangalore - nice new airport) and suddenly in the space of a few hours I was at the tip of the subcontinent. I immediately took a tuk-tuk to my little beach paradise, so I can't say I've seen much of Kerela. But from what I have seen, it appears much better off and mellower than up north. I rented a scooter and drove around some nearby neighborhoods and beaches (my first time driving one, which was exciting when I had to go to town to get gas). Many people seem to have decent-sized houses out in the jungle. It's not like people are rich here, but it seems more stable and less desperate here.




The beach town I'm staying at, Varkala, is supposed to be one of the less busy/touristy places but it basically consists of a cliff-top path full of restaurants and tourist shops, with a nice, smallish beach below. So I was pretty much in tourist-land the entire time I was here. It's one of the more expensive places I've stayed as far as food costs, but mostly because you can get fresh seafood here so you end up paying $4 for a meal instead of $1.50. Not that I'm complaining - it was a perfect place to unwind and relax. The Indian Ocean is warm, but super rough, and the riptide is very strong. You have to stay at the south end of the beach and a lifeguard will lay into you if you drift too far north. One of the folks I was hanging out with, Bill, got pounded by a wave and it looked like he'd been in a fight or something. I met some great people (locals and tourists) and ended up hanging out with them most of the time I was here.

The big draw at night here is the "Funky Art Cafe", which is a decent restaurant that has some live entertainment each night. One night there might be good classical Indian musicians, and the next might be 6 year olds dancing to Bollywood music (I wish I had my camera for that!). The power goes out every night at 8:30 for a half hour, which tends to put a damper on the festivities.




North of Varkala are miles of undeveloped beach, lots of canals and saltwater inlets, and tons of fisherman. A couple friends and I walked up towards there and helped the fisherman pull in their nets one day (they invited us to come out fishing at 6am the next morning but we passed). Once you get out of the developed area it's stunning here.


I did a lot of reading here, sitting in cafes sipping mint lemon tea and chatting with the locals. Read "How to See Yourself as You Really Are" by the Dalai Lama, and also "Hot, Flat and Crowded" by Thomas Friedman (the guy who wrote "The World is Flat"). Both were great but I can't recommend the second one enough - it very clearly lays out the enormous challenges we as a world face in the next 40 years (mostly the growth of people around the world that are starting to consume at the rate that Americans do, but also political instability, global warming, and ecological devastation) and how they mostly boil down to the need to move our energy system over to being sustainable and non-fossil fuel-based. It was inspiring to me as I start to think about what I want to do next...

Today I'm off to a 10-day Vipassana Meditation retreat here in Kerela. No talking, no exercise, no reading! Wish me luck!