Love, music, sunburns, and alot of Kingfisher.....

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Our first destination in the south was Varkala, a very small beach community off the Arabian Sea. We landed in Trivandrum, and met a very nice French couple who we would share a taxi for the 45 minute journey. We arrived at the resort, Bohemian Masala, a pricey place, for Indian standards, but worth every rupee. It is a beautiful "tribal art village" as they call it, 2 minute walking distance to the cliffs and beach. We had the pleasure of staying in an all-natural clay hut, our walls made of clay, ceilings of palm leaves, and our floors of fresh cow dung. So comfortable that we slept till noon the next day and woke feeling refreshed.

When we awoke, it was Valentines day, a perfect day to lounge on the beach, shop (more Sarah than Joe of course!), take in a beautiful sunset while eating dinner of veg. masala upon the cliff overlooking the sea. Every night at around 7:30pm the power turns off for approximately 30 minutes, to conserve energy. We took this time to stroll in the darkness along the cliff to find a place to have a few drinks. We walked nearly to the end of the strip when the lights came back on and we found ourselves standing in front of a cute little open-aired bar with hanging lights and a canopy of leaves. We thought it was fate and had a seat.

After our first Kingfisher, the only beer sold and also served in coffee mugs, an Indian band playing the violin, tabla (Indian drums) and a pot (we don't know the name) began to play and music was amazing. We became so mesmorized that we ended up drinking ourselves silly. The owner of the bar, and a very funny man, came out and started dancing with a plate on his head, some others joined in. The band continued to play for a good hour, we stayed till the very last beat of the drum and walked back to our room, a little tipsy, and smiling all the way. A Valentines we will always remember.

We spent the rest of our time in Varkala venturing off into the local town, taking photographs, and getting very sunburned

We will now head to the ashram and then we are off to Allepey for some houseboat action

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Photos

Varkala
Happy Valentines Day

Varkala
Bohemian Masala

Comments

[Kris]

Stay at Bamboostix
Hi Guys Looks like you are having a whale of a time! Try Bamboostix island resort on www.istay.in...you will be amazed at the location, pricing and solitude Have fun!

[Adam]

WOW
That sure is a V-Day to remember I like this blog because of the bar keep with the plate on his head!!! Keep Posting McGreal's!