Log From the Arabian Sea

---

“India, I have swum in your warm waters and run laughing in your high mountain meadows. Oh, why must everything I say end up sounding like a 'filmi gana', a goddamn cheap Bollywood song? Very well then: I have walked your filthy streets, India, I have ached in my bones from the illnesses engendered by your germs. I have eaten your independent salt and drunk your nauseatingly sugary roadside tea” -Salman Rushdie's 'Ground beneath her feet'

The road to Varkala ends at the top of the cliff, then all along the cliff top is stores and restaurants, internet cafes and aryuvedic massage centers, everything a traveler needs. There are 3 or 4 sets of stairs cemented into the landscape , often after the descent ending in natural rock. The sand is shades of beige and black and the water is as warm as a bath. The view from the bottom is spectacular , a cliff that ends at the beach. Though there has been a dispute among our group whether the magnificent birds of prey spreading their wings over the palm trees are sea hawks or eagles, we all agree the white brown and black birds are great photo ops. We have spent 3 nights here and it feels like we saw every store and ate or drank in all the restaurants. We walked the beach, swam in the Arabian Sea and enjoyed the backpacker vibe of this town. For our last night here our group met at Blueberries Café, took a table on the top and had happy hour during the sunset. After an early dinner and a late night swim back at the hotel pool we pulled out of Varkala on the early morning train at dawn.

---

Comments

[Mike Fossey]

Those hard to photograph "sea hawks or eagles"...
I guess the birds are the same ones that were there when I visited Varkala in November. They are Brahminy Kites ([i]Haliastur indus[/i])

[fullcirclea]

thanks
for the heads up on the name of the birds and yea they are hard to get agood shot of :)