Alappuzha & Varkala, the end of our journey

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Alappuzha, referred to by everyone as “Allepey”, is known for its houseboats and backwater tours. If I mention Kerala to anyone who lives in B’lore I get the automatic response, “oh, the backwaters” and so I considered it pointless to go to Kerala and not experience a tour on a houseboat. It was possibly my favorite part of our Kerala trip and the bus ride to Allepey was equally eventful.

Luckily there were buses that ran every 20 minutes through the small coastal towns so it was easy to make our way down the coast without much of a plan. It was just a matter of locating the right bus amongst the thirty buses whose signs were all written in Malayalam. After finding the bus there was the small detail of finding a seat. There have been occasions where I was stood for over an hour packed between women and men who are bracing themselves for the inevitable bumps and swerves. Thankfully on this two hour ride I was able to grab a seat in the very front with a woman who was sitting alone. One thing I enjoyed immensely about Kerala was its people. They have the kindest and most laid-back personalities. The woman’s name is Sreelatha and she is no exception. In broken English and with a lot of gesturing I was able to learn a bit about her and her life. She taught me how to say a few words and how to write my name in Malayalam. I made a promise to keep in contact with her and hopefully I will learn more of her language.

As soon as I stepped off of the bus in Allepey the power let loose and the streets went dark. Used to the nightly blip in power all the street shops had their candles burning. The piles of fruit were glowing as I asked a man through hanging grapes where to go for a hotel. I often forget that "hotel" in India usually means restaurant. When I tried to explain what we were looking for a young man approached us and told us he could take us to a guest house. Of course, we thought this was pretty sketch, but we were on a busy street so we decided to take our chances. He led us onto another street and showed us a dark building set back in from the road which we immediately decided not to go in until the power came back on. After a few minutes the loud drowning of generators brought the town back to light and we decided to stop in an open front restaurant before making any plans. While waiting for our food we were approached by a man who had come in to eat. He introduced himself as Dil. He owned a bed and breakfast and a houseboat. He was looking for customers. It was too good to be true so of course we were skeptical. It was getting late, his price was reasonable and he came off like a nice guy so we decided to head over to his bed and breakfast and see what it was all about. He took us for a ride through a labyrinth of little dark alleys. When we finally reached his pad it was much the shell of its former glory. The entrance had a big houseboat that had been built on the land and a small partially filled pond surrounding it. The boat was in pretty bad shape. There was a tiny bamboo bridge, a wooden swing and a rope hammock. The path led to his house, his door wide open, various paraphernalia littered the porch and random cooking pots and old sea shells sat on the ground. When he showed us the rooms, though dirty and unkempt, none of us felt threatened and we decided to stay. I honestly enjoyed the whole scene immensely. There were stacks of books written in languages from all over the world and random figurines of Pegasus. Not to mention the bathroom was a room with four walls but no ceiling and the surrounding vegetation had decided to grow inside. Not to mention the banana tree that was growing from a whole in the concrete floor. The framed pictures of Victorian couples were a nice touch. Unfortunately, Amanda forgot one of her bags in the auto, but he ended up bringing it back to her untouched. Needless to say, the incident started a rift in our group. Mike decided to sleep outside that night and enjoy the stars. The first bang of thunder jolted me out of my sleep and all I could say was “holy shit” as Leslie and I looked at each other and laughed. It was the loudest thunderstorm I have ever heard. It seemed like it was in the room. Michael never came in. When I walked outside in the morning he was in the fetal position with his extra clothing wrapped around his body awkwardly.

In the morning we headed to the houseboat which was in pretty much the same condition as the bed and breakfast, but we decided to refer to it as “character”. Besides, the price was right and we were eager to see the backwaters. The next two days were phenomenal.
Leslie and I decided to go in search of some playing cards before we left so we took a stroll and every shop keeper we asked seemed to chuckle. I eventually found some Godfather playing cards and we headed back. As we were waiting to take off from where we were docked, a young boy was hanging on the side of our boat. His name was Hanuman, like the mythological monkey god, and there was some strange connection there because this kid did not stop jumping around and swinging on the side of our boat. He wouldn’t stop asking for a pen until Leslie gave him one and then he disappeared. A few minutes later he was back with a friend. He introduced us and then asked for another pen. We thought it would only be fair to give him one too and then they were gone again. And then they were back… with another friend. Thankfully the boat was loaded and ready to go because there was only one pen left and who knows how long that would have gone on. As the motor putted away we made our way through sunken boats and submerged trains surrounded by beds of water flowers and through a boat yard where the men hammered on wood with dull thuds. The canal gradually opened into a wide arch revealing the expanse of water with small islands and gigantic houseboats off in the distance. Our houseboat was just a baby but we loved it. Out on the water we saw long boats 40 foot long manned by two men with oars and birds that swam under water. It wasn’t long before we docked again. The boat needed a new battery. Taking the opportunity to explore the banks we walked barefoot down a sand path with white cows grazing in the distance. A man on a bike passed us talking on his cell phone, but he stopped abruptly looked at us and said “they’re filming” and that was it. He kept going. Leslie and I looked at each other and headed in the direction of a large group of people by a boat. It just so happens that they were filming a commercial for Western Union. As soon as we walked near the film crew we were approached by a nicely dressed man who asked us to be in the commercial. All we had to do was sit on the boat and look pretty, haha. After a half hour of sitting there they thanked us and we got back on our boat and left. I don’t know how many men yelled across from other boats asking me my name and where I was from. It became pretty normal. After a few hours sunbathing on a mattress on the front deck we docked for lunch at some concrete stairs and ate some really good fish and the prawn was amazing. Earlier we had been called to by some fishermen who were selling tiger prawns fresh caught from that morning. I love sea food so I coerced Mike into buying half a kilo with me and the cook prepared it for lunch. That evening we jumped off the boat and went swimming. At night we docked at our boatman’s home village and he showed us around. The sky was blood red as we viewed a 750 year old Hindu temple. There were cows tied everywhere and candles lit the small shrines outside. I was able to catch a quick glimpse inside the main temple and I’m not lying when I say that I saw a row of liquor bottles lined up behind some old stone statues. That night we enjoyed the rocking of the boat as we played cards and the geckos crawled out of the timbers in our ceiling. It was a great ending to the day. The next day we made our way back through the channels enjoying the rural lifestyle that surrounded us and then we got on a bus with no open seats and stood for two hours until we reached Kollam, stepping stone to Varkala. After six days of traveling, Varkala couldn’t have been a better place to end up in. The cliffs in the beautiful resort town made it a tourist’s haven. Hotels, restaurants, and shops lined the edges waiting to cater to our every need… for the right price. Mike, Leslie and I ended up rooming in the cheap Bamboo huts with the outdoor bathroom, which is one of my new favorite things. Showering under palm trees and stars is extremely liberating, haha. Varkala was not much more than lying on a beautiful beach, good seafood, a little boogie boarding, a lot of shopping, a lot of dancing, and of course getting robbed. If you go to Varkala you must not leave your stuff unattended on the beach. If you go to Varkala you must visit the Funky Art café and stay after 12:00am. I was dancing with people from Ireland, Austria, France and of course the boys of Kerala who knew all the “moves”. As I was on the dance floor jamming out to some crazy Spanish tunes I was overwhelmed with the best feeling; to know that dancing brought all of these people together for this one night in Kerala.

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Photos

open water
the backwaters of Alleppey

a view of the commercial shoot
Leslie and Mike on the houseboat

a fisherman selling tiger prawns
lunch... yummy :)

me between coconut trees
our lunch stop

a boat in the evening
it was unusual to see boats with sails

the open bathroom with palm tree fixture
at Dil's bed and breakfast