Down South in Varkala

After a day of cabs, planes, buses and rickshaw rides we finally arrived in the Southern coastal town of Varkala, in the state of Kerala. We hadn’t really done much planning before arriving in Varkala but had heard many good things from other travelers that it was a chilled out beach town – really what we were in the mood for after a few weeks in and around Delhi.

Varkala definitely delivered as tranquil and low key beach town. It is perched on a cliff lined with resorts, guesthouses, cafes and shops.  Given that we arrived right at the end of the tourist season it was especially chilled out, with some cafes and shops already closing up. We spent 2 days here getting some much needed R ‘n R, sipping coffee at local cafes, soaking up a little more beach side sun and waiting out power outage after power outage (standard for India).

Looking down at the ocean (Arabian Sea) over one of the cliffs

Main beach in Varkala first thing in the morning

This was our first experience with Indian beaches and it was really interesting to see the juxtaposition between Indian locals swimming, mostly fully clothed (especially women) and half naked westerners occupying the same beach….. not to mentioned the many, many stares that this stirred up.  Given Varkala’s position as an up and coming tourist spot, channeling some of Goa’s hippy beach town vibe (so I've been told) the local authorities have been doing a lot to ensure that foreign tourists feel safe and comfortable here, to continue to encourage travelers to visit. In an effort to do that they have set up local police on the beach who blow their whistles at locals who stare too long or try and talk to the foreigners.  While I do understand why they think they need to do this, keep the locals away from foreigners, they need the tourism dollars and I am sure they believe that westerners don’t want to be “disturbed” by locals. They may even be right about some travelers but really I find this a bit sad. The whole allure of travelling to other countries, at least in my books, is to meet local people and understand local culture. In mine and Jonny’s experience so far we have found the local Indian people to be harmless and extremely friendly, most of the time they are just interested in knowing about us, welcoming us to India and practicing a little of their English. SO for all you current and future travelers out there, should you find yourself in India being approached by locals…. CHAT with them!

OOO_Talia