India || Varkala

We started our move south...

next stop - Varkala.

Hotels, homestays and hostels are all cliff-side

and overlook the Arabian Sea...

and it's a backpackers, hippie, yogi heaven.

We stayed in a perfect hotel, Blue Water,

made up of individual villas with amazing views

 and slightly away from the touristy part of the beach. 

Varkala has enough to do though still feels incredibly relaxing.

We walked along the cliffs, got hassled by shop owners

and enjoyed our first beer of the trip... 

Holiday finally felt official.
(Kerala will soon be a fully dry state!)

Ian surfed for the first time, and I relaxed on the beach... 

in a bathing suit!

We had to try a traditional Ayurvedic massage.

It was interesting... can't say 100% enjoyable, but an experience.

And that's what it' all about, right?!?

Varkala is touristy (sorta!), but we wouldn't consider it "touristy".

It's still fairly untouched.

While in Alleppey, we saw roughly five white people (seriously!)

and there were more in Varkala but still... 

it's nothing like other places we've visited.

Varkala is charming and full of traditional working fishing villages.

Each morning, boats and people were hauling in their catch.

Made for beautiful pictures,

and we felt life in this part of Kerala.

On our last morning, Varkala had one of the best swells in months.

And of course Ian was out there...

with only about 8 other people! 

One of the prettiest beaches I've seen.

Fishing boats, men working and young boys swimming.

Downside: poop.

human poop.

I didn't notice it along the water's edge until I was calling Ian out of the water.

Thank G.

I mean... I know it's life, and their life.

And honestly... where else would they go? 

No toilets. No running water.

still... it's sh*t... human sh*t.

To not deter you from Varkala (or Kerala) with my poop story, 

I'll leave you with some beautiful pictures.

 

And we will continue south to our last stop in India.

xx

the mcgees