Tying up Kerala

Kovalam's beachfront boardwalk.

Since the backwater trip, I’ve now seen the beach towns of Varkala and Kovalam. Varkala is mostly a backpacker and long-term stay hangout. Kovalam is more of a (small) package tourist resort with mostly older folks from Britain.

Earlier in Cochin, I had taken an Ayurvedic massage – I came out of it feeling quite pummeled. Not knowing whether I had a sufficiently authentic experience, I was naturally left with no choice but to take a second Ayurvedic treatment! This time I took it in Varkala, and the provider came highly recommended. Well, the second massage beat the pants off the first, what with the masseur walking on the back and all. Also, in this case there were often two masseurs working synchronously on either side of me.

In Kovalam, I was gratified to discover actual, intact surf boards! As far as I can tell, these are the only surf boards, rented out by the only surf instructors, in all of India. (With any luck I can prove myself wrong in coastal Madras). The waves in Kovalam are ideal for learning - for example, it's hard not to catch a whitewater wave. As of yesterday I've graduated from long boards to midsize boards. And I even managed to get up on a short board! I'm really working on catching the open face of a wave instead of whitewater now. Among other things, it requires my weight to be centered further back on the board. If I didn't have the itinerary clock ticking, I would stay in Kovalam for a week to continue practicing, since it's cheap living here. ($4 a night plus $3 x 3 meals on average.

Now I’m making my way to Kanyakumari by bus. This town is located at the southernmost tip of the country, where three seas – the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Bay of Bengal, meet by convention at one point. Shortly after, the formerly French colony of Pondicherry is begging to be visited.