Varkala is a cute tourist town perched atop a cliff in the Indian State of Kerala. This beach was a 2 hour bus ride North of Kovalam, our home for the months of January and February. I can't say much about the swimming in Varkala... I dove in once and to my surprise, my bikini bottoms weren't up for that challenge! I caught a few sunrays on the beach, stayed at a hostel the first 2 nights and met lovely people, but the homestay I switched to after 2 nights was so perfect! I was content spending all day lounging at the Maitrii House!
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| view from the balcony at Maitri House |
A bit of background on how I ended up at Megumi and Sunil's front porch. In Kovalam, we quickly got to know all the shop owners and locals. They would see us walking around all day back and forth from asana practice, eating and swimming! Kovalam has a million taylor shops, and we became especially fond of one of the younger guys that we saw on the way home everyday. When he found out a group of us were planning on moving on the Varkala, the younger and hipper beach town of Kerala, he gave us his friend Sunil's info and recommended we stay at his guest house! I didn't any previous experience in guest houses. I imagined it would be perhaps a really small house and that there would be a lot of people cramped in a small space and feared I would be intruding on someone's home. Our yoga-mate Ron arrived first and right away expressed how awesome Maitrii House was. I was hesitant but when he said they had a tree-house and hammocks, my mind quickly changed !
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| Tree house, with lamps and chairs inside! |
I could not be happier with the place! Not just the house itself, the garden, the tree house, the hammocks, the WIFI! I had been living for 2 months without it! The huge kitchen, that we were actually allowed to use! I even had my own bathroom in my room! No sharing? My bed was huge and so beautiful, even the mosquito net made me feel like a princess! The room stayed cool, the fan worked perfectly, the toilet, everything! Upstairs there was a yoga shala, a back porch that was covered and had plenty of shade. Plenty of room for group yoga! Of course, there were the daily power outages, but that's completely 100% expected in India. If all those wonderful things I listed weren't enough- well there were the beautiful owners! Megumi, a sweet Japanese woman that fell in love with Sunil, a local from Kovalam! They are so absolutely adorable, friendly and helpful!
So, yeah the house was awesome! But the town was also lovely! Maybe because it was new, and I had eaten at the same restaurants and seen the same shops in Kovalam for a while. But here everything was so fresh, they had so many food options and even a juice bar! Juices and smoothies were available in Kovalam- but a place specifically for juices? And they were bigger and cheaper! More flavors and more options! And there was WIFI everywhere! I know, I may be a WIFI addict- but when you don't have a local mobile phone or internet for 2 months, it feels really good to be connected! Plus there is a 12 hour time difference from here and home, my only chance to catch up with buddies and family is either early in the AM or late at night!
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| Juice with a view? yes please! |
Varkala was also exciting because there was a tiny bit of nightlife! What, staying out past 10pm? I did that maybe a total of 4 times in Kovalam, there were a few late night dance parties that happened at one of our favorite restaurants (Alan's) but never live music! On my first night in Varkala, we discovered the Rock n Roll cafe! I went along with a few new friends from the hostel and we fell in love with the man playing the guitar! Imagine an older, overweight Kerala man singing and playing an out of tune acoustic guitar. His favorite songs to jam to were anything Eagles, ACDC and Led Zeppelin! He also had his buddy playing a tiny, rickety drum-set next to him. He asked us to call him Jason and mostly wanted to take requests. He was so lovely and just really wanted to make us happy. We were actually the only people in the entire bar, and was always so happy to actually have an audience. We came back every night after that just to hear him play his guitar and sing his awesome tunes.
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| With my hair twin, Emma from London |
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| The guy to my right is the drum player! |
After a few days of being in Varkala, some of the February Hatha Samyak Yogis made the move there too! It was so refreshing to see new faces and actually get to know these people. I didn't get to chat with them much during their training course, they were always busy and running around. Seeing familiar faces and sharing our teacher training experiences was so good. We all established that we couldn't be happier with Samyak Yoga, we felt the love and passion from the teachers. Their honestly and loyalty to their company, but most importantly, to the meaning of Yoga.
Oh- I also had a bit of a job for a total of one day! I stopped for a juice at an amazing spot, called the Coffee Temple! If you sit at the very front , you have an amazing view of the cliff and can catch some great shots of paragliders swaying in the wind!
As I went to pay, I noticed a sign saying they needed volunteers. I waited tables for 6 years and constantly miss it!! The interaction, the fast-paced environment and interacting with the cooks! I love it! So I told them I wouldn't mind working for free- they said they would give me free food and coffee all day, and accommodation in their guest house if I needed! I worked from 8am-1pm and it was crazy! Not much organization, just randomly picking up tables. I didn't know the menu and there was no computer system. I had to hand write every single order and explain each one to the cooks after the tables ordered. Despite the few bumps, it was actually really fun! and all my friends showed up to sit in my section! First the yogis, came and had their juices and coffees! A bit later, my hostel friends came. The Germans and the Brits, ate their traditional English breakfast, omelettes and fruit salads! After a fun day of working, Yogi Bravo rolled up in a red scooter beep beep beeping! It was perfect timing, yes- I was a bit weary, but I figured it was a tough day at work and riding around town in scooters with the entire group and searching for a hidden beach sounded like an amazing plan!
It was so much scarier than I expected! Being a back-seat driver comes rather easily to me! How can I not be in control of everything, right?? haha- so, of course, we survived and it was worth every drop of sweat and and grey hair ! We found The Black sand beach, did some headstands and built a sand castle. Finished the day off with veg pakoras and smoothies before heading back to our beach!
So Varkala, the perfect balance of minimal nightlife, yoga , hidden beaches and new + old friends! All in one place!
-GIA
