The hour and a bit journey from Trivandrum to Varkala in the rickshaw was not too bad, although a couple of times we caught ourselves sucking in air sharply as the driver Sasi darted between lanes into the path of oncoming traffic.
We passed through Trivandrum and into the surrounding towns. At the roadside stalls selling fruit, vegetables, drinks and fish. On one particular fish stall the old lady had what looked like three tuna fish each one about four feet in length. We have no idea how much they would sell for but it would be a pittance compared to what it would fetch in certain other countries.
The road entering Varkala has lots of tight bends and the Sasi seemed to enjoy taking them tightly, with him leaning in to them for added momentum. What is it with the auto drivers? We sat in the back praying the three wheeler wouldn't overturn.
We arrived at the hotel and we were shown to our room. Our view across the sandy beach and out on to the Lakshadweep sea. Papanasam beach holds great significance for Hindus and as we looked across the shoreline, many religious ceremonies were taking place.
We went for the customary wander round the local area, Varkala is a very picturesque town and is largely split into 3 areas, the town itself a little way inland, the beach and the cliffs.
The view from the cliffs, particularly at sunset is what draws people to the area and there are numerous low key bars, restaurants and shops (all shutting around 10pm) along a 1km stretch of the coast. The coastal path goes on for miles and miles. We walked about two hours worth and it showed no sign of ending. The undulating walkway is a mixture of sand tracks, paved promenade and rocks. Each turn on the path shows another few hundred meters of green and orange coastline, which enticed us to keep walking a little further. There were a string of small bays with a 20 foot stretch of sand that brought us great relief from the growing heat.
The beach by our hotel was something else entirely, there was always a crowd of people. Most were there to carry out their final duties to their loved ones, scattering their ashes at sea. Papanasam beach is believed to have the purest waters in India and that by casting the ashes into the sea here helps with the purification of the soul for the deceased's reincarnation. The ceremony seemed to be that the family of the deceased would pass the ashes to one of the holy men that were at the beach from sunrise to sunset, then the primary members of the family gave an offering of rice and coconut which was placed on a piece of banana leaf and laid on the sand. The family member then clapped three times and walked back to the holy man. The holy man then lit a bowl that contained the ashes of the deceased and placed the bowl on the family member's head, who then walked down to the sea. Once he was about knee deep, the mourner turned to face the beach and as the next wave broke against them, the burning pot was cast backwards into the surf. The mourner then cupped the sea and splashed it over their head.
In many of the cases the families were smiling, content in the knowledge that there lost one was purified and on the path to reincarnation.
We had mixed emotions about observing theses religious acts, on one hand it was deeply beautiful, and this public display is intentionally so, but equally, we were all too aware that we were a witness to someone's father, mother, son or daughter's final earthly resting place.
This was also why we decided not to go into the sea here.
Right next to this happening, groups of men played volleyball and kabadi, families stood eating ice creams whilst a local band belted out songs from films and kids ran around joyful for being at the beach.
Here, like Kovalam, the real draw was the sunset. At around 5pm the crowds started to thicken along the length of the beach and up high on the cliff edge. The locals rubbing shoulders with the tourists in equal admiration of the evening's show.
We were there 4 nights and each sunset was so different to the previous night. This was mainly due to greater or lesser cloud cover but also the view from the beach was very different to that on the cliff top.
The restaurants on the cliff top, despite being 'multi cuisine' were of a very high standard. Each evening the days catch was put on ice and displayed to entice the punters in. And it works. The variety of different species prawns alone was amazing, let alone the three types of snapper, sharks, grouper, tuna, barracuda, butterfish, the list went on and on.
Jan is maintaining a vegetarian diet and fair play to her too. We both love fish and for her to forgo trying these morsels took a huge amount of willpower on her part. I'm a much weaker soul and had grouper, red snapper and two enormous tiger prawns.
We also spent our wedding anniversary here and...oh, oh thank you! Anyway, we returned to the hotel from dinner that night and the hotel staff presented us with a huge cake, candles and all. We took a double portion and then called them to take the rest to be shared amongst themselves. It was a very touching gesture and for us just typifies the Indian hospitality we have received throughout our time here.
We are moving on to Haripad which is near to Allepey, our plans have again gone not quite to plan as the Kollam to Allepey boat service is not yet running again for the season, so we decided to check ourselves in to an Ayurvedic Wellness Centre for a few days for the experience. Jan is very whoop whoop. I'm Hmf Hmf.