Varkala to Kovalam

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Kovalam, or Costa Del Kerala as it is now commonly known, is where hordes of Europeans go to have their flesh burnt, and it hasn't really got much to do with India. Nevertheless, we had a few days to spare and decided to go to Kovalam for one reason only: to work for a few days as volunteers for Animal Rescue Kerala.

Leaving Varkala
We packed our rucksacks early in the morning on the Sunday to go from Varkala to Kovalam. The packing had at this point become very efficient and almost automatic: clothes and light items in one bag (for Sarah to carry) and toiletries, computer and other heavy items in the other bag (for Mort to carry). It takes about an hour to pack two bags. We have only had one bad packing experience: the first time we had to pack, when leaving Kochi. Sarah couldn't really face the task of packing, so Mort, with his exceptional organisational skills, happily took on the task of fitting what looked like a lot of stuff into two 25 litre rucksacks. Obviously, the packing went as smoothly as imaginable and in less than an hour, and a lot of body liquid lighter, he proudly presented the neatly packed rucksacks.

However, being an organised person isn't always enough. In actual fact, a very important complimentary ability is having a memory. Some 10 seconds after Mort revealed the neatly packed rucksacks he suddenly remembered the question that he had been wrecking his brain to remember earlier in the day: where were the Visa and Amex cards? In Kochi we hadn't bothered taking the cards into town since we perceived it to be safer to leave them in the Hotel room. But, of course, it always makes sense to hide important items in the room rather than having them on public display. So, Mort had found a safe place to hide the cards. Unfortunately, he forgot about the cards, and when he finally remembered that we were travelling with these money cards he had forgotten where he had hidden them. We searched the room to no avail. There were no cards. We emptied the top pockets of the rucksacks. There were no cards. We then, starting to panic, emptied the neatly packed rucksacks. There were no cards. Meanwhile, Mort had absolutely no recollection of where he had put the cards. We started to worry about theft. Had the cleaner nicked the cards? How were we going to pay the hotel bill? Would we have to call the card providers and cancel the cards? How could we continue to travel when our only payment method was these cards?

The floor was now covered with the contents of the two bags. Everything was split into atoms; the clothes had been unrolled and the content of the washbag covered the bed. We had searched through everything several times and were sweating from all pores. As we were close to getting overpowered by dehydration, Sarah went through a pocket in a pair of Mort's trousers. Yes, you guessed it.

The incident above has not been repeated. If we have to hide anything in the room we both know exactly where the hiding place is.
After having checked out of Clafouti we headed for Varkala Station to catch a train to Trivandrum. From Trivandrum we would get a rickshaw to Kovalam. On the station we encountered, for the first time, a person with leprosy. We weren't as much shocked as surprised. This case of leprosy was worse than anything imaginable though. The man was covered in golf and tennis ball sized bubbles from head to toe. There were no clearly visible orifices on his face. He looked distinctly alien. He looked worse than any of the leprosy photos you can find on the Internet. Obviously, it wouldn't have been right to take a photo; it could have been a perfect photo opportunity since Sarah had an inexplicable urged to touch his skin. Instead, we gave him some money when he approached us with an outstretched limb. Half an hour later, whilst waiting for the train on the other platform, we saw him approaching what looked like a couple of Russian tourists (Adidas t-shirt, polyester trousers that were too short, white socks and trainers) from behind: when they saw him they started to sprint away from him towards the other end of the platform. It was rather sad to see. His life must be full of unpleasant experiences like that, and you do wonder if he has ever been shown any physical affection.

The train to Trivandrum was deserted. We more or less had the train carriage to ourselves. Our train journeys will always be on 2nd class sleeper, the second cheapest class on Indian trains.

In Trivandrum we had to find a rickshaw. It didn't take long for a rickshaw driver to approach us with an offer to take us to Kovalam. He wanted Rs. 150 for the 12 kilometre journey. Beforehand, we had decided that Rs. 100 was the maximum we would pay, so declined his offer. He then offered to take us for Rs. 100. Mort, who was in a bit of a mood, refused and said he wasn't interested, and would find another rickshaw driver where negotiation wasn't part of the deal: if you make a reasonable offer we will accept it, if not we'll find someone else who doesn't try to rip us off. The rickshaw driver wasn't going to give up though, and eventually Mort, having counted to 10, gave in and accepted the deal.

Alitalia Beach House
Whilst in Varkala we booked four days in Alitalia Beach House which gets a very good recommendation in Rough Guide. The price was Rs. 800 (increasing to Rs. 1,000 in December and January) per night. Fortunately, Rough Guide turned out to be right on this one. Alitalia is situated as the last building on Samudra Beach, 30 metres from the sea with a very good view of the sea. Unfortunately, the authorities have had to built a large stone tidal barrier to prevent the encroaching sea from flooding the area. The building is a Laurie Baker style building and looks much nicer than anything else in this part of the world. It also has a nice roof top balcony where you can sit and enjoy a drink.
There are four octagonal rooms in the house. The rooms are clean, well sized and equipped with mosquito nets. The only problem with the rooms is related to the construction of the building. Essentially, a properly constructed Laurie Baker building has to have a roof that is large enough to protect the walls from rain and sunshine. This dual purpose roof is missing from Alitalia. Consequently, the flat, concrete roof absorbs a lot of heat, which isn't released quickly enough, and the rooms get too warm during the night. Also, our room suffered from some water damage which seemed to have leaked from the flat roof.

Still, the rooms, especially the two front rooms, are architecturally well made, and the white bathroom is the nicest one we have used whilst in India.
Without revealing too much, we can say that the owner and his helper weren't the average Indians. They were also very friendly and helpful, and are matched perfectly with Alitalia. We would definitely recommend this place to anyone visiting this area.

After having settled into the new surroundings, it was time to go to Animal Rescue Kerala.

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This entry was posted by pundabee, on Monday, December 04, 2006. You can leave your response.