Our accommodation does not offer breakfast but we found a place nearby, in the Clafouti also with a view of the sea.
Cliffs in Varkala
Cliffs in Varkala
We go to Main Street by taxi to connect to the Internet, in the center of the village. Our accommodation is a little far away but when the tide is low it's easy to get there by the beach.
We eat a unique menu in Hotel Restaurant, consisting of Thali. He brings us a tray with metal bowls, in the main rice, in the bowls different sauces and vegetables, also a fried potato chapati. It is a very authentic place, it shares the toilet with the neighbouring car workshop. Before, he put a lid on it, a kind of sardine full of paprika, it was quite itchy but very tasty. Everything was very good.
Thali
Man eating at the restaurant
We take a rickshaw and visit the Ashram of Sivagiri Mutt. The guru is sitting on the stairs accompanied by another man. The Ashram is a complex of buildings connected by courtyards, several nuns spitting out vetel nuts sitting on a bench under trees with very striking flowers.
Ashram
Ashram
Men in the Ashram
Women in the Ashram
Nun in Ashram
Varkala surroundings
The surroundings of Varkala are very beautiful, coconut trees and jungle. We take another rickshaw, it takes us to the part of the beach that belongs to the village, we witness a beautiful ceremony, a puja. Families prepare their little altars on the beach. People come out of the water dressed and totally soaked carrying a candle on their head.
Puja
Varkala beach
We walk along the beach to our accommodation. There are people fishing, two of them are using a net like the one for volleyball, they enter the water, nail it to the ground and when the wave recedes the fish get stuck in the net. The fishermen are dressed in the longui and put the fish inside.
In the most rural areas it is common to see men dressed in their traditional clothes with the longui or doty and shirt, although it is also seen in cities, the Indians dress in a more western style.
Puja
The beach is very long and as we approach our accommodation the cliffs are higher and higher. We take our swimsuit and we all get into the water. The sea doesn't seem to be very rough but the waves are very strong, you have to be very careful and don't move away from the shore. Suddenly a man arrives shouting and making x with his arms, he asks us to get out of the water, he is the lifeguard and we are very much afraid that he does not know how to swim.
Varkala beach
Shower and dinner. We don't look for a Spanish restaurant on the other side of the beach. We have dinner in a hummus, rice, vegetable and beer restaurant. He brings us a bottle wrapped in newspaper and forces us to keep it under the table. He tells us that he does not have a license to sell it and does not want to be reported by the guard in the area. Everything was delicious.
Food: Hotel Restaurant 180 rupees 4 pax. (single menu).
Accommodation: Santa Klaus Guest House 500 rupees double room with bathroom. (has swimming pool)
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