Kerala Sweet Kerala

So, picture this if you will. An idyllic tropical destination, complete with palm trees and waves crashing on the shore. Perched above the beach is a cliff, with a small tourist town boasting everything a traveller would need (including fast internet access!). This is Varkala in Kerala, and it is where I am currently, on vacation.

My last few days in Jaipur were exceptionally weird. We were supposed to be there for finals, but there weren't really any FINALS. We just made internship presentations and Tim, Christine and I kept ourselves busy while the rest of the group went through de-briefing and talking about going home. It was so odd to say goodbye to them, especially when I have never been the one saying goodbye. I have always been the one to leave people behind. It is so strange to think of not seeing them in Jaipur when I come back, or that we may never ever get to see each other as a group again.

Earlier in the month I was pretty homesick, and I thought that seeing them go while I was staying would be hard for that reason, but it wasn't. I am so happy that I am able to stay here longer, and I really feel like my work is just starting here (which is good, because it is just starting). I hope they are all having a good time traveling in India, that their flights are safe, and that they are not too jet lagged to enjoy Christmas.

Early on the morning of the 16th (yesterday, I can't believe it!) Christine and I headed off on our much needed and anticipated vacation. It started off very unfortunately. We flew from Jaipur to Trivandrum in Kerala, and our flight left at 7 am. Anyone who has ever flown with me knows that I am very anal about getting to the airport in plenty of time, so I was really anxious for everything to go smoothly. Christine had a taxi pick her up at her home, then it got me and we went to the airport, about 13km outside of the city. We were standing in the line to check into our flight when I remembered that I hadn't put my wallet in my bag. I flipped out. It was 6 and our flight left in an hour! I looked at Christine thinking "Do I really need my wallet?" and she looked at me like I was an insane person and thought "Yes, Leslie, you REALLY need your wallet on a two week vacation". Calmly, Christine told me it was not a big deal, that I would just check in and then get a taxi to take me back to my house and back to the airport. She was convinced I would have enough time to catch the flight, and after all what choice did I really have anyway? I ran out of the airport like a madwoman screaming in English and Hindi for a taxi. I couldn't find anyone to help me for five minutes, and then some Jet Airways guys came over and ran to the chai stall to get a taxi driver to rush me there and back.

All I can say is thank God for no speed limits or radar guns. The taxi driver sailed to Raja Park, where I grabbed my wallet off my bed right where I knew it was and rushed me back to the airport. Christine called to say they were ushering people through security, so she said she was going through. I was praying and praying, and yelling at the driver "Bahut jaldi! Meri havaijahaj saat baje hai!" (Thank God for Hindi class!). As we pulled back into the airport (at 6:30) the taxi driver said "I drive very fast today." He sure did. I ran into the airport, standing impatiently in security, and got to the gate just as Christine was giving up all hope. I had my wallet, and we got our plane.

The flights to Kerala were wonderful. The service was incredible and it was relaxing, for the most part. A wonderful break from Indian trains and buses. I sat next to two different American couples, which is quite amazing since I rarely meet American tourists here. Its too far to come for a one or two week vacation, so someone REALLY has to set aside the time to come, whereas someone from Europe only has one flight and a 5 hour time change.

As we were landing in Trivandrum I looked out the window. Water! Palm Trees! Beaches! I was so excited.

Trivandrum was pretty boring, there wasn't much to do there except find a place to plan out some of our itinerary. We left right away this morning for Varkala. We took a rickshaw to the bus station to catch a bus, but the bus was a tad of an ordeal. There was a rickshaw stand, and the head guy (jokingly referred to as the "rickshaw pimp" because he negotiates all the prices for the drivers and the stands work as cooperatives to try to get the highest price possible) kept bugging Christine and I to take a rickshaw to Varkala, 54km away and Rs. 200 each. We wanted to take the bus, Rs. 25 each, but it was really frustrating. I never realized how much Hindi I use everyday until I am in Kerala and can't use it. In Kerala they speak Malayalam, which is not like Hindi at all and actually looks alot like Thai (I have felt like we were in Thailand alot in the past two days). At least in the North I can read the destinations on the buses and know where I am going, but at the bus station neither of us can read anything and no one was being particularly helpful, except one guy. We waited for nearly an hour and a half for the bus to Varkala, and this man kept checking all the buses that pulled into the station to see if it was the one we took. Christine and I just assumed that he worked at the station, but then when our bus came he got on it. So we thought, maybe he is going to Varkala. But then he got off at one of the stops in Trivandrum, and we realized he had waited for an hour with us to make sure we got on the right bus instead of just getting on the earlier ones, since they all had the same stops in Trivandrum.

We have had alot of experiences like that here. While there are men who really make life difficult here for all women (especially foreigners) it also seems like just as many other men want to make sure that we are ok and genuinely want to help us. This is just one example, I have numerous others.

So now, Varkala. Its beautiful, to me at least. I have never really been on a real beach, despite all my travels, and I have never really seen or swam in the ocean either, so its all very extraordinary to me. Wisconsin and Minnesota are landlocked, and have no real beaches. Lakes DO NOT COUNT! Christine tells me the beach is on par with some of the ones she has been to on the east coast, and are not that extraordinary. But you can't convince me of that. Watching the sunset over the ocean while sipping a Pina Colada, I am DEFINITELY on vacation.

I plan to spend all day tomorrow on the beach evening out my farmer's tan and trying to put some color on my white, white legs. It is so great to be able to wear a sleeveless shirt here, let alone the tank tops I brought and my swimsuit. I never in my life thought wearing a swimsuit would be liberating, but here for me it is. Then the day after that, its off to Kollam for more adventures. I got some pretty great emails recently that made me laugh, one of them from my mom about our Christmas tree. I hope you like it.

Subject: Christmas Dreams

I dreamed a dream.

I dreamed a dream of having my Christmas tree in the front window of my apartment.

Unfortunately, the window has a sill that the cats were using as a launching pad INTO the Christmas tree! They would jump on the table, to the window sill, into the tree (I put bells on the tree so we can hear when they are sneaking into it!)

My dream came crashing to the floor this morning at 2:45 am when my tree toppled to the floor in a dramatic flourish! Teddie (my grown-up boy) jumped from the window sill into the tree and his 12 lbs of manhood was enough to topple the tree with a bang! He was thoroughly traumatized and ran from the room and hid for several hours.

Clean-up involved:
-Undecorating the tree
-Picking up all the ornaments from the floor
-Picking up the pieces of the one broken ones
-Picking up all the hooks so no one dies from ingesting one
-Moving the furniture to create a new space for the tree
-Carrying the tree into the corner
-Reorganizing the lights so they aren't all bunched together at the bottom where they were after the tree fell (remember: its 2:45 a.m.)

The redecorating ceremony will commence tonight when I get home from music rehearsal.

I dreamed a dream, and for a brief moment (5 days), it lived.