Being able to lay out on a beach has been a huge treat for us, and if not for the massive sunburns we've all gotten, it would have been nothing short of perfection. We are all left scratching our heads a bit, as we sat under the shade of an umbrella ALL day and reapplied spf 30 continuously, but I think the Indian sun is too strong of a match for our whiteness. Carrying our backpacks out of the hotel today HURT like a bitch!!
Varkala has been a very interesting stop for us. We're used to running into backpackers all over India (or, in Orchha and Khajuraho, no Westerners or backpackers at ALL) - but here in the South it's like a vacationer's paradise. No backpackers, just groups of vacationing families not unlike the scene you'd see in Hawaii during May. (The major difference, of course, would be the fact that we paid $16 a night for a 3 person room, and last I checked that is the price of a diet coke in Hawaii).
Kerala (the state we're in), is known for its Ayurvedic treatments and people come from all over the world to stay here for weeks or months at a time to get their ailments 'healed'. I had a nice Ayurvedic massage yesterday, but the guy giving it to me really couldn't get over the fact that I wouldn't get buck-naked. I blamed it on my 'shy' American nature (which if you know me is the biggest joke), but there was no way in hell I was stripping down in a room alone with a guy in INDIA. I have heard enough horror stories from people who have traveled here before. He couldn't have been nicer about it, and it didn't come across as creepy at all, but he just couldn't get over the fact that I wanted my privates covered. Obviously Kerala attracts a much more free-wheeling crowd than those we've met earlier on the trip. Speaking of free-wheeling: We've met a lot of interesting people here. Our personal favorite was the British guy who sat next to us at dinner the other night. He was an interesting conversationalist (for a bit), regaling us with stories of his Ayurvedic massages and how several years ago he befriended a girl 30 years his junior on the internet (which borders on creepy). Then in the middle of us all chatting, he leans back in his chair and starts rubbing and tweaking his nipples like it was the most natural thing in the world. We all saw it, and managed to keep it together for 10 seconds until I caught Randi's eye and the three of us lost it. There is no manual on how to properly react when seated at a dinner table with a man tweaking his nipples. Is there?
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