Villa Akasa

24 December
Christmas Eve. We plan to be on the bus by 9.30 and are only a little late after settling up with Ann and Jenny, our transport organiser. All pile in and Venu sets off across to the city from Fort Kochi, then heads south to Verkala. The journey takes about 5 hours through crazy Indian traffic, thousands of scooters, bikes, tuc tucs and cars, with the occasional elephant. Some of the scooters have whole families, Mum, Dad with two little kids and not a crash helmet between them. We have no seat belts, it's none too comfortable but chatting, laughing, and dozing, we pass the time. We take a couple of wee stops in tiny street cafes where the locals are friendly but obviously curious about us. We must be an unusual sight for them.

Eventually Venu gets us to Varkala and finds a restaurant for lunch, then it's not too far to Villa Akasa. Here Venu leaves us and goes home for Christmas with his family. There are two buildings, one has two large bedrooms both with en suites and the other houses Shama, the kitchen and staff, with a large double room and en suite above. I'd imagined there'd be a shared area for Bill to kip in but they find him a small room  on the ground floor. The rooms are gorgeous as are Premolt and Raveej, the two young men who provide us with breakfast every morning, and help us with local info. Premolt's English is excellent, Raveej's quite shy but is very proud of the bread he bakes for us each morning.

Villa Akasa, the main building, we have the top floor with balcony. There are so many birds flying around here, the bird song is really loud. Kites fly overhead and what we think are huge ospreys. There are lots of noisy jackdaws, a very friendly one sits on our balcony rail each morning, and we see the odd parrot flying by.

Many homes have built nativity scenes outside which are beautifully lit up with fairy lights every night. The villagers are so friendly here, all wish us 'Merry Christmas' as we walk past

So this is our street heading down to the beach, with the wall of our villa on the right. There are a few small dwellings down the road and lots of kids playing. There's no rubbish collection in most of Kerala so there are lots of small fires smouldering away everywhere, which creates a hazy atmosphere



Our street going in the other direction towards the main road. There are preparations for a wedding nearby, hence the huge cooking pots on the left. Note the 3 wheeler tuc tuc on the road. Our preferred method of transport.

So on Christmas Eve evening we all go for a short walk down our little lane past the Mosque and an ancient Hindu Temple to Varkala South Beach. A lot of the people here are Christian; Kerala is known for its religious tolerance and all religions seem to live side by side in harmony here.

It's getting dark, we paddle in the warm sea, the waves are big there's a strong undertow. Crabs are scuttling around and bats fly overhead. Later we go out to the nearest restaurant, Green Pepper, which sells the inevitable Kingfisher beer. We wait ages for the food to come, listening to live Indian music.

Live music at Green Pepper on Christmas Eve

25 December
Christmas morning. I wake early, sit and write on our balcony in a hazy light with birds flying noisily all around me. After the bustle of Fort Kochi I feel I can relax at last. The gardens here are very green and lush with bougainvillia, hibiscus, morning glory, orchids, and a fishpond, complete with water lilies and floating red hibiscus, replaced fresh every morning by Raveej.

Christmas morning on Katy and Craig's patio where tables and chairs have been set up for us all. Charming Premolt serves the most beautiful fruit salads I ever seen, along with eggs, rotis, pararthas, toast, honey and pineapple jam, and a variety of teas. Marsala has become the favourite.

 

We plan to head off up to North Beach and Varkala Beach village. We walk through the lanes using the map provided and find our way down to the south end of the beach where we stop at Theerams restaurant to book it for dinner tonight.

The beach is packed with people enjoying the holiday. On this, the southern end of the beach, the local women splash around in the water fully dressed. Further up, beneath the cliff top village, the tourists sunbathe in bikinis

 

Looking down from Varkala village which sits on top of the cliffs at the northern end of the beach

 

There are loads of boats shooting back and forth, giving rides and driving right up over the surf onto the beach itself, tooting horns. The boats are sleek and fast, the men standing up in them hollering with bravado and showing off to eachother

We walk up the beach and swim at the top end. The waves are huge and a bit scary, most people just play in the shallows. Varkala Village itself is up the steps on top of the red cliffs and we have lunch there at Café del Mar. There's a lane on the edge of the cliff, lined with tourist shops, and backed by little lanes full of backpacker places, yoga schools, and more small shops and cafes. We're glad we're staying in the calm and quiet of Villa Akasa. We look round a few shops, then try to find our way home through the lanes, end up getting tuc tucs.

Early Christmas evening and Premolt brings round some Christmas cake for us to eat with our two precious bottles of fizz. Katy looking the part in her saree

Looking at the menu at Theerams, prettily lit up with lanterns. Wonderful to be eating in this warm tropical heat with the beach below us and waves pounding. Vegetable and fish curries, dahls, parathas and fish baked in banana leaf are favourites. With Kingfisher beer of course. Many restaurants just don't serve alcohol at all and it's not sold in the shops, only at Government booze shops where you have to queue for it. So this is the driest holiday we've ever had.

26 December
A slightly cooler soft grey morning. Walk down the lane to South Beach for a swim past the Mosque and the Temple.

Apparently the temple is 2,000 years old, a very tall thin Indian lives there and takes care of it. There are lots of jackdaws flying about eating the offerings left by worshippers

To have a proper swim we have to get past the huge waves to the calmer water beyond. Mike gets caught by a couple of big ones and is thrown about like a rag doll. Pretty scary. We'll be playing in the shallows from now on I think.

The fishermens' boats are long, thin and brightly coloured. Unfortunately the men use the beach as a toilet every morning and you can see them crouching as you walk past. Guess we shouldn't act superior about this but as Westerners we can't help but struggle with it. Mike's just full of admiration for the regularity

 

Back for breakfast and we plan to go into Varkala town, do a bit of shopping and meet up for Masala Dosas at Premolt's recommended café. It's a dirty, dusty trail in, past smouldering piles of rubbish with loads of traffic alongside us. We're looking for fabric and Mike buys some vibrant purple silk and orange linen which he's hoping to get made into pyjamas. I buy lots of the pretty stars we've seen hanging up everywhere for Christmas. We find a tailor who'll make up pyjamas by tomorrow night.

 

In the evening we walk down to our beach again and find it's quite crowded. There are lots of locals playing in the water, jumping the waves

A lovely group of lads wanting to have their photo taken with us, such happy smiling kids, a bit cheeky and full of fun

Later on we walk to Green Pepper to meet the kids who are there watching the sun set and drinking kingfisher. The restaurant has a great setting, on the edge of the cliff right over the sea in between north and south beach. By the time we arrive it's dark and we watch the twinkling lights of the fishing boats out to sea. Then we all pile into three tuc tucs and race to the Helipad at Varkala Beach.

This is the most exciting/mad/scary trip you can imagine. Our driver is quite old and doesn't smile but he's really up for the race. Katy and Craig's driver is young and they offer him a bonus if they get there first. So we're overtaking and being overtaken going round bends up and down hills and on blind corners. I just love it, except that Katy and Craig win because their chap takes them right to the restaurant door whereas our's drops us at the Helipad. Our restaurant tonight is 'God's Own Country Kitchen'. We have a terrific waiter and are served huge quantities of fish. Dinner takes an age to arrive so we play cards while waiting. All pile into a large taxi to return home.

27 December
Sunny morning stroll down to the beach and we wander up to the far end under the red cliffs, then watch the fishermen perform their early morning fishing routine.

Varkala is famous for its red cliffs which tower above the beach. Not sure if anyone lives in the houses at the top



The egrets are common as seagulls here, we watch them catching fish on the incoming tide

We watch about 30 fishermen hauling in their huge net. The whole process takes about 2 hours and we catch it towards the end of the procedure when the net is closer to shore and some of them are splashing the water to scare the fish towards the end of the net

We bump into Katy and Craig on their early morning constitutional

It's a hot day and after breakfast we walk to Varkala Beach, drinks at Theerams, then splash around in the sea with the locals. Big waves in the Arabian Sea, really too scary to get past for a proper swim. We walk up the steps for lunch at Little Tibet where they serve momos, steamed dumplings. Hello to the Queen' on the menu but they don't have it so I'm disappointed again.


The road is decorated for the wedding. I'm using the brolly and fan system: keeping the sun off and me a bit cooler

In the afternoon we have our yoga lesson which is a bit odd. The chap obviously knows his stuff but is going too fast for those who've not done yoga before, All a bit too regimented, we're also getting bitten to death by mosquitos so not that easy to relax.

Tonight we eat a good meal cooked and served to us at home out on the patio by Premolt, then wander down the road to see what's happening for the wedding.

So the house is all lit up like a Christmas tree. We stop to take photos and are approached and invited inside. Our hosts are insistent we go in to meet the bride and everyone

Once inside we're met by a group of women and girls, all gloriously attired for the occasion

 

The bride looking splendid in all her glory

. . . and here we are becoming part of the wedding celebrations, being videoed meeting the bride



. . . then taken through to the dining area where a meal is served to us despite protestations that we've just eaten

The whole experience is just wonderful. We're treated like honoured guests, yet we don't know a soul there. The bride's uncle takes a special interest in Mike. I get away with eating a couple of little bananas and a gooey sweet but everyone else has a second dinner.