A short lovely holiday in Kerala

December 12, 2010

Here I am.

It’s been a while since the last time I’ve written something. I guess I got tired.

After Pushkar I went to Udaipur, a romantic city, perfect for solo travelers; then Ahmedabad, where I was for one day and visited an ashram founded by Gandi and I ate a lot of ice creams and iced coffees. Then Mumbay, full of people, with an average income that is four times the average in India, but where 60% of its inhabitants live in slums. Slums where they pay a rent, and have electricity in the house, but still slums.

And I arrived here. I think I am in Paradise.

Kannur, in Kerala, a region in the South-Western Coast. In the morning I have breakfast in the jungle, among various birds and banana, coconut, pineapple and mango trees. Then I walk five minutes in the jungle and I arrive to the beach. Empty. When it’s busy there are 8 people. I can’t see the faces of the other people on the beach because they are too far away.

So what was meant to be 2 days to spend here became 3, then 4 and finally 6. Tomorrow I should live. Surely before the 15th I have to go because I have a train booked from Kochi to Chennai, from where I will fly back. 10 days left.

costa malabari kerala

I almost forgot the most important part of this holiday. They feed me three times per day, and the food is the best I’ve had so far in India. Surely I got back the few kilos I lost with diarrhea and others. In the North the food is good, but it’s more oily and heavy and after some time you get tired of it. Before I got here I couldn’t take curry anymore, and I really wanted some tomato pasta. In these last 5 days I’ve eaten (Indian) like a wolf. And desserts are even better! I must use cinnamon and coconut more often once I go home.

Five days and I’ve read three books, sunbathed, eaten, played on my notebook. Nothing else. Awesome!

I really needed this time of relax. And now I’m ready to go back to the urban jungle, made of people and rickshaw and alleys and horns.

costa malabari kerala