Sand and Surf with no regrets

I lied. The previous post was not to be my last from India. This one is. I left the school yesterday afternoon, and got to Varkala a few hours later. And yes, it is a complete tourist trap/bubble. But the sprawling ocean, constant wind, crackling palm and coconut trees and sound of waves are all here nonetheless. This is a gorgeous place. Below is a bit of what I wrote to myself when I first arrived. The rose has already lost its bloom a bit, which is another interesting part of travelling; seeing how quickly the polish of the new begins to rub off. That being said, I'm so happy to be here for a few days!

I'm sitting, completely alone, on the 2nd floor of Trattoria, an Italian/Tibetan/Indian/something restaurant, looking almost straight ahead at bunches of coconuts hiding near the top of their trees. The massive leaves, as they blow, block out varying portions of the sun as it sets straight ahead. Below and to the right is Black Beach, with, yes, black sand, and far beyond that the coean shore roundly zigzagging out further than I can see.

There's a small sandy bit of land before that, near enough that I can make out the shapes of two people swimming together, then leaving the water to lie on the sand, and again going out into the water. The way the two shapes intermittently blend together to make one tells me they are a couple. I think how, perhaps, the memory of this moment, for them, may come back unexpectedly, again and again throughout their lives. Will it resurface at times of trouble to sustain them through the lows that any couple faces?

My iced coffee, after 45 minutes, has heated itself up.

Again, I feel gratitude, accompanied by the nearly constant awareness of how fortunate I am in my life, now and before. I think of the oceans I have seen in my 36 years, and the fewer number of those that I have swum in; from Florida, to the French Meditteranean, to Japan and Taiwan's island coasts, San Francisco's icy waters, Los Angeles and San Diego, its bay crammed with navy ships, Tel Aviv, filled with Palestinian and Jewish families enjoying the beach together, side by side, and now India.

I've ordered baked tandoori fish and Tibetan dumplings (momos), to avail myself of the odd culinary combination of this restaurant, and I think of the handful of places I have eaten Tibetan momos before, each edging a bit nearer to Tibet. The first was in Berekeley, at the little restaurant I stopped at regularly when I crossed the Bay Bridge. I wonder if on this or another journey, I might eat them in their proper place, or at least a bit closer to it, in Dharamasala or Nepal.

I think, as I always do at times like this, of how I wish someone I loved, family, friend or future partner, were here with me now. And this makes me remember all the wonderful moments in the past, when I have been somewhere beautiful and still, that someone has been there with me.

Now, a few eagles enter in my line of vision, flying in circles, dropping and catching and dropping again tufts of material they have found for nest building.

And just now, the first other customers have come and sat down at the table next to mine, breaking this space of no words. I realize again, more and more, how I am coming to prefer quiet. As my yoga teacher kept telling me, it sounds like I should go up to the mountains. :)


And indeed, the newcomers were a few Indian guys who chased me off by talking to me too much. :) The perils of being a single female traveler.

Last nite, I went to one of the many cafes along "the strip"....to the left, the ocean, to the right, hotels, shops, cafes, restaurants. There was a semi-classical India music concert. After hearing a good amount of "straight" classical music at the school, it was great to hear these two guys play drum and violin, with effects on the violin.

It's mid afternoon now and the sun is much too brutal to be sitting under, so I'm relaxing inside until it cools down. I'm meeting a few folks I've met from London and Vancouver tonight for dinner, more relaxing tomorrow, and then off on Wednesday.

Wish you could all teleport here!