Starting Christmas night people began to leave. Marc, Pema and Champa headed out to Chennai, where they were hoping to catch a boat to the Andaman Islands. I decided to stick around until the 27th, but couldn’t make up my mind where to go, but was feeling like being on my own for awhile.

On the day after Christmas, Raj, Lee and I caught a bus up to the Periyar Wildlife Park. There is a large lake, and we were hoping to take a boat ride. Unfortunately, hoards of other tourists had the same idea, and we came a bit late. Luckily we had a local contact who arranged a short hike in the park. We had a ranger (who was from one of the local mountain tribes) to guide us. To start, we pulled ourselves accross part of the lake on a bamboo raft. The air smelled fresh. As we hiked we could hear what sounded like trees breaking, and knew there were elephants around. We managed to spot two of them accross the small valley.
We left Lee in the mountains and came back to Raj’s house. Finally I decided where I would go, and the next day headed back to Varkala and the beach. I was sent off with lots of coffee and pepper from the family estate. And promised to visit them when I returned to Kerala.
I was immediately happy that I had returned to Varkala. The first evening I met a film maker from Delhi. He was sitting with a young shop owner playing guitar. I sat with them for several hours as they took turns strumming, and then a couple of us went to eat dinner. We walked past the big tourist restaurants and found a little hut further down the cliff. Here we had dosas (large, crispy crepes filled with potato curry) which were cooked on a wood fired grill. It was one of the best meals I’ve had in India.
I have also met two Tibetans through Champa. They run a small Tibetan shop. I offered to tutor them in English. Last night they invited me to dinner, so I have gotten my Tibetan food fix.
After two days staying at a hotel on the cliff, I met a Canadian who was looking for a place further out. I walked with him and we found a little guest house with six rooms facing the water about 80 feet from the beach. I moved there yesterday, and woke up this morning to the sound of the surf.