Varkala

On February 26th, I left Asadeepam early in the morning to catch the train to Trivandrum where Georgie's flight was arriving at noon. Once we met, we decided to take the bus to Varkala because some of Georgie's friends were planning on visiting there that weekend. We took the train to Varkala and then caught the public bus to the beachfront. We checked into Mango House Bed & Breakfast, which had been recommended by other interns. It had a beautiful garden with deck chairs and a hammock. Georgie and I sat and talked about our ideas for our trip. On the first night we walked along the beach at sunset. We had dinner at a beachside restaurant that served fresh seafood caught by the local fisherman that day.

The next morning, we visited a local temple. It was my first time in a Hindu temple, and it was interesting to walk around and observe the building and people worshipping. In the afternoon, we went down to the beach to swim. The waves and currents in the Arabian Sea can be very strong, and we were tossed around a lot while swimming. In the evening we had dinner at a nearby restaurant which had live music. We met an Australian student who had just completed an internship for medical school. He had also spent a couple weeks trekking in Nepal.

The next morning we planned to spend an entire day at the beach. We alternated between lying on beach chairs and cooling off in the water. By the end of the day, both Georgie and I were very sunburnt. We bought some after-sun lotion and applied it about every hour for the rest of the day.