Feeling hot, hot, hot!

When I woke up this morning there was a palpable difference in the temperature - the last days it has been raining and thereby a lower temperature, but today the sun is sailing the blue sky without any clouds to accompany her... And now it's hot hot hot! I will go down to the beach, just had to send some e-mails to book my hotel in Allepey..

The plan is to go to Kollam to take a ferry through the beautiful backwaters of Kerala, arrive in Allepey in the evening and stay in a nice hotel before heading back to Varkala by train the next day. I think this is just as much as I feel for traveling in Kerala now :) If I wouldn't go to the Ashram, there are so many places that I would like to visit. Like Hampi, Munnar, Periyar... But since going to the Yoga Ashram is one of my main goals with this trip I will stick to my plan.

The last days it has been raining, but I still went to the beach, and I have been hanging out with some other back packers. It is really nice and relaxing to be here in Varkala, and slowly slowly now I'm starting to wind down...

Every day you get amazed by the stunning beauty - the ocean, the cliffs, the palm trees... Every day on the beach I walk out until the water reaches me up to my waist. Then I just stand there, admiring the powerful waves, how they roll in from the ocean and break into tides, turning the water into bubbles and froth, feeling like I am standing in the middle of a huge jacuzzi!

One must be careful though, the under current is really strong and you can feel how it pulls your legs, pleading you to come with out in the vast sea. It is indeed very mighty and powerful, and every year loads of people get dragged out and drown. Luckily there are plenty of life guards at the beach, blowing their whistles as soon as they find that some one is too far out. We have been speculating, though, if theese guys really would try to do anything if someone actually got into trouble - they seem pretty lazy and ignorant. But hopefully they have a system so they know what to do when someone needs their help.

Another thing that is potentially dangerous here is the Dengue fever. It's a virus that is transmitted by a certain type of mosquito which bites during dusk and dawn. If you get the Dengue, you get very sick, with symptoms similar to malaria. However, you can't vaccinate against it and you wont acquire immunity - instead you run a very dangerous race if you stay in this part of the world since Dengue gets more aggravated every time you get it, and it might lead to death :/ 

Well well.

Miss you all, both volunteers in Kolkata and all you people, my dear dear friends and family back home.

I can't wait now to go to Thailand and finally meet up with Erik...! :)