Kovalam beach, Kerela is a 30 minute bus ride from Trivandrum. After a morning at the zoo, and surprisingly little else to do in Trivandrum we decided to spend the afternoon and evening at Kovalam beach. Thinking it was a little too resorty for our tastes we weren’t planning on going, but at the end of the evening we were glad we did. Definetly resorty, but beautiful non-the-less. Surprisingly it was relatively easy to find our way off the beaten path to a rocky seashore overlooking a beautiful old castle.

After our hike I enjoyed the luxury of swimming in a swim suit! on a Western beach, as well as my first guilt free alchoholic beverage in months. I had forgotten that alchohol could actually be good (and cute!)

Signs at the entrance of the beach toted Ayervedic everything! tea, food, massage, clothes, maybe even coffee. I wanted to take a picture of this, but forgot before the sun set. This beach was very pleasant and relaxing (if a little - O.k. - alot artificial). It was also an extreme contrast to everything else I had seen so far in India.

It was on this beach that I completely confused an Indian family. They tried to speak to me in Malayalam because I was dressed in Indian clothes. They were very confused about where I came from. I guess in Kerela there are many tourists, but none stay for long, and there isn’t a need to think about the way you dress. This family was used to seeing tourists, but the Indian clothes I was wearing threw them for a loop. In Tamil Nadu traditional clothes were a necessity. People would have been shocked to see my knees, and I would have died of heat exhaustion in appropriately modest Western clothes. This Kerelan family’s reaction to my appearance was one of a few in Kerela. I felt stupid that I didn’t speak a word of Malayalam. If they spoke Tamil I would have been able to say atleast a little something!