Hey everyone! I’m enjoying my second day in India and am loving this country already! I am in India for a 200 hour yoga teacher training. My training starts in 9 days, and until then I am backpacking around Kerala. Kerala is termed by the locals “God’s Own Country” for it’s incredible beauty. It is also the center of Ayurvedic Medicine.
Today I woke up on the beautiful cliff of Varkala. I got up before the sunrise and walked to the cliffside to see the sky turn pink and illuminate the ocean. I understand why travel books warn about getting “stuck” in Varkala. Life is so easy here - everything that a traveler may need is at their fingertips, the scenery is spectacular, everything is in walking distance, and it’s easy to loose track of time while the waves roll on in. I’ve already met a couple of people here who have stayed a couple of weeks when they originally were only planning on staying a few days.
I enjoyed a delicious cashew, coconut, banana, and date smoothie at the Coffee Bar while the sun inched its way higher up the sky. The Coffee Bar has a great juice and coffee menu and also has the fastest wifi that I could find, so I managed to do some work in paradise. At around 8am I packed my backpack and decided to explore while the sun wasn’t too strong. I ended up taking the cliffside walkway a few kilometers south, passing by all of the shopkeepers just opening up for the day.
The walkway winded down until I was past all of the storefronts and right next to the sandy beaches. It was pretty interesting to see how quickly the scenery changed - from fancy resorts and tourist shops boasting sarongs and spices to small fishing huts, large cement office buildings, and goats outside of someone’s home. My favorite part of the walk was passing through the fishing community where about 30 older men were all circled around large fishing nets in their morning routine of detangling the nets. I stopped there for a bit and sat next to the water, enjoying the contrasting energy of the fishing community to the resort town just ten minutes away.
I eventually wandered back and had lunch at Oottupura Vegetarian Restaurant, which was a wonderful introduction to an Indian breakfast. I ordered the “traditional Keralan breakfast”, which came with idli (a fermented rice cake), scrambled eggs, Keralan coffee (grown in the Munnar region), fresh pineapple juice, sambar (a lentil and vegetable based stew), coconut chutney, and steamed bananas. The meal cost 200 INR (around $3).
After a little siesta, I got up and wandered around again. I stumbled on a sign that said “Cooking Class” at Jairam Cafe. I was hoping to find a cooking class in Varkala and this seemed like the perfect place. I wandered in and met the chef, who invited me to join their 2pm class with 3 other folks. At 2pm I came back and we started our two hour long class, learning eight Indian dishes. 3 of the dishes were North Indian and 5 were South Indian. The total cost of the class, including all of the ingredients and a large meal at the end, was 1200 INR (around $20). The dishes were beetroot pachadi, cabbage thoran, masala dosa, coconut chutney, coconut puttel, dal fry, palak paneer, and cumin rice. The chef, Dilip, had all of the ingredients prepared and made each dish in front of us, dictating each step along the way. We stood and observed, taking notes and asking questions.
It was great to actually see how the dishes were made and experience the smells of herbs crackling in oil and coconut being tossed in a wok. However, I do wish that it was a little more hands on. We did get to make our own masala dosa, which was really fun. Also, there were 4 people in the class, myself, two other females, and one male. The chef only addressed the male the whole time and only asked him if he wanted to try stirring something or try smelling something. I understand it’s a cultural thing, but as a female who loves to cook, it was frustrating. We finished making the 8 dishes (which I will share the recipes of in an upcoming post) and sat down to enjoy our feast! It was all so delicious! I also think that food is twice as delicious when you’ve helped cook it :-) This was a great way to get a peak into Indian culture and cuisine and make some friends along the way.