The art of coffee, newspapers, yoga and other random things in Varkala!

Varkala....is a travellers heaven! A beautiful beach, surrounded by red sand cliffs, cheap accommodations, food, massages and yoga...can't really ask for much more...nor could I find anything to complain about........life is good!!!!

I am reluctantly admitting that I have reacquired the tiny habit of coffee drinking here in Varkala. It just seems to fit! And it most definitely seems to me that after that 7am yoga class, a coffee and newspaper seems to be the perfect combination. ( plus I am pretty sure I have had my fill of chai for a lifetime!) So... all this magic takes place at a cafe that sits on the edge of the cliffs overlooking the ocean. I have grown quite fond of it and my affection simply stems from the fact that they have an actual espresso machine. Now that is a big deal in India, since the coffee culture of Starbucks has not taken the population by storm yet. Most restaurants serve the instant Nescafe, which as a coffee connoisseur almost verges on undrinkable and simply re enforces the stigma that instant coffee is bad!!!...... now the newspapers on the other hand aren't so good. And most days its debatable if there was even one article worth reading. Between the improper use of grammar, the constant misuse of words and horrible sentence structure, you can almost forgive them for the lack of stories!.......but the coffee is satiable!

Have managed to get 2 yoga classes in a day ( with my busy schedule and all!!!) ....which as been amazing. Its nearing the end of season here, so the classes have been small, which translates into a lot of one on one time with the teacher. And its incredible how much that helps, as I am managing to do poses that seemed threatening to me a few weeks ago. The teacher, who is about half the size of me, has contorted my body in ways I am not convinced are healthy even though, in broken English, he passionately expresses to me they are..... but when I am eating my toes and my internal organs are screaming out in suffocation from being squished together, I am not so convinced! I did, however, drag Dom to a class....my reasoning being "when in India".....he took a bit of a beating but survived to tell the tale!...pretty sure he is not gonna become a yogi though!=)

Off to an ashram tomorrow in Trivandrum as I thought I would finish the trip the way I started it! Then a quick stop over in Singapore before I meet Katia is Australia.

Hope everyone is feeling beautiful!!! namaste!!!!!!!