We arrive to Varkala around noon. It's cloudy and you can tell it was raining recently. The usual drill with a cab driver. We tell him the place and ask how much. He tells us the price, and we guess whether he's ripping us off or not. It sounds reasonable this time. Then we convince him that we really want to go to the place we told him about and not to another one, of which we hear from him for the first time and which is 'very nice'. And we are on our way. We like what we see from the cab. A lot of tropical greenery and some colorful houses.

Eden Garden

When the cab stops, we can't really see anything that we would call Eden Garden (not that we would call anything Eden Garden, for that matter, except for Tiho, who used the name of the Biblical place to refer to his favorite juice bar in Chennai), but the driver points to the other end of a rice field where a small compound is hidden behind palm trees. It is built around a rectangular pond, which features some lotus, big orange frogs and three dinning platforms. The hotel doubles as a center for Ayurvedic medicine and massage and the couple that serves lunch to us in the afternoon, gives us massage in the evening. The Garden is very peaceful and occasional rain shower provides a dramatic rhythm. I already love monsoons.

Veranda in Eden Garden.

After everybody got fed, massaged, and rested, we all meet on top of the cliff which walls a long beach. Drama is visual this time. Among several open restaurants and bars that line the cliff top we find a pleasant place and get excited talking about the first day and tomorrow's cruise. The background is Bob Marley, grilled sea food and mandatory Kingfisher.

Holly beach in Varkala.