Kerala

Kerry and I left our hotel at 4a for our flight to Kerala, a beach state famous for its resorts, 

backwaters, and ayurveda.  We arrived at our “Beach and Lake Resort” by 10a, and soon 

greeted Abby and Ben who had flown in from Chennai.  The hotel was split between strip 

of land and an island, and a man in a long skinny wooden boat dug a stick in the ground to 

move the boat back and forth.  Hard work, especially since meals were on the island, so 

the traverse occurred often.  I had a room with a view of the ocean and gorgeous sunsets, 

and opened my balcony doors and braved the mosquitoes to listen to the lapping waves at 

night.  We tried a horrendous version of yoga, where the instructor basically had us blow 

snot rockets from our noses, and an even worse version of an oil massage, where I lied butt-

naked, spread eagle, while a lady rubbed an insane amount of oil all over me (with a lot of 

focus on my chest).  Talk about relaxing … ??  I thought it couldn’t get worse, until the 
owner asked if he could photograph us receiving “treatments” for his pamphlet and 

website.  Our treatments would, of course, be complimentary.  Ugh.

There was a pool, and a dirty beach which the boat man sticked us over to.  We were 

accompanied by a guard, who stood by and watched as we tried to relax in the sand.  We 

went for a walk, only to be harassed by a group of young boys.  They followed us back to 

our post with the guard and wouldn’t leave, so we called the boat man back over.  Fail.

But there was no honking, and we ate our meals on a sandy patio overlooking the water, 

and it felt like vacation.  A so-needed vacation.  Felt like my only two days off the entire

summer ... and somehow I worked 4 hours each day.