Kicking Back on Kovalam Beach

Our friend Nandu who lives in Trivandrum thought we should begin our time in Kerala at the ocean, at Kovalam Beach 16 km south of Trivandrum. He booked us into a small hotel that is built in traditional Kerala design, with an inner courtyard, tiled pagoda style roof and lots of nice wood. It was a block to the ocean, whose sandy beaches most definitely tempted us. So much so, that Kaya, Nadia and Emil all got sunburns in between being tossed by the waves.

On Monday evening, Kaya and I took a rickshaw to the Trivandrum airport. It was my easiest childbirth experience and… the child is already 18! Sarah was more exhausted than I – she’d spent almost a day in transit prior to her rebirth… but she recovered quickly and seems to be coping well with her new “siblings” and even her “parents” (we do promise to return her to you Janet and Steve!) She was quick to learn from her siblings’ mistake - after noticing their lobster-like appearance she decided to use gobs of sunscreen during the remainder of our time in Kovalam.

Here we discovered the joys of boogie-boards which we were able to rent on the beach, and of fruit salads of mango, banana, watermelon, jack-fruit, papaya and freshly grated coconut. Yum! As always, people were very friendly, though many of them were also trying hard to sell us one thing or another. The place seemed to us to be overrun by bikini clad tourists but apparently tourism is dramatically down this year, and many of the people who make their living from tourists are feeling the pinch. Our hotel manager told us that whereas last year they had over 2300 visitors during the tourist season (Dec 1 to March 1), this year they have only been full 2 nights, and that they’ve only had about 15 nights with guests so far – while we were there, we had the place to ourselves. Is it the Mumbai attack, strife in Sri Lanka, the economic downtown or (most likely) all three?

Local fishermen continue to use the beach for their traditional fishery. Some of them use raft like boats – three or four slightly shaped logs tied together. Often a single man goes out on one of these and dives off it in search of lobsters, mussels and other crustaceans.

Most of the boats are much larger, beautifully curved craft; the slats of wood are sewn together with what looks like coconut rope. They’re a little reminiscent of the shape of the Viking longboat. A crew of 6 to 8 men set the net by rowing in a big circle off-shore. They then row line from one end of the net into shore, and row back out to gather in the second line. On shore, ten to fifteen men work together on each line to haul the net back in. It is mesmerizing to watch – the men chant as they slowly work the line, pulling and moving inland. Once reaching the coil of rope, the fisherman walks back out into the ocean to be the “front” man on the line. In this way, there is a constant rotation of men, and everyone except the man who is actually coiling the rope gets a short break from pulling every few minutes. After staring entranced during a couple of the pulls, I couldn’t resist the invitation to join the crew for another pull. For maximum pleasure, I placed myself in front of the man who lead the chanting. After a short while, Christian also joined in… but I guess the kids were too shy (or lazy?) Next day, I could definitely feel that I had used several of my back and shoulder muscles.

When the net is close to shore, some of the men dive into the water and splash and shout to herd the fish into the net. Most of the catches seemed pretty meager, but apparently one that I helped pull for a short time had an excellent haul. I was told that the fishermen wanted to reward me with a fish, but I didn’t go down to collect for two reasons. 1. I didn’t know how I’d cook the fish and 2. I really didn’t think I deserved it.

Though we didn’t eat “my” fish, we did eat several delicious variations on fish curry in Kovalam. We also had our first taste of boiled banana, iddyapam (fresh rice noodles), pootu (a steamed rice meal and coconut dish) and other scrumptious offerings. We enjoyed several glasses of lassi and fresh juice – these have been available almost everywhere, but we haven’t always felt confident that they are safe to drink.

Most mornings Christian and I got up early to walk (it is way to hot here to walk very far any time after about 9 am.) One morning, from the next cove south, we “discovered” a gorgeous castle poking through the early morning mist – with its many narrow turrets, it looked like something from 1001 Nights.

We walked south for about kilometer and when we got closer, reality met romance. The “castle” was one of about three mosques towering over a mish-mash of tiny concrete and/or brick homes, many of them with palm-thatched roofs. There was a big pier and dozens of fishing boats were pulled up on shore. People were busy repairing nets or pulling in boats or sleeping outside (a common sight in India). It was a bit of a shock to see the poverty of the community - such a stark contrast to the decadence of Kovalam Beach… and to the beauty and size of the mosques in the village itself. Yet another example of the endless contrasts of India.