We have been perched atop the cliffs here for a week now and our most difficult decisions each day are where to eat next and when to swim again!
Leaving Afghanistan was a little sad and yet the right time to go...and now we are ready for new adventures ahead. After Easter we will be in Kolkata where I will volunteer with a business called Freeset until the end of June. Nicole remains working for Tearfund UK remotely for now. Beyond June we have no idea...but that is what we hope to discover in the next few months.
Being back in India is great। I have been here 7-8 times and for Nicole this is her first। We had a night in Kolkata when we arrived then came to Kerala. Varkala was the place I rested up in 12 years ago after leading a short term team for a month, and before making my first journey to Afghanistan. It seems quite fitting to have returned here to rest up again after our time in Afghanistan. Varkala has changed significantly...the cliffs are now hyper-populated with restaurants, souvenir shops, and tailors making the type of hippy clothes tourists love to wear, and locals laugh at! Despite the changes there is still a nice relaxed beach feel to the place & nobody is too bothered by anything or anyone. Wrist watches are not needed!
Last night we had a Keralan dinner on banana leaves sitting on the roof of the guest-house we are staying in ($6USD/night!)... invited by the owner of the house. There were travelers from Sweden, Italy, Australia & Canada, plus several locals. One thing we all had in common was a love for journeys and exploring and a refusal to accept the norms of 9-5 work til you die!!
I have enjoyed reading something other than project proposals or reports - I just finished "Super Freakonomics" (Levitt & Dubner) and Nicole has just about finished "Ireland Awakening" (E Rutherford). Both great reads.We are heading to Allepy & Cochin next with some house-boat on the back-waters thrown in, a little more beach time, then Delhi & the Taj Mahal - and taking the back to Kolkata.We look forward to letting you know our thoughts on life in Kolkata once we get into the groove there।
With much love & peace to ya!
M & N
पास एंड लव तो यू अल
Lovely to see what you're up to. We hope things go well.
ReplyDeleteTracey & Alan