Boom in Varkala

My beard is growing slowly but surely. At least a centimetre more before I am happy with its progression, perhaps when a bit of food gets stuck in it I'll be more at ease with its advancement, until then I'll just have to put up with this stubbly thing I'm sporting.
It will be a week tomorrow when we arrived in Varkala, and at this moment in time it is raining hard and we are sheltering ourselves in the coffee temple. No coffee today, hot lemon, ginger and honey instead. The lurgy that started to rear its ugly head is upon us both, sore head, throat and a chesty cough and no matter how much of this drink I have drunk it didn't keep this cold at bay. Obviously mine is worse than Allison's as everyone knows that colds effect men much worse than they do women.
We both love it in Varkala and the few days that we both assumed we would stay here turned into a week, I could even stay longer but you could end up just stagnating and not moving forward. Tomorrow we are off to Amma's Ashram where our spiritual journey of enlightenment awaits. I'm not sure that it will actually happen as I've heard mixed reviews about the place. A very western kind of Ashram, not so chilled. It has tower blocks for the thousands of pilgrims that descend from around the world to worship with Amma (mother). We shall see, at least it should be interesting.

My Yogi journey finally got underway the other day, yoga with Haridas it said on the sign. With a name like that I had images of Salvador from couples retreat bending my legs back whilst whispering "boom, boom". I was pleasantly surprised when an old, balding Indian guy turned up and taught a Hatha yoga class.

The way he spoke was really funny and at times I wanted to burst out laughing but managed to keep myself in check. "Inhale deepleeeeee" the ee's at the end would be extended and come out in a squeaky manner. "Exhale completeleeeeeee". The way he said relax was great as well. "Relaixx". He would start of quiet at the beginning and then just get louder and squeakier at the end. I wish I could have recorded his voice. 

I had to take Allison to Haridas yoga class today. I needed her to hear the way he pronounced certain words. I caught a glimpse of her a couple of times with a smirk on her face after he said his now famous inhale deeply, exhale completely. After the class he asked her if she could understand him, and she told him "yeah, sort of". Apparently my imitation of him was spot on!

There are quite a few little shops along the cliff top here with Indians trying to sell you T-shirts, dresses, knick knacks and lots of other stuff you wouldn't consider purchasing back at home. One woman somehow managed to get me and Allison in her shop and even managed to get Allison to buy a dress. This could have been somehow to do with her baby daughter who was lying on the floor making us feel guilty about not parting with any cash.

The owner of La Mirban is really nice and friendly and seems to be completely genuine. 

This is the view from our room at La Mirban.