Trip to Kovalam
When it comes to SquareBoat’s annual trip, it has to be big, and nowhere else could it have been bigger and better than the “God’s own country” itself. Last weekend the entire team of SquareBoat went to a 3-day-trip to one of Kerela’s Kovalam beach. With a mix of both calmness and adventure, this trip was everything that a group of 20-something software developers could have asked for.
Day 1
Having already arrived the previous night, the team had one of the best mornings they had had in a long while. Waking up to the sound of sea waves and having breakfast in a sea-view restaurant made us question ourselves if it is a dream.
We hit off to the beach as soon as we could and played kabaddi with the waves while one of our team members, Pawan Kumar, discovered his new superpower of floating on the water without any effort at all.
Our afternoon was welcomed by the local cuisine at one of the beach side restaurants, the German Bakery, where we tasted the tastes of down south.
Nothing could have been more fitting for the evening than a scenic sunset on the beach side. Therefore, with our tummy’s full we headed for the backwaters in Poovar where traditional boats fitted with modern motorboat engines took us on a sail through a calm river cutting across the jungle. We were overwhelmed by the what we were seeing. Trees, river, birds, and even the air we were breathing was reminding us that we are indeed in ‘God’s own country’. The boat ride ended on the golden-sand beach where we saw off the sun and ended our day.
Day 2
People in Kerela say that when you’re this far out south, you must visit Kanyakumari, and so we did. The day started early with the team taking off for Kanyakumari in a beautifully decorated and unmistakably South Indian bus. Looking through the window was never this amazing. The narrow roads of Kerala-villages were decorated with trees, gardens and pretty houses. And if there’s one thing that Keralites can never go wrong at, it is the use of colours. Almost every house gave us an example of how creative and vibrant Keralites could be.
After reaching Kanyakumari, we headed straight to the biggest thing one can spot around there which is the Vivekananda temple. A 20-minutes-walk along the ocean and we reached the point where the ferry took us to the tiny rock island on which the temple was built on. It was amazing how peaceful this place was, surrounded by water on each sides.
But too much of peace can be hazardous for a young group of travellers who still have a day left of vacation, therefore, on the way back to the bus, the team dared to risk crab bites, stepping on rocks to get too close to the ocean to feel the breeze right on their faces.
We ended the day, with a view of the sunset from the view tower and headed straight back to the Kovalam for another day of adventure.
Day 3
The third day began early as saying goodbye to Kovalam. We left the hotel with our luggage and headed to the most scenic beach around there, Varkala. With a beach located on the top of a small hill, it has a view that most beaches in Goa can’t offer.
We launched ourselves straight into the ocean as soon as we got there, and it didn’t take long before some of us dared to risk high ocean waves in style on surfing boards.
To our surprise, there was a fresh water waterfall where we cleaned sand off our bodies and took some candid pictures. And just when we thought the day can’t get any better, we found another German Bakery near the beach where we finished off our day to the taste of Deccan and headed straight to the airport thereafter.
With a group as big as ours, it can be complicated to work out an itinerary to which everyone agrees to, but it is the emotional bond between the team members which makes sure that everybody enjoys no matter what the itinerary or the location is.
