On three random occasions in and around Ooty, I happened to bump into the same French guys. After a few discussions we all realised that we had the same plan to travel South to Alleppy (Alappuzha) to do the classic overnight boat trip through the river and therefore decided that it would be more fun and so much cheaper if we were to actually plan our next encounter and do it together. So when I was in Kochi they had already arrived and had my accommodation and free transport from the bus station all sorted. Lovely!

The place we stayed was fantastic. It was a beach resort and I had a cute hut to sleep in. The temperatures were perfect and nothing was better than waking up and running into the sea with the guys for a pre-breakfast swim. The waves, however, were humungous and very messy. This of course made everything all the more fun. Especially when you got trapped, dragged and fully attacked by the waters. I was just thankful that Cyril gave me one of his t-shirts to wear in the water so as to not have the dilemma of losing my dear bikini.

The guys would jump, flip and fearlessly swim towards the biggest of waves whereas I seemed to be more frantically drowning than anything. On many occasions someone would shout out ‘Luana, are you okay?’ to which I would reply ‘No. Fuck. Fuck. No.’ whilst madly shaking my head at the forthcoming wave before taking a huge breath and holding my nose to go under.

I remember having the memory of a fish on each swimming session, not recalling the thought of mass confusion and pure fear of having to return to the sand. For that is always the most difficult part. And the part which allowed me to have tons of sand and shell covering my body. Each assault from the sea meant that I was to spend the next hour in the shower washing my hair with shampoo for the millionth time trying to extract as much as I could.

Another great thing about the place we were staying (other than the astonishing company of course) was that there was also a beach volleyball net. So for each evening which we spent there, we would collect the manager and his friends to join us for a game. After a few hits into nowhere, I believe I finally started to get the hang of it and in my opinion; I contributed to our winning team. I use the term ‘winning’ team although no score was ever kept. It didn’t need to be. Everyone was having plenty of fun as it was, diving for shots and slamming over the net. But of course your full commitment to the game was necessary. And so like the others, I ended up with dramatic cuts all over my hands and wrists (from my bracelet which I consistently refused to remove) and grazes covering my knees and legs. Though at the time, I was unaware that these cuts and grazes would make me look diseased for the next 2 weeks.

So morning comes and we all have a small bag to take with us on our search to find an adequate boat (i.e. one which hasn’t yet been booked and is also in our price range). It turns out that this was more difficult that we thought it would be. But sure enough, an hour or so later the boat was moving, the guys started pouring the vodka equally into glasses and placing our beers in the ice box whilst clever Luana manages to drench herself in coke. Having only decided to be away for one night, no one wanted to lug around a spare change of clothing and so my comfortably loose grey strappy top became attached to my (now sticky) skin and becoming a little more see-through than necessary. Of course everyone else found it hilarious as I sat there like the massive idiot that I am. It’s at this point that I manage to steal another shirt while I bucket wash the soft drink out of my top.

The boat was flawless as the chef would give us perfectly cooked fish, thali, freshly cut fruit and of course my unlimited amounts of Chai. On several occasions the captain would stop our 2 bedroom boat for us to all to do flips into the water from the top floor. I say ‘all’ but really I was a massive wimp and would only pencil jump or do the classic ‘John Smith bomb’ until we stopped for our night swim to which I felt determined and unstoppable. This may have led to a ‘back flop’ but proud I was nonetheless.

This ‘quick night swim before bed’ plan turned into over 2 hours of fun swimming into the middle of nowhere on floats. The best was when we decided to bring our beer into the water and all lie facing the star-filled sky in the most relaxed and comfortable way possible. I couldn’t have foreseen such a spectacular trip.

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