Our house in Varkala

We arrived to Varkala (Kerala, South India) mid of November’09, and it took us 10 days to find the house we like. The 3-room house had a few cupboards and we were promised a fridge, a gas stove, 2 tables, few chairs and 3 beds (1 in each room). There were no kitchen utensils. We could not move in before they supplied the promised furniture. At the end, it took us 6 more days before we could move-in, and as of this day we are still waiting for the 2nd table (and we will not see it, that’s for sure).

Location

Full view from the street

Our house is located in one of Varkala’s suburbs called Vachar Mukku. It is about 2km (25 min walk) to the touristic area and the beach, and the same distance to Varkala town center. In front of our house there is what locals call Vachar Mukku welding workshop, which is a perfect reference point for rickshaws/taxis and parcel couriers. “Welding workshop” means that they do lots of work with metal. That includes – daily hammering, cutting, and polishing, thus making sometimes lots of noise. It took us 1-2 weeks to get used to it, and now it sounds more like a part of India 🙂 There are 2 or 3 small shops in our street, but we prefer to go shopping in Varkala town or in the fish & vegetable market and their surrounding stores, which are only 15 min walk from our place.

Electricity and Water

our well - view from the roof

Electricity here is paid every 2 months. The last bill showed the consumption of 200 kWh and we paid 385 Rs (€6.40). However, the electricity guy, who brought the bill, saw us – foreigners – living in the house. So, there is a chance, that next time the bill will be adjusted to the “foreigners’ rate”, which is 4-5 higher (not fair!).

There is no governmental water supply in our house. The electric pump (we switch it manually every 1.5 days) gets it from the well in the garden to the huge tank on the roof. In some nearby areas well-water is drinkable. However, we noticed that the water tank on the roof gets covered with tiny brown dust inside, whatever it is. So we prefer not to drink this water, but we use it for cooking, washing veggies and brushing teeth. Drinkable water we buy in 20 liter bottles (50 Rs – €0.85), which is delivered once per week right to the door. We need 2 of such bottles each week.

Expenses at a glance

• 35000 Rs (€500) – rent for 5 months (paid at once) – the currency rate shown is at the time we paid for it, now it is more € euros.
• 600 Rs (€9) – gas bottle 30 kg (gross) – we will need 2 of them during 5 months.
• 3400 Rs (€49) – moving-in cost: houshold items, kitchen utensils, bed sheets, pilow covers, curtains, etc.
• 5900 Rs (€85) – Internet (Asianet Homenet 880, 384 Kbps) for 5 months + cable modem

Interior

a little bit of the breeze in the hall - doors to Katja's (left) and Augustas' rooms

Our house has a big hall, a big kitchen, three rooms (two for us and 1 for guests), two toilets+shower, a backyard and a compost hole, which we have started upon arrival.

Other photos of all our house inside and outside you can find in this photo gallery:

http://followtheroad.com/en/pictures/india-2009-2010/our-house-in-varkala/

We will leave this house in the first days of May 2010.

We love our HOME in India sooo much 😉

Our Recommendation

If you are looking for a house to rent or a place to stay in Varkala, we can recommend our good friends Faith and Saji. Saji is a native local and Faith lives in Varkala for many years. For contacts and more information please visit their website: http://skylarkguesthouse.hotels.officelive.com