And so it was Christmas eve on the beach with only some feeble and erratically decorated Christmas bushes. We had dinner together with some other Swedes, some of them run a hotel next to ours. The days are pretty hot now, maybe even too hot for swimming. Any hard work has to be carried out before 7 am. In the evenings there is a small breeze on the roof. The whole area is filling up with tourists and most rooms are booked by now. Yesterday I went with the kids to Taj Hotel's secluded swimming pool so that they could practice their swimming. The ocean waves are too big. We walked back on the beach. Varkala beach was crowded with a mix of Indian and foreign tourists. On the Cliff all the restaurants were erecting various X-mas gear such as strangled and bloated Santa Claus effigies. Tsering will be joining us for a few days and the kids are looking forward to meet her again. Today is the real Christmas Day for most people here including the Christian Keralites. Last night a gang of kids assaulted the restaurant, banging on water canisters and chanting "Hallelujah" as if it was a cricket game!