The open air hotel

Our bus rattled into Patnem Beach on India's West coast at 2:30am, not 7:30 as we'd planned. We shared a cab with a young guy from Israel also heading into town and decided to walk down to the beach front to check against hope if our hotel might be open. It wasn't. He didn’t have any accommodation booked and was happy for the companionship. We dragged our bags down through the dark, narrow streets towards the quiet of the beach front. As soon as we set foot on the orange sand, we set off the local alarm. A pack of ten dogs broke the night and started trotting towards us barking at the intruders.

Our plan was to sleep on the beach chairs until cafes started opening in what we guessed would be another five or six hours. The beach chairs were huge and solid and we even found some cushions for some unexpected luxury. It was a cloudless night, a slither of moon lit the scene dimly and there was a slight chill in the air; just enough to make falling asleep difficult. Once we settled and lay down, the dogs stopped barking and a few set up around us, I guess to protect us from the shadows. One dog jumped up onto our makeshift bed and slept at our feet, until his friend came and started play fighting at 4am.

I was starting to get hungry and I couldn't sleep, but I was in India and I was happy. I played a few or more games of Catan on my phone. I slipped into sleep just as dawn started to light up the shadows. We slept in front of the first cafe to open. Its staff were politely setting up around as as we tried to wake up. The dogs were gone. We apologised for holding up their work and asked if the kitchen was making food yet. Our friend slept on until we were curled around our coffees.

The owner woke him and they had a longer than, “wake up and move please" chat. He marched over equal parts panicked, confused, and outraged.
"Did you guys have to pay for a night's accommodation?" I laughed,  I thought he was joking. He looked annoyed, maybe at me maybe at the cafe owner. I said no and suggested the owner was joking and sipped my coffee nowhere nearly as smugly as it sounds.
"They don't joke about money here," he said with great conviction. I wasn't so sure, I looked over at the owner who had a wry grin and a mischievous glint. I suggested rent may be covered if he ate there, he took that counter offer back to the owner who nodded graciously and winked at us.

The dogs had disappeared with the night. We saw them again later in the day sleeping on the beach probably dreaming about that time they got to sleep on the beach chairs like people. The day’s heat rolled in and I took in the beach front's new details as I waited for the coffee to rectify my sleepless night. A volcanic headland topped with spare greenery to the right, a flat, waveless ocean in front, and a long stretch of beach and a smaller headland to the left. It was the best cheapest night of accommodation we had all trip.