Goa: Tropical Kicking Back

Panaji, the largest city in Goa.

We were in Goa for five nights at the end of our trip. It is a small state on the west coast of India that had been a Portuguese colony for 450 years. Only until it was freed from Portugal in 1961 by Nehru and the Goan freedom fighters did it become a part of India.  Because of the Catholic Portuguese, there was more prevalent and available alcohol, churches and Portuguese architecture in Goa. I think there was actually a Church of the Inquisition. Goa is more laid back culturally (thank goodness that nasty Inquisition is over).

Portugese architecture evident in this Indian colored house

We stayed in our favorite place on the trip, Heaven Goa, for $17 a night in this small town in southern Goa. The owners, Sunil (from the southern state of Kerala) and Kirin (from Sweden) took good care of the guest house and garden. The owners were friendly and helpful without being in your face. (We are not B&B people.) The dog was well loved, if flea bitten and unspayed. The two cats liked to sleep around human traffic. Five puppies graced the outdoor eating area-- a mosaic tiled platform surrounded by hardy grass. It was protective with a palm mat roof, open on the sides and next to the kitchen building.

Our room was Zen plain, with white walls, a big canopy bed with requisite hippie color blocked elephant pattern bed spread and a mosquito net. We had a terrace with cane chairs overlooking the lily pond. The lilies bloomed white in the early part of the day and closed in the afternoon. Clean and peaceful. Most of the time.

We had a 10 minute walk down a rural road past rice fields each day to the warm Arabian Sea where we waded and watched the sunset. On most nights, including Thanksgiving, we ate at a beach restaurant with candle light on the table. In one place, little crabs the color of sand scurried sideways by the tables. We loved having the warm sea breeze and the sound of the waves reminding us that we were most definitely not in Oregon. This is true--if you are in a place like that and you think about how cold and dark and dreary it is at home, it is even better being in a tropical place. Our daughter sent an email saying it was 20 degrees one day and they had and ice storm.

The sand at our beach went on for 12 miles in a slight arc. The difference in the water line between when the tide went in and when it went out was not that great compared with Oregon beaches. The sand was a fine, soft, golden white color with lots of small and tiny shells. MT liked crunching on them with his shod feet. Different shells--smooth tan clams, crab shells, tiny black scallops, light red, violet streaked shiny bi-valves, and miniature unicorn horns of different caramel colors decorated the sand.

Palm trees stereotypically and beautifully lined the beach. It was not the peaceful type of beach that you find in Oregon. In Oregon, people do not try to sell you a sarong or jewelry  or a parachute ride or a boat ride or something to eat. But they were not terribly persistent compared to the people of the northern cities. People put up little buildings and lean-tos and shacks to sell stuff and even live in.

The mangy dogs liked to gather on the beach and lay in the sand. Sometimes they would invite themselves to be by people. Rabies was what I thought about. India has these dogs that are a mix of the lowest common denominators of dogs.  We thought of them as Generic Dogs. Toss out all the little frail dogs that just won't make it. Toss out the huge dogs that eat too much. Let the rest of the dogs breed together to wipe out most distinguishing characteristics of different breeds. The Generic Dogs are short- haired, brown or black, some patches, rarely white, slightly floppy ears. Pointy noses, average eyes. They are good at scrounging. Lots of them roam around and I suspect they have an impact on the rodent population.

One dark moonless night we were walking along the beach from the restaurant to our place and Mark had the good fortune to shine his flash light around (or torch if you are reading this with a British accent). We found a small herd of black water buffalo that had decided to gather. Buffalo are not a hazard I usually think about having to avoid at the beach. I was smart though. The following day I remembered where they were and I remembered to wear sandals in that area, rather than bare feet.

Even the water buffalo must be decorated.

In Goa MT loved laying in the sun, working on a tan and not having to deal with to getting places. I loved how beautiful it was, staring at nature, watching creatures, and being in the relaxed atmosphere. We both liked listening to the critters at night as we sat on the verandah. The jungle and the lily pond were full of fantastic sounds at night, things we had not heard in Thailand and Bali's jungles. We think the rich and varied sounds at night were frogs, birds, crickets, geckos, and other creatures. It was louder than I have ever heard from a jungle. A sound we think was frogs was this sort of watery, high chuckle mixed with damp fingers skidding across a latex balloon. There were high, medium and low cricket choruses. I took a video and I hope the sound comes out the way I heard it. There were splashes in the water. I would have liked to have been able to see what critters made the different sounds. All that eating, swimming, escaping, courting and playing going on! And as we were in reveries enjoying the sounds of the jungle and pond, our chain smoking neighbor, let's call her Aqua Lung, would come up to the shared verandah and smoke in the fresh night air. I went in my room and cranked the ceiling fan until she was done. And Aqua Lung was not a quiet neighbor. I really do try to see the things in life that come up as being opportunities to practice to learn something. Having a chain smoker with messed up breathing on the shared verandah when I just want to be immersed in nature sounds and night air--there must be some sort of metaphor here, I would think. Perhaps a reminder that things are not perfect.

I like the ice cream here. It is really flavorful, which is not what I expected. And there was a Baskin Robbins that we went to because the Cream Bell was never open. They had unusual flavors like custard apple.  The BR had a kerosene generator in the shop that was available at a moment's notice if the power went out and the generator could go for three days.

The creatures--eagles, birds that looked like turkey vultures but had normal heads, egrets, herons, king fishers, wood peckers, little bright green canaries, a bird that crashes loudly when it flies through the foliage. Pig family members of all ages running back and forth swinging their tails. I watched them slide themselves in the mud by the by the pond.