4) Candolim

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January 6th 2007

Published: January 15th 2007

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schamilla

two very happy bunnies!!

After a fantastically well deserved sleep we woke up in Pretty petals Guest house and sat watched an elephant walk gracefully past our balcony. Becs and I were havin a few kittens!!. After pinching ourselves a few times we got ready to indulge in the fruits of Goa for breakfast, Ever heard of Chickoo? Its a tasty fruit, which looks pretty non discript but tastes wunderbarr. A peach like furry fruit crossed with a fig, which leaves yer mouth watering. Still feeling a little tired we head off to the beauty salon for a little pampering. Now lets just put you in the picture a little........... just imagine a 1970's taxi booth with electric cables running haphazardly across the floor and ceiling, to fuel the hood dryers and grotty delapidated foot spa. The beauty therapists were incredibly sweet and helpful even though the communication barrier proved, at times, excrutiating. The Indian head massage left us in heaven and unable to speak for a short while. Becs pedicure lasting all of a few seconds as the Goan earth is Brick red dust and finds its way into every nuk and cranny. The obligatory waxing and threading was had and we were on

A common sight to see!!

our way. Walking down the centre of Candolim, covered in almond oil, dust and a few flies we thought best to get showered before heading to Mapusa Market (market for the locals).

Mapusa Market was an incredible experience. Never have we felt so out of place. Being only 2 of a few white faces caused a few heads to turn aswell as being swamped with all of their Goan wares. The market was full of traders and some refused to take no for an answer, which often caused a few naffed off Indian words to be muttered as we walked away. Difficult!!! as we quickly began to learn you cant give to and please all these people. Besides the weight of our rucksacks were screaming out and probably woudlnt allow the random objects we looked at to be added to it. By the way on the rucksack front weve decided that weight over rules size!!!
Becs bought an embroidered top for about a pound, I was very impressed with her bartering skills. I purchased a pair of jesus sandals, exhausted! these people could flog oil to the Arabs. Oh, one point to make as I was leaving this stall,

Nelly

nelly the elephant packed her trunk and went for a stroll around Candolim!!

one horrified look on my face as I spotted a dirty great rat form the pole the shoes were hanging from. Cripes!

Stunned by the camarardery of the market, it's wares and the array of characters we left and headed back to Candolim for some more delicious cuisine. We sat in a roof topped terrace drinking Old Monk and reflected on our journey so far.

The second nights attempt of sleep was somewhat painful. Felt as though we had been popping pro plus with the added pint of filtered coffee. At 4am we couldnt take staring at the crumbling paint on the ceiling anymore and got up. After sitting on the balcony for a while we managed to finally get a few hours sleep before the next days adventure.

So the motto of todays story is......... "DONT LOOK UP AT THE RAFTERS WHILST TRYING ON NEW SHOES!!!!"

One other lesson weve learnt is 'patience is a virtue'. The internet connections come and go in a flash, this entry took several days to complete in the sweaty, smelly internet cafe in Hampi. Not yet mastered the uploading of the pics yet, maybe needs a few more light