To the market we go

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After laying around for 3 or 4 days, Jared and I figured maybe we should peak out from behind our piles of naan, seafood, aloo gobi and butter chicken and explore. So on Wednesday morning we headed to Margao, the nearest large city and the second largest city in Goa. We planned on walking down the street a bit and catching a cab but then decided that maybe an attempt at a bus ride was in order. We were pretty sure most of the buses headed there, so we jumped on the first one that was going in the right direction. The ride into town was only about 20 - 30 minutes long, and we had picked an overcast day (read = not oppressively hot) so we didn’t really mind being cramped on the bus or the absence of the ocean breeze.

Once we got into town, city life ran circles around us. Even crossing the street was a bit of a game. Stoplights or stopsigns don’t really exist, and it’s just a mad rush of cars following what I’m sure after practice has some semblance of order but to us just looks like a game of chicken or go-cart racing. (Here's a quick video of the hectic city.) We wandered around for most of the day (we'd forgotten our map, so it really was just wandering and getting lost a bit), sampling random streetfood and bakery snacks along the way, and then headed into the Covered Market in search of spices.

The Covered Market is something all its own. Small stands sell everything from sweet rolls, to children’s swimsuits, to steel plates. Masses of people cram into these tiny walkways, surrounded by the stalls to the sides and a low covering overhead, and barter for the variety of items being offered. Eventually you come to the end of one row and you are pushed out into the hectic city streets, scooters whizzing by and everyone beeping their horns to signal their passage through the streets. There’s no opportunity to stop really. If you stop in front of a stand, the merchant will quickly accost you with questions about what you’re looking for, how much will you pay for it, why don’t you look at this also, or maybe you’re interested in that, why aren’t you buying anything? Then when you’re out on the street, if you’re near the side of the road, the bustle of people will move you along. And you don’t dare step into the road itself, unless you want to chance getting hit by some sort of bike or car. Then add the intense heat to all of this and you’ll see why after about 2 hours we were ready to sit down somewhere shaded and get some food.

Getting back “home” after such a hectic day was then in order, and we appreciated the a/c and quiet all the more. That night we made an attempt at a nice takeout meal at a beach shack down the way, but when we got home and opened up the to-go containers we were sadly mistaken. Everything looked brown…like slop. Neither Jared nor I said anything though, we each thought we’d wait and see after we sampled the food. But neither of us could get a bite down. It was AWFUL. Not just poorly flavored, but scarythismightmakemereallyreallyreallysick food. We laughed off the attempt and instead dined on peanut butter, chilli jam and naan sandwiches (a favorite snack of ours this trip) and chilled cheap white wine, which turned out to be the perfect way to end our adventurous day.

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