goa misc

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We have never watched so much cricket in our lives as we have over the last few days. Of course it helps if you are vacationing in the country which is holding the World Cup AND that the host country has made it into the finals. Many of the restaurant/bars have large screen TVs but the best is the big screen that has been set up in the empty lot behind Jonita’s vegetable stall. We have a pretty decent understanding of the basic rules now – but although the matches are only one day in length, it is still like watching paint dry.

Much of our time has been spent at the beach. The water is very warm like tepid bath water) but the waves can knock you about if you are not careful. We vary our location, often walking a few kms along to Betalbatim but mostly we hang out in front of the Little Tiger beach bar. The women who walk the beach selling jewellery and sarongs are getting a little tiresome as they are relentless in their attempts to get you to “just look” – and then they get insulted when you aren’t interested in anything. They do have good opening lines though – like: “if you buy, I won’t hassle you again”. My favorite was the girl who told Kelly he was a white chicken but that I was a brown chicken. I’ll take compliments any day – at least I think it was a compliment.

We made a 2 day excursion (using mopeds) to the little beach town of Palolem – a distance of about 50 km. All we took with us on the mopeds was toothbrush /toothpaste and swimsuits – everything else stayed at our place in Beanulim. We had the cross the River Sal via the free ferry than went down the coast through the fishing village of Betul. Fishing villages tend to be very picturesque but they sure stink.

Palolem is a lovely crescent shaped beach lined with coconut palms. Every bit of real estate is taken up by beach front restaurants and cocohuts while the road leading from the beach are lined with stores selling the usual tourist stuff – but the sellers are pretty laid back. Accommodation was mostly of the cocohut variety and ranged from very cheap (where the walls were literally woven palm fronds) to upscale where the walls were solid and the floors level. We opted for the mid range – a wood hut on stilts overlooking the next beach (Colomb Bay) that seemed fairly secure. This whole trip, Kelly has been shuddering at construction standards and safety (or lack of) and you could just see him twitching and avoiding looking to see how this hut was actually secured to the rocks below. We certainly didn’t have to worry about being too hot during the night and the cracks between the wall boards let in plenty of ventilation along with smaller forms of reptilian wildlife. We were protected somewhat by a mosquito net.

Not a lot to say in this posting as life is pretty slow right now. Our morning routine is a walk along the beach for either chai or coffee and then some sort of made up yoga routine on our balcony. It is a little tough to get enthused when the temperature is in the low 30’s by 9am.

We have one more week left in India and it seems like everything will be closing down around our ears as we leave. Little Tigers will be dismantled by the end of the month (all beach shacks are dismantled at the end of every season to avoid destruction during the monsoons) and many of the restaurant workers around town will be leaving shortly

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Photos

Bleed Blue
An indian cricket logo

Palolem beach at night
all the twinkly lights are resturants

reshmi kabab
we haven't included a food photo for a while