Goa: February 2015
Before arriving in Goa, we did our research and couldn’t decide on northern or southern Goa, so we decided to check out both!
All the flags in Condolim.
Javier was in charge of the northern side and I, the southern. He opted to stay in Candolim- great choice! The weird thing about Candolim is that all of the tourists are either British or Russian. The hotels are separated this way, as are the beaches. Some of the beachfront restaurants have Russian flags and menus, and the others, the Union Jack. Since our English is better than our Russian, we opted to stay on the British side of things. Our hotel was great- about a 5 minute walk to the beach. The way the beaches work is that, there are chairs and sun umbrellas provided by the different restaurants, which are free to use with the assumption that you will eat and drink at said restaurant.
Our hangout spot.
We went to the nearest British spot and set up shop. We ordered a couple of banana lassis, which turned out to be the best we would drink in all of India. When we went up to the restaurant to eat, the owner asked us where we were from. We said USA, and he smiles, puts his arms up and says, with much enthusiasm, “OBAMA!!!” We reciprocated his enthusiasm and yelled back, “OBAMA!!!” And we all had a good laugh. As it turned out, this became our greeting. Every day we went to the beach, he would see us, wave and yell, “Hey! OBAMA!!!”
Taking the ferry
It just so happened that we were there during carnival. We decided to check out the local parade and party. We had to take a taxi and ferry ride to get to the celebration. On the ferry ride back, there was a blond girl who spent the 10 minute ride taking pictures with everyone. Men, women, children, babies, EVERYONE wanted to take a picture with her…strictly because she was white with blonde hair. Amazing.
The carnival itself was very interesting and entertaining. Some of the floats depicted local life of farming or sawing lumber.
ass
There was local dancing and singing, but most were just trucks with really big speakers where some kid was Deejaying. Some of the floats were political. We saw a float about pollution and living “green,” but the most intense float we saw had to do with the abortion of female fetuses. The float’s title was, “Save the Girl Child.” There was even a part of the float that said, “Pretend I am a tree and save me.” Can you believe it? That statement, Broke. My. Heart. For those who don’t know, India is one of many countries that practice sex-selective abortions and female infanticide. We have been told that in India, much of this is because of the dowry system, which has technically been outlawed, but still widely practiced.
Goa Carnival
Women getting married have to give a large dowry to the husband’s family, and poor families cannot afford this. As a result, the men to women ratio in India is very skewed, to the point that it is causing problems.
We didn’t stay too long at the party. It was really, really hot, and after an hour or so, we had seen enough. We found our taxi driver once disembarking from the ferry, and made our way back to our neighborhood. We found a restaurant that we both really liked. It was about a 10 minute walk from our hotel, so after we stuffed ourselves, we were able to walk it off a bit. Here, Javier broke his meat fast and ate tandoori chicken most nights. One night, as we walked home we saw two fighting bulls on the street. Now, there are cows and bulls everywhere in India. They sit in the middle of the street, behind parked cars, and wander wherever they please. There was a small area that the cows seemed to like to hang out on the side of the road. These bulls were on one side of the street having it out. We quickly crossed the street to join the local people who were watching the battle royal. We stood there with them watching, talking, and warning other unsuspecting tourists to move to our side of the street. At one point, the bulls started moving toward us, and everyone started running for safety. Finally, one of the shopkeepers who had been standing and watching with us, picked up a rock and threw it at one of the bulls. They briefly moved away from each other, but then went back at it. The guy kept picking up rocks and throwing them. Finally the beasts broke apart and went their separate ways. Since the show was over, we started walking back home. We heard a clicking sound and turned around. The streets are lit, but not that well. There are spots of darkness. We could see the bull, trotting toward us. We picked up the pace and so did the bull. We crossed to the other side of the street and started running. People were looking at us like we were crazy. We ran all the way home, laughing the whole time at how we got punked by a cow.
Bracelets for sale
On one of our last days we decided to stop and have bracelets made. Every night, we walked by a family sitting on the sidewalk. In front of them was a small blanket with all types of beads laid out. The family consisted of a mother, father, and little girl- all who looked like they hadn’t bathed in a very long time. As we walked down the street, we stopped by a similar blanket full of beads, manned by two young girls, and gave them our leftover dinner- a habit we started since our arrival in India, and continued on. When we arrived at the family’s blanket, I saw that the little girl was asleep. As I looked at her, I noticed that she had her nose pierced, as many young girls do, but she had a rusty hoop that looked like an old piece of wire for a nose ring. Her father was smoking, which quickly irritated me to the point where I almost walked away. I know I shouldn’t judge how other people live their life and spend their money, but when your family is filthy and hungry…I mean, really?? Anyway, we picked out the color thread for our bracelets- we each had two made, one for the wrist and another for the backpack. The man was making Javier’s and the woman, mine. As I squatted in front of her to pick my beads and watch her, she took off the scarf from her head, put it on the ground next to me, and gestured me to sit. It was a very nice gesture, but I told her I was fine and just continued to squat. At one point, the woman reached out, smiled at me, and rubbed my leg. She then leaned forward and kissed my leg. I was a little surprised, but thought, wow…how sweet. As she went back to making the bracelet, I felt something on my leg. When I looked down, I saw that she had drooled when she kissed my leg, and it was dripping- Down. My. Leg. I’m not going to lie. It was really gross.
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Our neighborhood
We left Candolim for Betalbatim in southern Goa. We hired a driver for the hour-plus trip. We went from the very busy and touristy Candolim to the quiet and deserted beaches of Betalbatim. In Candolim, we stayed on a busy main street. There were tons of people, shops, and restaurants everywhere. When we arrived at our place in Betalbatim, there were trees. There were other homes and hotels, but they were few and far between. It felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. There was even a huge dead bat chilling in the telephone wires. There are bugs everywhere, and at night, it was SILENT.
Our villa
We stayed in a small house. There were about 5 of these houses all next to each other. We didn’t realize the space was so big when we booked, but we had an entire 2-storey house to ourselves. In the morning, I heard this sound- like a bird or some other animal. I thought, well, that’s an interesting creature. Turns out, it was our doorbell. Along with staying in this lovely house, we had a chef who came every morning and made us breakfast. He would ask what we wanted, and we told him to surprise us, and yes, we like local food. He made us something new every day. It was delicious, and such a treat! One morning, I asked if I could watch how he prepared our tea. I was completely addicted to masala chai at this point. He showed me how to make it and even left me extra ingredients so I could make us another pot later in the day. The beaches and our activities in Betalbatim were really great, but I have to say, for me, the highlight was having this guy come and make us a delicious Indian breakfast every morning.
Had to play with the locals
Our walk to the beach was about 10 minutes along a dirt road, through fields and trees. It was quite a pleasant walk. One that I looked forward to everyday. There was one restaurant on the beach and anywhere from 5-10 other people at any given time. Javier was watching a group of locals playing soccer on the beach. He watched them for quite a while before walking over and asking if he could join. He played with the guys until his feet were full of blisters, some ruptured. Ouch!! But had a great time nonetheless.
Sunset beach. Goa.
On another day, we rented bicycles, rode to a restaurant down the road, and then along the beach. Javier rented the bike again the following day, but I relaxed on the beach, my butt too sore from the day before.
We had dinner every night right next door. Thankfully, it was delicious, which was good since we didn’t have any other option. We became friendly with the owner, who like many people we met, worked in Goa during tourist season (around 4 months) and went home to be with his family for the rest of the year.
The chef came every morning to prepare Breakfast at home.
We had a washing machine at our place, so we decided to go ahead and wash absolutely everything. You have to take advantage of such things, you know? While going through my things, I realized I was missing a sweater and my jeans. I looked everywhere, but couldn’t find them. I asked the cleaning girl if she had seen them. Sometimes, they put stuff in drawers and closets, and I wanted to check and make sure this wasn’t the case. She looked terrified when I asked her this. I made it clear that I didn’t think she took them, I was just wondering if she had seen them. The last time I remember having them was in Candolim. I asked her if I could use the phone to call the other hotel and ask. To make a long story short, I’m 99.9% sure I left them in Candolim. I had taken them out and put them on the sofa, and that was the last time I saw them. They asked around at the other hotel, and said nothing was there. But, the thing I found most impressive was that the owner of our current place came to our house and talked to us about it specifically, and even offered to call the other hotel and speak to the manager. Bottom line, there is an Indian woman out there walking around in a nice pair of jeans and sweating it out in a smartwool sweater. Oh well. On the plus side, my bag is lighter. 🙂
Betalbatim. Sunset beach. Goa
We had asked the hotel owner if we could have a late check out. We told him we had an overnight bus to catch to Hampi, and he started asking us questions about the bus, what time we were leaving and from where. Normally, Javier and I are really sketchy when people ask too many questions. As it turned out, he helped us a great deal! We purchased our tickets in Candolim, and the guy who sold us the tickets told us to be at the wrong station. There was a station much closer. The owner called the guy who sold us the tickets and basically chewed him out for not doing his research in setting our departure location. Together they worked it out so that we could be picked up at a much closer location. He was very kind, and let us stay in the house until we were ready to leave, around 7pm.
Our host.
On the day we left, he came over and was chatting with us. He told our driver exactly where to take us, gave us a couple bottles of water, wished us luck on our travels, and sent us on our way. Every once in a while, people come along and remind you that there are truly good, helpful people out there. I always feel blessed when I have the opportunity to come across such a person.
Next adventure, overnight bus to Hampi!
To see more pictures of Goa, click HERE.