Hey! I AM a fisherman! I got up at five this morning and STILL missed the first boat, because I did not know where to go....
So they told me to just come back tomorrow. I decided to just sit at the beach and watch the sunrise. It's so cool! With all the clouds, it went from grey-coloured to light-grey coloured to grey-and green to ALL couloured:) Jippy! It was fun!
The the fishermen came back, and I don't know exactly anymore how it happened, but next thing I knwe is i was helping them draw in the catch!
Do you know how it workes? It wasn't like I thought at ALL! They go out by boat, driving a circle (or rather: ROWING a circle) and then there is this loop that is huge. The two ends of the rope are then pulled little by little by 12 men on each side. I helped during this procedd, and it takes about 2h. It's cool: for two hours you pair up, and each pair gets a stick (sturdy, wooden). you go and tie your stick to the main rope like a T and "tadaaa" you got yourself into a pony-position. then you start walking backwards on each side of the T, into the rope. This pulls the net out of the water bit by bit.
Are u still following? Honestly, inc by inch, 5-6 pairs walk up the beach, and after you reach the end, you loosen your stick from the rope and run to the front to start again.
I'm SORE! :)
After two hours or so you start to see the net and then little by little the fish. As soon as that happens, manymany women with baskets appear and salvage all the fish that might still make it out of the net. The pride of our catch was a sting-ray. It is beautiful! Can u eat a sting-ray? I have no idea.
After the fish was (somehow, I don't yet know, how) distributed between the different baskets, the net is put back onto the ship.
At this point, one guy decided to say, he was going to go out again, and asked if I wanted to come. DID I! Like a cool woman though I said if he was going anyway, I would come. Oh, I might add: All these men of course had they (distant, but still) fun, seeing this western woman try to work like they do. It was a generally friendly atmoshphere, though. But I think fishermen are fishermen, everywhere. :)
So I asked first about the datails: who else was coming, and whch boat and stuff. I didn't want to end up on the boat alone with that guy.
We pushed the boat into the water. The water is warmish, and it was NOT raining. Odd, but true. I think it didn't rain for the whole 4 hours this morning! It was beautiful!about 7 people went with me, and we rowed out. YES, I have taken rowing classes, and YES, I am sore in my arms, too:). But to keep the pace with all the ores, the lead guy started a chant, and the rest joined in. It was in Goaic (not sure, I mean the local Goan language). This lead guy always said the first lines, then the rest joined in with the chorus (you know, like ANY where a\else...army, navy, ...). I am pretty sure the guy made some jokes during his texting. and I THINK it might have been aimed towards me, I heared "larki" and people looked at me. I don't care. It was fun. Totally. And everyone told me how well I was doing.
So this was my morning as a fisherwoman. I was soaked, of course, so I went back after that and had a (mini) shower. I was even able to change into almost DRY clothes: It hadn't rained, and the wind had been strong all night.
Lets see what else I can do today;) Have fun!
