Having spent my time between Patnem and Palolem for the last couple of weeks, it was time to be more adventerous and head to Margao and check it out. Chrissie and I had to go to the optician, I had finally broken the wing on my glasses and needed to replace them, so it was a good excuse to see the city (Indian style of course), no towering building here (yet). The shops are quite modern, the post office huge and painted red stripes, and as happens in India, all the car spares, electrical, tailors, opticians, fabric shops, gift shops etc are all grouped in their own areas, so at least you don't have to walk for miles to have the whole selection. In the centre of the town are the lovely city gardens, and everything is around these, so going from one area to another it is pleasant to take a shortcut through. The traffic is very civilised, it is possible to cross the roads without fearing for your life! A lot of them being one way also helps. There is also an amazing large covered market, which we found was very easy to get lost in. We had to ask the man in the fabric shop where we bought some material to help us find the way out. I am sure there isn't much that you can't buy here! Its basically to provide for local needs - mile of little hardware, fabric, gift,costume jewelry, clothes, kitchen products - and thats just all we had time to rush past. We had lunch at a well known ex-pat coffee lounge "Longuinho" (I think), which looks like a left over from the Raj era. Very pleasant all the same - especially the aircon!
The trip from Chaudi takes an hour and a quarter there, and if you don't plan things right (as we didn't), the return journey after 4 30 can take an hour and three quarters. With of course the usual jammed full buses. But the scenery on the way is lovely, passing through lots of little old villages between the very tree-y stretches of not too wide highway, with the rolling mountains off to the right (or left depending on which bend of the road you are heading around). These hills are the start of the Western Ghats, the high mountain ranges that goes right down the west coast into Kerala, and result in lots of tea-growing areas and jungle due to the high rainfall, further down the coast. Apparently some of the areas are quite beautiful - will have to check out the least time of rainfall for me to be tempted to visit!
After the trip to Margao, I decided to take a couple of days out to travel up to Arambol, which I used as my base last time I was here. The journey up to northern Goa involves 5 buses, and about 3 and a half hours travel each way, but I really enjoyed it, and was able to remember where the next bus on my route departed from at each bus stand, quite a feat, I thought. The journey is - Palolem to Chaudi, 10 mins, Chaudi to Margao, one and quarter hours, express bus to Panjim, 1 hour, express Panjim to Mapusa, 20 mins, Mapusa to Arambol nearly an hour. Again, the trip is very scenic, and very enjoyable - 2 wide rivers are crossed, the river Panjim is situated on is very wide and has some major shipping, as well as scenic boat trips - its a very attractive panorama crossing the long bridge. The Mapusa bus stand is alongside the markets there, and they are just as crazy as I remembered. Had a little break there as I hadn't really eaten and it was 10.30 by this stage (I had left before 7.45) so went to the Cold Shop and had a nice ice cold falooda (icecream, dried fruit and nuts in milk - great)and a samosa then got my last bus. On arrival at Arambol village there is no (offical) tranport to the beach and shops area, but guys on motorbikes and scooters hang out there and offer to take you down there for 30 rupees (its not quite 2 klms)(you have to bargain), so that was nice and easy.
I found a really nice little guest house (Vishnu Khunt) in the main street, well away from the beach, which was what I planned, due to the influx of doped out I..i Dreadlocks who descend and congregate in all the beach shacks and places near the beach. It gets quite noisy and overpowering at times, as I remembered. So I was very happy to find this place, run by a family and not too many rooms, but very nice. I settled in, had a quick rest and headed down the narrow winding road to the beach, past all the usual clothes shops etc, "Come madam, just looking at my shop". I found the little hairdresser's that I used last time and had a quick (but ok) haircut and decided to relax on a sunbed before my swim. The beach stretches way down the coast and the water is a not so close to the shore - in my opinion not nearly as nice as Palolem, which is my ideal beach. You probably already know that. It was interesting watching the paragliders coming down from the hill at the end of the beach - and remember that I did that almost 2 years ago. They were catching air currents that landed them on the beach not far from me, and it looked so much fun - but it was the water for me. After a dip, was lying on my sunbed when suddenly felt drops of rain, and when I looked behind me - holy dooley - massive rain clouds. Everybody was gathering their things up casually and heading to the road off the beach when down it came, torrential tropical rain. I had made it to the little mini market, so didn't get wet, but not to the cafe 20 metres up the road where I had planned to have coffee, my haunt from last time. It was lucky that the minimarket had lots of interesting stock, because it was over an hour before it eased. Because the road comes downhill, there were torrents of water, very red from the soil and coming down about a foot deep, some of the shops were in danger of being flooded, but it eased in time. So made my way back to where I was staying, got dry and went to a nice little family-run restaurant for veg fried rice, then into bed after a long day.
There are a lot of good eating places all very close in Arambol, with a good variety from Indian to Italian and everything in between, but its the small family ones that are my favourite wherever I am. Less expensive for one thing, and very different styles mean you don't know what to expect, and they always have lots of flavours, with friendly people.
I headed back to Palolem around 10 the next morning as I had to get to the optician in Margao for my glasses. And also to check out the markets at a more leisurely pace before getting the 4.30 bus back to Patnem. It felt very nice to be "home" in my own little house!
I had decided that I would spend the last few days in a beach hut in Palolem, to have the more immediate "beach" experience of getting up in the morning, being able to put my swimsuit on and just walk onto the beach. I had chosen a hut at Found Things, don't know how they got the name, but its been there for a few years, and then moved in 4 days ago. It has been wonderful, its a lovely situation at the south end of the beach which I think is the nicest part. The huts are set among the coconut palms and aren't all jammed in like some places, and the restaurant part in the front on the beach has good food, and great sunbeds right near the water - my idea of heaven again! Straight out of bed, order my mixed fresh fruit porridge and have a swim while it is being prepared - how good is that..
Tomorrow (13th Dec) is my last day in India, and of course I am feeling still that I am not ready to leave this amazing country. I envy all the people who leave their own country and come here for six months - (a lot of British and Europeans getting away from their winter) and call it home. I have met a lot of them and made some lovely friends, and also with the Indian people. In Goa, although its a very badly run state, with lots of graft and corruption, (as in a lot of India) the local Indian people I meet every day are always ready with a smile and a hello, and I will really miss that when I leave. Other things I will miss - the Indian trains (of course), the smell of sweet smoke from burning vegetation, the relaxed and stress free locals who always have time for a chat, the warmth, the coconut palms everywhere in Goa - and other places, and the tropical vegetation in this part of India. The old portugese houses, old and falling to bits or renovated with bright colours are always a source of joy - wish I could have one!And seeing the very basic way people live, no luxuries - in some houses just a fire with a couple of pots, and beds on the floor, but lovely rugs or hangings in some cases. Children and chickens running around, small vege plots being attended to, or large farms with many people harvesting or planting praying that the rains won't ruin their crops. In a lot of cases it does and is devastating to families who are living on the border line anyway. In some states the local government makes payments for compensation, in others the poor receive portions of rice etc at minimal cost.
Its very beautiful here in Goa, but I have enjoyed being in each place, although the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and the Ganga in Rishikesh will always be favorites as well. Kerala is right up there with them, wish I had time to explore it again - next time!!
This country has a huge amount of work to do to get things right so that the massive gap between rich and poor is lessened, but as with others I talk to, it might never happen. On the other hand, it might one day. This is India. A wonderful country to experience.
