Destination: India – Goa Part II – Palolem/Calangute – apparently, we deserve it!
So, you guessed it!! Yeah, we decided to stay here for another month! 2 months in Palolem, gathering our energies before we see the rest of India. Or maybe we are just lazy and really like it here? Well, I guess we’ll never know.
So, we are still in our little flat and got our scooter for another month. We made some nice friends to hang out with. I do yoga on the beach in the mornings, we do a lot of walking on the beach, eat a lot of amazing Indian food, drink a lot of Goan whiskey and Old Monk rum (fabulous stuff). The booze here is good and cheap, readily available, maybe yet another reason to stay for a second month? Did I mention our flat is above a liquor store and a pharmacy? And the reasons to stay just keep on multiplying…. Seriously, would you guys be in a hurry to leave? Didn’t think so!
We try to use our time wisely, we visit some places nearby, Turtle Beach, Agonda (a real favourite for walking and reading), a few nice temples and the unbelievably green Cotigao Natural Reserve. I celebrated my 47th birthday. Our friend Malcolm Fialho from Australia, came from Calangute and our new friends in Palolem also came for my special “hot dogs and chocolate cake party” (tell me about refusing to age gracefully…). We all had a seriously interesting night but will have to tell you more in person for security reasons...
For Christmas, the guys go to Madgao and get some serious seafood, then we go to a restaurant and they cook it for us. We have a great time on the beach eating seafood and drinking G & Ts, with some fantastic fireworks. We leave Palolem for Calangute, where we are going to stay for a few days at Malcolm’s lovely villa.
Calangute seems much more chilled than we remembered it to be. Or maybe we are much more chilled than the last time we were here. Yeah, believe it or not, we used to work our butts off in our past lives, but that is another story.
We are in Calangute for NYE with a couple of friends and the beach is really going off. The vibe is so amazing, the fireworks are just popping around us, much closer than any legal limit would allow it and we are all getting goosebumps. After the fireworks, the party is really on with all the Indian guys dancing Bollywood style. It’s all good fun, but all that testosterone mixed with alcohol and “almost” no women in sight makes for quite an explosive combination. So, we decide to call it a night, heading home for some nice G & Ts. What a great way to welcome 2011.
After 2 and ½ amazing months we finally leave Goa. It’s hard to leave because it’s so easy to stay, simple as that. We made great new friends, caught up with an old one, ate wonderful food and lived very nicely, thanks for asking. Ciao Goa, Hello Hampi!
