Candolim, Goa

We are on the second last leg of our trip through India, and like the last couple of months we have been lazing around on beaches. We have discovered that Goa's beaches cannot match Kerala's since for some reason, most of the "beach" resorts" are not on beaches, but away from them some distance. For example the last two places we have stayed, in Anjuna Beach and here in Candolim the "resorts" are 250 meters from the beach and a bit of a slog down.

Here in Candolim the beach is dominated by a huge sea going freighter that ran aground here eight years ago and has been left to moulder on the beach blighting the view. Apparently the cost of moving it is more than it's worth so no one wants to spend the money. Apparently the money the tourists generate here is not enough to pay for the removal either, although that's a facetious statement on my part really.

I have discovered that in Anjuna I took only two pictures and they are not good quality pictures of a bird on a wire. Here in Candolim I have not had the camera out at all, so there are no pictures here either. I think I'm not terribly inspired. The beach in Anjuna took some getting to, since it was not really nearby. The beach we were near was just a rocky one, while the active beach was reached through a maze of people selling the usual schlocky junk which we have seen all over India. It's amazing that there are some many carved elephants available for sale here. There is definitely one for every tourist in the country, but of course not everyone is buying so there's a lot left to show off to the next tourist coming along.

We did go to a Saturday night market in Anjuna which was a huge affair, but selling exactly the same things available all over the streets in every town we have been in. The better part was the food fair, which had from Israeli to Turkish to of course Indian.

We did meet a group of charming people at the place we discovered was the best for sunset viewing in Anjuna. Two were Canadian, both from Ontario, although not together. Denny has been living here for seven years but is leaving to find another place in the world to enjoy - Goa has finally disappointed here. Another friend of hers, Isabel, from Portugal has been there for more than 12 years and she too is finally leaving. The other Canadian we met was Richard, who is studying Watsu here, which is Water Shiatsu. We loved the place we met them because it had great Hummus with Pita which we would enjoy each evening as the sun set into the mists out over the ocean.

We have only one more night here and then we fly off to Mumbai. We have booked a tour there of the slums, which comes highly recommended. No photos though, cameras are not allowed, so I won't be able to share the sights with you.

I am going to leave you with two views of the lovely cottages we stayed in on Patnem Beach what feels weeks ago now. We have been in three different places since then, so it is a little behind the times. It's a nicer image than I can share with you of the places we have been since we left Panjim, so a little more positive.