Goan Idyll

Arriving here was a misadventure. We left Kochi at 2:15 in the afternoon, only 10 minutes late for our expected 14 hour journey to Goa. We were arriving in Goa at the Cancona station, only 4 km from our real destination, Palolem Beach, at an expected time of 5:00 am - which is terribly early in the morning. Geordie's clock had started acting up and the alarm function was not functioning, so I even bought us a cheap clock to make sure we would wake up at 4:30 am to get ready for our arrival.

Everything went as planned; we even had a nice meal provided on the train - Tandoori Chicken and fried rice, which was actually edible. Then we went to bed at 9:00 pm since we were tired and we did have to get up awfully early. And the alarm worked so we struggled out of bed (I was on the top of a three tier bunk while Geordie was in the middle with some stranger on the bottom who arrived at midnight to bunk in. (I slept through the whole thing although Geordie says the family who arrived were very noisy and disturbed him greatly.

So there we were, 4:30 am, no place to be but in the area near the toilet, with the train attendant trying to sleep. We disturbed him which may have explained what happened. We did figure out that we were about an hour and a half late, because a family wanted to get off at a station before ours and told us what time they were supposed to arrive. This seemed good news since it meant that we would be arriving a little later and would not have to hang around a station to get a tuk-tuk for the beach. No point in arriving at 5:30 am when everyone is asleep.

But we failed to reckon with the fact that our attendant spoke no English. As the time went on, we stopped a few times and each time asked the guy if it was Cancona and each time he seemed to suggest it wasn't. The sun started to rise, putting a beautiful pearlescent glow in the sky to the east, and the time kept going on. It seemed we were further away from our stop than we thought since it was another hour before we finally arrived - at the station 35 kilometers beyond our stop! eordie gave the attendant a real tongue lashing which no doubt was wasted since the guy had no idea what he was saying. In any case there we were, well beyond our destination, faced with having to book a taxi back to the beach which cost us over 600 rupees extra. No, we were not pleased. The good news is that this was our last train journey in India. From Goa we will be flying to Mumbai and then after three days there we will fly home!

But this was our destination! Palolem is really quite beautiful with its curve of bay and it's backdrop of coconut palms and edge to edge huts available for rent on the beach.



Of course the quality of the huts leaves a little to be desired. For the money these are probably the least high-end of any of our accomodation. The bed is comfortable though and the site is lovely, but the hut is very makeshift. We have a sit out with a hand made bed to lie on and just inside a porch with one nail to hang anything. Then there is a big canvas tent, framed and covered with a roof to keep off the sun, and then at the back six rickety steps to get down to a concrete floored bathroom, a cold water shower and a sink and toilet. And oh yes, a rat! Well, Geordie says the lovely little furry creature he saw two nights ago as he was going to use the facilities was a rat, but I didn't see it, so I have to take his word for it. Here's a view of the hut, with me sitting in what appears to be a meditative pose but is in fact me reading a book!



We have spent four nights in this palatial tent, with our mosquito net, and our creaky wooden floor which moves at every step. You can imagine how much I hate going to the bathroom in the middle of the night. But we've enjoyed the food in our restaurant, and last night had a pizza to rival anything coming out of Naples, complete with real Prosciutto Crudo! The chef is Italian and it shows. But we are moving today to another smaller and quieter beach which we walked to a couple of days ago. We saw the huts on the beach and decided we had to stay in them - they are so much nicer looking than what we have, and next door is a small restaurant which does real Italian coffee. Must say that coffee and food are some of the best exports that Italy has provided the rest of the world.

We have a special group of neighbours at our present hut though. Next to us is a large tree with a large hole at its base and inside there have been a lovely family of puppies with their mother. I'm sure there were two fathers involved because three of the pups are beige and the other three are brown, and the beige ones are bigger, more aggressive and seem to be getting all the milk. Geordie played nursemaid a couple of times and made sure the brown ones were getting their share. Yesterday all six of them finally made it outside and started feeding on mum right next to us. When mum is not around they whimper and snuffle and move around looking for food, or they sleep. The brown ones are finally getting their share too, because they have developed the strength, thanks no doubt to Geordie's concern. And here they are, as of this morning. They are probably about a week old. When we first saw them their eyes were not even fully open. Such lovely creatures who will no doubt soon be joining the other packs of dogs on the beach howling and barking and harassing the tourists.



I will leave you with a beautiful image of a kingfisher which I took this morning at breakfast. The most available beer here in India is Kingfisher and they are so well off they even own an airline - the one we will travel on to Mumbai. This bird just flew in this morning and perched itself on a pole right outside our restaurant and stayed long enough for me to get back to our tent and return with the camera. We have not seen many birds other than the everpresent house crows on this trip, so this is a rare treat. A nice touch for our last morning here before we move on, as soon as I get back to the tent from this blogging.