Another Note from India

Hello everyone! How are you? How was your Christmas? I heard that it snowed AGAIN in the Netherlands?! It must have been nice to have a white Christmas for once, but I must say: I hope it doesn't get in the way of our getting-home plans. I like it here very much, but I would hate to miss the New Year's Eve party my friends and I have planned.

Here everything is nice! We haven't witnessed another power cut since the last time I wrote you, we haven't been sick but at all, and besides a few mosquito bites (which I'm guessing are malaria-free), we haven't seen any scary bugs, let alone were bitten by them. As predicted, Jochem (and me as well) were getting a bit bored with beach hanging and we did some sightseeing for a couple of days. Now, in India, this is not an easy thing. Everything takes up much more time than you think it will, not the least because of the crazy roads. So we stayed relatively close by.

On Wednesday we rented a scooter, dived into Indian traffic, and visited an old Portuguese fort called Cabo da Rama. We also make quick stops at Agonda, a beach town next to Palolem, and the Shri Mallikarjuna temple near Chaudi.

On Thursday we rented a taxi plus chauffeur for the day. First, we went to the Goa Animal Welfare Trust in Curchorem to get a tour of the organisation, hug the puppies, and make a donation.



Then we made another stop at Chandor to visit the famous Braganza House. This mansion was built in the 17th century when the Portuguese were still very much present in Goa and is divided into the West Wing and East Wing. Besides being able to witness this crumbling place of decadence, the highlights were definitely the tours by the people who still live there: one an old lady who knows the origin and timeline of every piece of antique in the house (and there are a LOT!); another a small man with a big belly who was absolutely incomprehensible.

On Friday, then, we went to Ponda to visit a tropical spice farm. I really liked this outing: everything was beautiful and clean - no slums, no waste, no stray animals. In my opinion, India is best appreciated in nature - only seeing cities and towns must leave visitors wondering about the overall state of the nation (at least those tourists from the rich west, I'm guessing), which would be a shame. We had a tour with a very funny tour guide, received a lunch on banana leaves, and then had a bath with an elephant. I am principally against riding elephants on tours through the jungle (which is not so good for the actual elephants according to my friends at the WSPA), but I couldn't resist the urge to sit on top of Babu while scrubbing his thick skin. At least, this way, I was doing something in return.



On Saturday and Sunday (also known as the first and second days of Christmas in the Netherlands) Jochem and I did nothing except sleep in before heading to our now favorite beach joint (whose name we don't even remember, alas) to have breakfast, lunch and dinner on our beach beds. It was warm, but not hot, and definitely not humid, which I am thankful for. I have a bit of a tan and I finished two novels already, although I still have two more to go.

Today we went for one last outing before our holiday is over. We went to the Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary, where we saw BIG spiders, lots of butterflies and gekkos, frogs, chipmunks, monkeys and proof of the existence of what looks like a porcupine (the actual animal, unfortunately, we did not see). Since I am vastly out of shape it was much harder than I thought it would be, but luckily our taxi driver picked us up near the end (using cars and scooters inside nature parks: not such a problem in India).

Right now we plan to have dinner at a restaurant on the beach because of its infamous bebinca. Then tomorrow we'll probably be on the beach again all day. At night we want to have dinner at the hotel and then we leave for our first flight from Goa to Mumbai at 5.30 AM. It will be brutal, I'm sure, so I'll try to relax as much as possible before then.

As for my "What I Cooked Today" blog posts (days 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246 and 247), you will have to miss them, I'm afraid. I simply do not have the energy to keep track of all the meals we're having. Suffice it to say that it's been a colorful assortment of fresh sea food, spicy curries, and absolutely every lassi known to man. Day 248 is Thursday, December 30, which will be the day that Jochem and I will be back home. I promise to write about food once more on that day.

See you soon!