beautiful golden sands line the coastline, and coconut palms abound. the sun is hot and the sea is warm, the locals are friendly in a business-like way, the odd con-man or two around to catch the newly arrived and unwary (yes, they caught me!), all manner of tourists and travellers milling about in a carefree unhurried way, eyeing the wares in the throng of shops lining the main road to the beach as the shop vendors casually urge them to venture inside. all manner of eating places to cater for all tastes and budgets. and as joe said, whatever it is the chef at the relax inn puts in the tomato sauce, it makes us come back night after night. the seafood spaghetti pasta is amazing. italian-trained chefs also at fellini it seems, the pizza there is great. for local vegetarian thali, siddhi is the place. and for some tandoor-made roti to go with the alu gobi, the unfashionable blue sea-horse wins hands-down. yum-yum!
relaxing is definitely what goa is all about. it’s not india. i mean, it’s not ‘real’ india, whatever that is. most of the locals are christian and proud of the portugese influence on this part of india. it doesn’t feel so overbearing and intense like some other parts of this country. it’s a good place to adjust to the tempo of india before venturing out further afield.
i get my dose of relaxing. but then i aslo help out at the ‘balanced view’ centre... the work is now focused on cleaning out the place in time for the season. community life feels good again, but i value my independence too. the movement is towards gokarna and hampi... so when the season here starts in earnest and the tourist hordes arrive en masse, time to escape and revisit these two amazing places.
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