Diwali in Goa

For Diwali this year we ended up with a four day weekend - as holidays here follow the lunar calendar no one is ever sure when exactly the holiday is.... So my colleague Dana, his girlfriend Gertrude and our friend Amy all headed out to Goa. If this post seems like a travel guide, i apologize - I've learned that it's useful to document all the places for future trips!

We decided to stay in Panaji (which also goes by like 15 other similar names), which is inland a bit. We stayed at the Panjim Inn - which is this lovely old building. Rooms were great (although ours was over a noisy street) and in this cute town that is totally decaying portugese (first and second pictures)! The colors are gorgeous! We thought we were in Old Goa but learned we were not! Just another small town in Goa.

On Friday everyone but me wanted to work - but I am such a sucker for beach and sun that I hooked up with my friend Radhika who had come down for vaca with her husband and one year old. We, and her cousin all headed to Uttorda Beach - about 45 minutes south. Pretty deserted and beautiful. The water was hot - not just warm! No real waves though. And the general weather is still about 90F. We lucked out too cause they still get thunderstorms but we missed them. We had lunch - the most amazing fish (red snapper) I've ever had at Zeebop's. Then headed down to play in the sand with Devin for a while. We headed home around dark and I met up with Amy at this crazy resort place. It's amazing to think that all these european tourists come straight to Goa - I mean who are these like 19-year-old couples that shell out $250 a night?? Couldn't tell if they stay with their parents or just look younger than they are. Anyways we enjoyed some bad cover songs of Bob Marley and a diwali fireworks display. When we got back to Panjim some local kids were doing the diwali I know so well. Setting off firecrackers that aren't particularly pretty but are noisy and dangerous and the thrill seems to be not dying. You feel like you are watching the "what not to do" safety special and it sounds like you're in a war zone. Thankfully it was short.

The next day we all went to Aswem beach - where I had gone last year but it was just before the real season starts and so a lot of places were not yet open. The crazy thing though is that it seems way more developed than last year. The taxi driver said the mayor was corrupt and so allowing construction that was previously illegal. Since the place I went last year was closed we randomly stopped at Silence. Totally randomly we bumped into friends from Delhi (Dharma from frisbee and his girlfriend) who were staying at their little beach shacks for Rs. 500 a night. That is definitely what I'm doing next time. The old town is very pretty but it can't beat waking up to the ocean. Although Radhika mentioned camping on this cute island (butterfly island 10 minutes from Palolem) that also sounded great. So I spent the day sunning - but really got very little tan (stupid effective sunblock!) - and reading. At one point I swam down the shore (it just keeps going and going) which was great. You turn the bend and it's just gorgeous palm trees. Would have been really relaxing except I was desperately trying to avoid rocks as Dharma had gotten all cut up the day before and I guess some russian guy died apparently from hitting his head and drowning a day or so before that! Later went for a walk and admired the overwhelming number of starfish! Did you know they burrow into the sand?? And tons and tons of little crabs. Totally fascinating.

The last day I had a relatively early flight so we went to Old Goa (the real one). Didn't have much time but all it seemed to be was big tourist attractions. Like the church that has the "relics" of Saint Xavier Francis who died there and never decayed (courtyard of the church is the third picture through the prayer candles). We think relics mean his body but not totally sure. Since it was Sunday they were actually having services and we saw a wedding too. It's been so long since I've been in a place that closes on Sundays - I forgot it was even an option! The churches were pretty (although why mix churches and cannons -fourth picture?) and the gardens were beautiful.

Sorry for the lack of beach photos. I let other people be the photographers there - if they send me picts i'll post them! This last one is just a sign I really liked. Mickey and Daffy are classic goan??