Goa

It has been a long time since I last wrote. Although I have a lot of free time at my disposal with nothing much to do, I guess it takes some effort to actually get down to it. During my vacation, I finally decided to go to Goa. It has been a issue between the two of us with my wife telling me that she hasn’t even been to Lonavla. I decided to go for the ‘cake’ instead of the ‘bread’. We had a great time, exploring Goa on a scooter, which was readily available for hire. Exploring Old Goa, one felt privileged to see the remains of St Francis Xavier at the Cathedral of Bom Jesus. We were in the presence of a divine being. The festive atmosphere at the beaches, especially at Kolva and Calangute is very infectious. We went for all the sports, although we did experience a bit of a fright in the banana boat ride. They take you out a couple of hundred metres into the open sea on a banana boat and then tip you over a couple of times! It gets to you when the waves start pushing you around the moment you hit the water. The dolphins come up to see us during the ‘Dolphin Ride’ and not the other way around as the boatmen would want us to believe! They appear and submerge at will, give us glimpses of sleek, grey bodies effortlessly swimming through the water. Goa is incredibly clean, with neat roads and ample parking spaces. Goa has retained its old world Portuguese charm. To have a good time in Goa, three days at least are a must. A day for Old Goa and a couple of days for the beaches.