Back from Goa, and it was everything I was promised it would
be. As you may know, Goa is the state
directly South of Maharashtra famous for its beaches and tourism. It is the
vacationing spot of India, and attracts more foreigners than anywhere else
in the country, spare possibly the Taj Mahal.
While the majority of India was under the control of the British,
Portugal claimed Goa as its chief port leading to a strong Christian presence
in the state. This Portuguese/Christian
background along with the tourism-centered economy differentiates Goan culture
from the rest of the country, and made for quite an interesting and enjoying
week.
We stayed at a quality resort only a few minutes from the
beach, and spent hours swimming and relaxing each day. Though I have missed a good Minnesota winter,
I took solace in the thought that I was enjoying weather nearly 100 degrees
warmer than back home. Oh, and we saw
dolphins. I do not think that anyone
would deny that’s pretty cool. On the cultural
experience front, we took several short trips around the state to visit several
of the tourist hot spots. The coolest
place we saw was the Basilica Bom Jesus (which to our Brazilian and Portuguese
friends means “Good Jesus”). This
beautiful cathedral is best known for housing the body of Saint Francis
Xavier. His remains are extremely
well-preserved (holy influence, according to the church) and are only put on
display once a decade which, unfortunately for us, is set to occur next year.
Apart from beach-going and sight-seeing, I experienced one
aspect of Goan culture vastly different from that of any other place I have
visited in the past six months: nearly half of the people around me were
white. Now, I do my best not to notice
race, but in India, Caucasian means foreign and it is always interesting to be
around people who view India through a lens similar to mine. Another interesting difference was the
abundance of small, side-of-the-road businesses selling traditionally Indian
goods to all the tourists.
After three days of enjoying beach paradise with great food
(and my first time whipping out the Frisbee since Northfield!), we took the
train to a Pune Rotarian’s beach-front property in Maharashtra where we stayed
for two days. Unfortunately, we missed
our stop and had to take a three hour bus and an hour car ride to get back to
the house. The property was nice enough
and we were all drifting off to sleep when our bed gained another
occupant. I felt the little nails
climbing on my shoulder and neck and woke all the guys with a yell as I hit the
rat back onto the floor and tried to suppress my disgust. Needless to say, the four of us all braved it
out and decided to pack into one bed for safety. Our final day was notably better, and
involved running around on the beach, tossing the disc, and exploring some
small villages and a fish market. I
could not have asked for a better week.
As for Pune, the biggest news came in the hours before
departing for Goa. I walked out of my
room in the morning and immediately given a six hour warning that I was moving
back to my first host family. Packing up
all my belongings and putting the finishing touches on the last blog post
filled essentially filled my day until I left for Goa. Now I am back in my first house in the same
room with the same bed and the same family, and I like the familiarity. Also, I now live about one-third as far from
everything as I used to and I can walk some places. Life is pretty good. Another update soon, have no fear.
