I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts!

My god! Goa is such a paradise. I haven't written because I have been too busy swimming in the Arabian Sea, laying on the beach, eating yummy food and drinking Indian wine.

Goa was a great place to end a 6 week backpacking excursion across India. I was VERY heartbroken to leave. We were in the North of Goa staying in a place called Candolim before heading to the South and finding a way better destination called Palolem. Candolim was a little too resorty for me. Full of packaged tours with many tourists from Russia and England.
However, we did see a HUGE crocodile when we went out on a "Crocodile Dundee" tour with John's Boat tours...which was ridiculously stupid!! The only good thing about the tour was how lucky we were to see this 5 metre beast. We got so close to her that I am sure if I reached my arm out of the boat I could have touched her.

Our guide told us that this was the biggest croc that he has ever seen!

When we went south, we found ourselves on a beach with many other backpackers who were ending their trip the same way we were, relaxing on the beach. You could see the difference immediately! In Palolem there were no topless women, or over-tanned oiled men in bright coloured string thongs or people who were completely naked like there were all over in Candolim, though it made people watching a lot more amusing, I was pretty glad to get out of there, (too hoity-toity for me!) Though Goa is a far more westernized province then anywhere else in India, Palolem had people who had done more travelling around the country. Everyday you saw new backpackers arriving! Also, Polalem was a far younger crowd of people, and the beach was prettier and we stayed in a bamboo hut right on the beach in a forest of palm trees, so it was more like a cabin on the sea! It was far cheaper too and more laid-back.

This is Palolem Beach! Sigh!

We laid on the beach during the days with a temperature reaching high 30s to mid 40s (Celsius) and went swimming as much as we could!

Riding the waves was soooooo fun! I can't believe HOW much I loved swimming in the sea. Before this, I was afraid to go in the water and I have seen a lot of seas and oceans through my travels. It's the fish and other alien like things in the water that give me the heebie-jeebies! Needless to say, Julian helped me get over my fear, to the point where I actually went snorkeling!!!! Sorry, no photos of that, but it wasn't the most exciting. I'm not sure where all the pretty fish were, but they weren't in the sea off Grand Island, thats for sure. The boat ride back from snorkeling was terrifying. Had we been at home there would have for sure been a warning about being out on a small boat with the HUGE waves, but in India, it was "safe", lol. So, we sat back and drank beers and enjoyed the ride...we were absolutely soaking wet! Needless to say, snorkeling in Goa isn't worth it.
The food is just WONDERFUL!! We ate and ate and ate as much as we could!! I fell in love with coconuts! I had coconut pancakes with honey everyday!

And the coconut man walked up and down the beach all day, so sometime in the mid afternoon it was time for a fresh coconut accompanied by masala chai and Beano (the most travelled card game ever!)



After we finished the coconut, it made a perfect bowl so we could hydrate our many beach friends. This guy was with us the whole time, he was so sweet. He loved cashew cookies too! He would sleep under me in the shade all day.

And then, it was time for a swim...again.

Every night we would take a long walk along the beach and watch the sunset and the crabs come out to play! The sunsets were just incredible!

I will miss Goa, I already do. It was really difficult to leave, but I feel better knowing that we WILL be back one day in the near future. Getting on that train back to Mumbai was very difficult. I passed the time watching Dream Girls for the 4th time this month, lol. It's a great movie to watch on the train, I can't help but sing along!


We are now back in Mumbai about to go to sleep and we'll wake up early and head to the airport to catch our plane with British Airways, who are on strike at the moment, so we'll see how or if this affects our flight. It's amazing that the last time we were in this HUGE insane city was when we first arrived and I couldn't stand it. It was to intense for me and the smells were something else! But now that I am back here, there is a sorta comfort to it. It's funny how something that seems so overwhelming and uncomfortable and scary at first can make you feel sorta "at home" with a bit of time. I guess all change takes some getting used to, and I am used to India and I LOVE it here. I will be back!!! I haven't even left and I already miss it!
Goodbye India. Thanks for the BEST honeymoon EVER!!!