Back in Goa for Christmas

Arriving back at Agonda Beach we were greeted as great friends returning home, and that's exactly how it felt...home. The tourists had changed, other than a few, but all else remained the same. It's the perfect laid back location to surf, swim and beach it for a while.

We spend more time discovering nearby places now. Chaudi or Conocana town is blessed with the Darbar that is "Udupi". We eat south Goa's best thalis, somosas and dosas regularly, and shop here for food, all essential new pillows and Christmas presents.

Another new discovery is Patnem Beach, south of Palolem. We enjoy good food here and the slightly busier beach with some cafe music. This is a nice alternative to our shanti shanti Agonda. Also, Jac and Simon are taking an intensive five day yoga course here. Ultimately though we do have to go into Palolem, which we have lovingly renamed "Pandemonium". It does have a few redeeming qualities, in particular, the restaurant "Cheeky Chapati". Hands down winner for good name and veggie English style sunday dinners... We eat here once and decide that the Christmas dinner venue is decided.

Maya rejoins us at Dersey, closely followed by Guy, Kay and Martin who have been in Gokarna since we left them and also decided to spend Christmas here. We are as happily surprised as are they. Days later Simon and Gina wander in and our previous possee is all but complete.
Along with Brett and others we celebrate Christmas at Fatimas and all learn to sign, as in sign language. Tevo is now hands down most competent and fastest signer, practising daily with great enthusiasm.

We all over endulge during the hugely enjoyable festive days and start almost nightly beach fires. On New Years Eve, in a fantastic night of fire works and fun, and the biggest fire of all we all sing "Message in a Bottle" and "Wonderwall" and numerous other songs to Simon's superb guitar playing. Tevo gives a marvellous rendition of Road to Amarillo - it made Tony's night apparently. We are about thirty people strong and as happy as you can be.

Breaking away from South Goa for a couple of days we visit Panjim, Goa's capital, and Old Goa.
Panjim is pretty hectic but strangely calm at the same time. We eat at the superb "Venite" cafe in the Sao Tome area, and Sher E Punjab Tandoori Restuarant, reputedly the best tandoor in Goa. There is a big presence of Portugese buildings which are particularly interesting and gives certain areas a real charm. There are pavements to which is a novelty. It almost seems like you're in a gorgeous mediteranean enclave then the smell of effluent and waste slaps you back into a pungent reminder that this is definitelyIndia (that and the suicidal traffic). Old Goa is all but destroyed other than four Portugese Cathedrals. These include St Francis of Assisi, and the largest in Asia, Se Cathedral. Also the Basilica of Bom Jesus, where St Francis Xavier's body remains are displayed in an elevated glass case. He was hugely responsible for converting people to Catholicism and it is said that after his death, his body remained in a fresh state for many years afterwards until eventually various body parts were removed for examination and he then started to decompose.

Roisin and I take a long walk through the staggeringly beautiful southern hills of Agonda one day, using the sun as our compass. We also lay out our route with markers. We find a road after four hours not seeing another soul (quite a feat in India). Next day we learn that there is a tiger in the area, with many men looking for it.

Eventually we have to think about moving on. Jackie spends many days trying to get train and plane tickets for the next stage of our travels. A word of advice: buy tickets out of Goa around Christmas/New Year time very early. It seems that it's been an awful lot busier here than we realised. Eventually her exhaustive efforts are rewarded. On the 13th we train south to Trivandrum in Kerala and fly to Colombo, Sri Lanka a few days later.

Lastly, we have decided to return to India after Sri Lanka. There is more we would like to see of this ever amazing country. Our plan, at the time of writing, is to return late January to Chennai (that's Madras), visting Kolkotta (that's Calcutta), and Darjeeling on the way to Sikkim, east of Nepal and firmly into the East Himalaya. Again, this was a family decision. The children showing a great desire to return to the mountains. We have thoroughly enjoyed this rest time, becoming part of the village and spending lots of time with other people. We are extremely excited by the near future. Not just to be on the road again, but also we meet Johnny and Caroline in Sri Lanka, our best friends and a chance to catch up on events in Manchester in the last four months.

Happy New Year indeed!