Go, Go, Goa!

Being this far from home, one has a tendency to cleave to one's countrymen. So, when Geoff, one of the ex-pats from Hyderabad put out an invitation to go to Goa for the weekend, quite a troupe was rallied. I spend the last 10 days working from our office in Hyderabad, which put me even closer to Goa, so I decided to go along for the ride.

We flew to Goa on Friday night, headed for the town of Anjuna. From the airport, Anjuna is about an hour's drive outside of town, along the coast. Even the drive itself is beautiful. Stark white churches, remnants of the Portuguese influence in the area, stand out against the dark green of palm trees. The weather and flora are noticeably more tropical - there are plumeria trees, hibiscus bushes, and coconut palms. We arrived in Anjuna just past sunset and headed into town for dinner at the Oasis German bakery and cafe. In the end, there was a crew of about eleven of us for the weekend, with nothing on our agenda but beach, sun, sand, and having a good time.

On Saturday, we rented scooters and headed down to Anjuna beach for the day. The beach is a long strand of sand, cut into crescents by black rocks and wave breaks. At the edge of the sand, one little grass shack after another offers snacks, drinks, or bungalows for weary beach goers. We ambled our way to the end of the beach and parked ourselves in front of the "Happy Hours." Ronnie, Kelsey, Scott, and Geoff quickly joined up with some local kids playing soccer on the beach. Heather let herself be convinced to get a massage on the beach, and me, I sipped my fresh coconut juice and delved into Passage to India.

We stayed on the beach until sunset, enjoying the warm water and sunshine and then headed back to our hotel to get cleaned up. Heather and I walked to Ingo's Saturday Night Market. Getting there was a little scary - the roads are d-a-r-k in Goa. But, we arrived safely and without too many detours. In general, Goa is chock-a-block with Westerners, and Ingo's is a mecca for that crowd. There are food stalls for French, Italian, German, and Indian food, live music and tons of great stuff to buy. Heather had an avocado sandwich that mysteriously didn't have any avocados. I had a thin crust cheese pizza which was fantastic. Mmm mmm good. The price of goods, unfortunately, is also toward the tourist palate - definitely not local rates. However, there was still good stuff to be had and I was just glad that I now know the difference between a good price and a bad one. Heather and I bought some cleverly-designed backpacks from an Australian woman, I got a pair of gold yak-leather flip flops, and three necklaces made of sunset-colored chunky glass beads. Heather bought some fun skirts and a very cool pair of sandals. Replete with shopping satisfaction, we headed back to the hotel to rinse off and steam in our room. A very good day.

On Sunday morning, we were on Heather time and consequently got up early. It was beautiful out, so we headed back to Oasis for a breakfast of cheese omelettes and banana lassi, and then tooled around Anjuna and Mapusa on our scooter. Mad props to Ms. Heather for taking on the driver's role. I decided to stick to back-of-the-scooter driving. Goa traffic is awesome - we came around a bend on the scooter to find ourselves dodging about seven Yaks of varying sizes - Mooove over!

After our scooter tour, we met up with the entire crew back at Anjuna beach as they finished a late breakfast. We staked out a few beach umbrellas and settled down to enjoy our last few hours in Goa. Unlike the previous day, we had lots of company. There were quite a few little girls selling jewelry, offering to do mehndi, and generally wanting to chat with the foreigners. We succumbed to the offer of mehndi. The guys started it, oddly enough, with ethnic arm bands, and a huge dragon. Several of us girls were quick to follow with more traditional floral designs on our hands. The mehndi in Goa is black in color, whereas traditional mehndi is done with the reddish natural henna. Before I leave India, I'd like to try getting proper mehndi, but this was a great way to spend an afternoon on the beach.

Tanned and tired, we piled into a jeep for the ride back to the airport. Heather and Scott headed out to Delhi, and I went back to Hyderabad with the group from there. Goa was great fun - I think it will very shortly be unbearably hot, but we really enjoyed the beach and having a lazy weekend.