Goa, Part I

The ladies in my section of the Goa-bound train were friendly, though not all together at the beginning.  It must be my appearance at this point.  They don’t know what my deal is, other than I look like a well-bred hobo.  My hair is a bit nappy and my goatee is going all over the place.  The rest of my beard is growing in, but I apparently don’t have working hair follicles evenly spaced throughout the beard growing region of my face, so it’s coming in all patchy.  I haven’t had my clothes properly washed since Nainital, which was about day 6.  I’m about day 30 now.  I wash my clothes the best I can when I have the time to let them dry, but I simply can’t get the dirt out, so it doesn’t really look like they’ve ever been cleaned.

I don’t blame them for being a bit cautious.

We chat a bit of small-talk, and I find out that they have decided more or less on a whim (and with very little preparation) to come to the subcontinent for about 3 weeks.  They have only made this train reservation.  They figure they will work the rest out.  I think it will end up being a challenge booking trains at such a late date, either that or it will require quite a bit of energy.

I made my bed, and hit the sack soon after we left, which was maybe around 11:30p.  The night was uneventful and no major issues like the night before.

In the morning, we had some more relaxed discussion and I gave them some hard-won advice on some things they asked about.  They didn’t have ear plugs, or enough anyway, so I gave them about 15 pairs to share between the four of them.  I don’t know why I packed so many.  Probably for them, lol.  I kept enough for a fresh pair about every 3-4 days, plus one for the plane ride home and gave them the rest.  Hopefully it lasts them.  They will have plenty of challenges, at least they can now sleep well on the trains.

I got off one stop early in Goa because it was closer to my first destination: Panjim.

On the way off the train, I meet up with two female, Dutch early twenty-somethings.  They are going in a similar direction, so we share a cab to Panjim, and they save me from 3x overpaying on the ride in.  The car driver is borderline creepy, so I tell the driver that they are with me, and we are all going to the same hotel.  One of the girls was saying something about needing a banana or something as we were pulling in, so as the driver was getting the doors open, I told them that the hotel was supposed to have a decent breakfast and they were free to join me.

They were very appreciative of the help to dodge the persistent driver, and we all went in to the hotel.  They had a seat in the restaurant and I got checked in and took my bags up to the room and checked it out.  The driver came into the hotel and waited in the lobby like a buzzard circling it’s next meal.

As we were eating the hotel manager came and asked if we had told the driver to wait, we said no, and he took care of it straight away!  We ate and I picked up the tab which they finally graciously accepted.  With the money they had saved me on the ride in, it was a wash, and they looked liked like could have used a good free meal.

Panjim is the capital of the state of Goa, which is India’s tiniest state (the whole state of Goa is about 7 times larger than Columbus, Ohio in land area).  Goa has long-standing Portuguese influence: architecture, food, clothing, religion.  In fact, the Portugese Inquisition in Goa (similar to the infamous Spanish one) is a huge part of Goan history, wherein the Catholic Church tortured, executed, and burnt alive people who would not convert, or who were suspected of returning to their old “heathen” ways after falsely converting. 

Somehow, despite this, Goa is overwhelmingly Christian today (Seems like there are black spots on most religions when it comes to persecution.  At one point in history they are being persecuted.  Another point in history they are doing the persecution.  Around and around it goes.  I wonder if anybody gets it.).

Where in other parts of India there are temples and shrines to the myriad Hindu deities (and Mosques for the Muslims, etc.), here there are mainly churches.  As ubiquitous as the Shiva trident or an image of the elephant Ganesh, here it is the cross which is ever-present.  Where in other areas of India, cars and buses and rickshaws are adorned with stickers saying Sai Ram or Krishna, here they often say Baby Jesus or Virgin Mary.  Instead of statues or pictures of Ram or Krishna with marigold necklaces, here they’re placed on the statues of Jesus and of St. Xavier.  And when the Indians come to the churches, they touch the feet of these statues, just the same as they would touch the feet of their traditional Hindu guru.

It was really weird to see this and it made clear some lines for me.  That these things were cultural things that Indian people do, and they are not tied to Hinduism.  They are the way that Indians show respect and reverence and obedience, and they’ll do it whether they are Hindu or Muslim or Christian.  I was thankful for that realization, as it brought some clarity.

After breakfast and pointing the girls in the right direction for the rickshaw stand I saw coming in, I got a car out of Panjim and in to Old Goa (which is about 7 miles inland from the coast).  I visited the Basilica of Bom Jesus where St. Xavier still lies in state, his body being “uncorruptable.”  Well, most of him is there, except a fervent devotee bit his toe off at one point when he was on display, and I think the Vatican removed his arm to be put in Rome.  But most of him remains there, and they bring him down for display about every ten years.

I also visited the Church of St. Francis of Assisi which was much less visited (unfortunately), and the Church of the Holy Mother on the Mount (or something to that effect), which is a now abandoned nunnery on top of a hill with a lot of character.  Many of the churches throughout Goa are in ruins now, though there has been some restoration which seems to be led by foreign groups.

After Old Goa, I headed back into Panjim, was foiled on two attempts to see things there (both under renovation), and stopped at a park for a bit of rest and thinking before dinner.

Dinner was at a place called the Upper House and it was good.  I’m trying to eat the foods in the places I’m in, so here I was eating mainly Goan specialties.  I had a crab xec xec which is crab in a smoked coconut curry gravy with Goan bread (which tastes kind of sweet and is a heavier and chewier bread than we have in the States.  Maybe like a mix between Hawaiian sweet rolls and sourdough).  I also had a couple of traditional Goan deserts and a Goan cashew feni drink.  I didn’t like the deserts, but the crab was good, even if it was highly labor intensive (very small crab pieces).

That was a very nice meal overall, and I had 3 waiters.  I was the only diner in the room!  The whole shebang, including tips cost less than $20.  In America, a meal like that would have easily been between 100 and a buck fifty.

I headed back to the hotel, slept well, and had the included breakfast in the morning which was a mainly Indian breakfast stuffs.  I got a rickshaw to my next hotel in Colva.  Colva is about 40kms/27 miles south of Panjim and is located on some prime beach real estate on the Arabian Sea.  When I made my splurge hotel reservation, I made it in Colva :).