Goa, Part II

**pics/vids added as of 6/1; post complete**

I helped the rickshaw driver get to where we needed to go via my smartphone and the cached Google Maps section I had for Goa.  We pull down this tiny road, and I’m not really sure what to think, until we pull up to the gate, and there’s a guy inside a little shack that needs to open it to let us in.

I’m thinking, wow.  A gated resort.  Cool.  Keeps the riff-raff out.  Wait.  I am the riff-raff!

I pay the driver (all cabs and tuks in Goa seem to be about 5 times more expensive than anywhere else in India.  I’m not sure why, some people have hypothesized lack of competition.  It’s darned expensive to move around in this state!), grab my backpack, and head up to where it looks like I’m supposed to go.

The reception area is actually outside under a large open structure, but it’s done up like it’s inside.  Wood and wicker furniture, display cases, flowers, etc.  I have a seat and within a couple of minutes, a guy in a uniform comes up to me.  I say I’d like to check in, and he says sure, and then says my name with a question mark on the end, as if he’d been anticipating my arrival.  I say, why yes, indeed, it is I.  He says come right over here and have a seat at the desk.

I sit down and prop up my totally-out-of-place backpack.  He presents some paperwork for me to fill in, all the usual stuff, and a man appears on my left with a tray and a glass of juice for me.  I have no idea if its complimentary or not, but it seems out of place to ask, like if I actually belonged in this class of hotel I would know, so I take it.  I don’t know what kind it is, but it tastes good.

A few minutes later, the juice man returns (sans juice) and the registration man hands him my key.  The juice man grabs my bag like a Sherpa and we go find my room.  He’s a small guy carrying my big pack, and I’m just walking behind him, carrying this tiny juice glass like a king.  I thought, I could get used to this!

We go into a building just 30 yards away, and it looks like a common area.  Huge kitchen with a 6 burner gas cooktop, fridge, cabinets and counter space all over.  He shows me a little spigot to the left of the double sink and tells me that the water there is purified drinking water for the guests.  We pass through a sitting area with some couches and a coffee table, and there’s a heavy teak door with a old-style lock.

He opens it up and there is my room.

This is the cleanest, biggest, most modern thing I’ve seen.  This is the high-end, baby.  There’s a big king bed (which is one mattress, not two twin frames squished together).  There is a huge AC unit, a sliding glass door to my private patio that overlooks the quiet pool, windows with Roman pull up shades.  The bathroom has a hair dryer which I use after my shower because I can.  The shower has a rainfall shower head and piping hot water that doesn’t run out.

Yes, yes.  I could definitely get used to this.

In the first 7 hours I was here, I swam in the pool twice, went to the beach twice, had two meals, and had a four hour conversation with a guy and his wife from Montreal over some Indian beers.  The food is good (Goan sausage - spicy and great on a Goan bun), and the atmosphere is great.  People are yes sir-ing me all over the place.

I call up and they send a boy over to get my laundry and he shows me the minibar and snack tray.  They have Lay’s Sour Cream and Onion chips.  The have a tea maker in my room.  They have complimentary bottles of Bisleri water.

I end up having several good conversations with Fitzgerald.  I spend some time on the beach, both during the day and at sunset.  I have a Pina Colada and Prawns Vindaloo with a Goan roll (for about $7 total) sitting at the beach side cabana watching and listening to the waves.  I get in the pool.  I get in the ocean.  I get in the pool.  I eat.  I get in the pool again.  Then I go down to the beach.

These are my two vacation days in my Adventure.  My wife says I earned it. 

The hotel was a splurge at about 2.5 times what I’m normally finding rooms for.  But even at $70/night, this place is a steal in American money.  I don’t know how much something like this would cost in Hawaii for instance, but I’m pretty sure not $70/night.  You can’t even get a decent hotel with a pool in Columbus for $70/night, let alone on the beach in some tropical paradise with service like what I’m getting.

So, that is how my time is spent in Colva, Goa on the Arabian Sea portion of the Indian Ocean.  I had plans to look around, but I’m not interested.  I’m catching up on blog posts now, then I’ll go eat and see if Fitz is around.  Then I’ll sleep like a baby, and wake up in time to swim some more in the morning before another good breakfast buffet with fresh squeezed mango juice and fresh pineapple and tiny, delicious 3” thin-skinned bananas.

I will leave tomorrow, and I have negotiated with a couple of drivers for (OUCH) $50 to travel around some other parts of Goa tomorrow, like Palolem beach and a spice plantation, before hitting the overnight train down to Alleppey, Kerala tomorrow night.

So stay tuned.