Sand, sun, shipwreck, fun!

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Trip Start Jan 02, 2007 Previous
Entry Trip End May 07, 2007

  Goa, India
Sunday, March 11, 2007

I'm back at the homestay after a week in Goa, a beach state just as heavily influenced by the Portuguese colonists as the hippies that flocked there in the '60s and '70s (and, judging from what I saw, the '80s, '90s, millennium...). The trip punctuated the halfway-point of the semester - a fairly significant turning point, since I'm finished with my Visual Culture class and now have a whole new set of preoccupations.

I've started volunteering with a place called Manzir in Khan Market, and I anticipate spending a LOT of my time there. I'm working with Indians about my age who are either low caste or who weren't able to get into very good school; they come to Manzir to learn English, computer skills, or whatever the teachers and volunteers are able to teach them. Last time I went, I met two men (in their early 20s) who are extremely passionate about becoming documentarians. They have a tiny little camcorder and had loaded Adobe Premier Pro onto one of the computers. We sat down together and I went through the program with them and talked their project. I had an amazing time talking videography and editing and aesthetics with them; seeing their faces light up when I complimented a shot made my week. One of the girls in the computer class became very interested in what they were doing, so I promised to come back and teach her some basic photography and Photoshop. I'll also have my own English conversation class on Mondays and Wednesdays. I love being able to meet and interact with people outside the program. In addition to giving them tangible help (to get a good job it's essential to be able to interview comfortably in English) I get to learn more about the people whose country I'm living in, outside the highly sterilized classroom environment.

But before this post gets too long, I should talk about Goa :oP

We flew out Monday - and one of the first things I noticed was how strange strange I felt being on a plane and not getting off in America. The student services coordinator (Reeta) and the program assistant (Manoj) came with us, and it was the first time Manoj had ever flown. We all got to tell him encouraging stories and watch him bouncing around like a puppy with excitement.

Me: So, how did you like it?
Manoj: It was nice.
Me: Oh, goo-!
Manoj: But I think next time I'll take the train.

Apparently despite all our caution about giving him gum and telling him to swallow when the plane took off and landed, his ears still ended up hurting.

When we got off the plane in Goa the heat hit like a ton of bricks - it was insanely humid, in what felt like 90 degree weather with the sun beating down. Our hotel was in north Goa on Calangute beach, about 5-minutes walking distance from the water. Monday and Tuesday I hung around Calangute, checking out the different markets and trying to make sure I didn't melt or fry (haha, not much luck on either count). The food in Goa was incredible; despite the ridiculously bad service at our hotel they had some amazing seafood curries and there was (wait for it) a Baskin Robbins within walking distance.

Ajuna Beach is known for its flea markets on Wednesdays, so a few other girls and I went to check it out. The history is that after Independence, Goa became a bit of a no-man's-land; under the Portuguese it was essentially a separate country, but post-colonialism Goa couldn't support itself, so it took a bit of time to reconnect with the rest of India. American hippies were drawn to the lack of structure and took to the place; obviously they had no way to support themselves and soon ran out of money, so they started selling their belongings on Ajuna Beach. Now the flea market has a mix of local crafts and a LOT of touristy items. We walked around for a bit but the heat was devastating, so we took a boat to a nearby beach with some good swimming.

I'd noticed people parasailing on Tuesday, so Reeta and I decided we'd give it a try. As per the norm here, it was a little sketchy - we found a man hawking the trips and haggled him down to a reasonable price. His boat was out on the ocean a ways, so he took the two of us and another woman to a smaller boat. We climbed in with about five guys (I'll call them sailors) and tried to get out of the surf...my emphasis here is on "tried". For some reason there was a problem with the engine, and we got stuck in a very awkward spot: each time a wave came up it would crash into the boat, soaking everyone on board and filling the boat with water. Finally the engine died completely, and as the sailors were working on it a huge wave came up and knocked them all overboard. Reeta, this other woman, and I had just enough time to look at them and laugh before an even bigger wave CAPSIZED THE BOAT.

The woman and I were thrown free; Reeta was underneath the boat but managed to swim out, losing her hat and glasses in the process. The other woman clearly couldn't swim; she was clinging to me in horror until I pointed out that we were only waist-deep in water. We waded back to shore, pretty rattled but more-or-less in one piece.

Intrepid and fearless creature that I am, I decided I wasn't ready to give up on the parasailing, so Reeta and I cajoled the sailors into taking us out on a jetski. (I'll talk about how fun it was trying to make them take some responsibility for the fact that they almost drowned us in a bit). That thing was worse than the shipwreck - the driver literally flew across the water: each time we hit a wave we'd get at least 3 feet of air before slapping back down on the ocean's surface. With nothing to hold on to I was TERRIFIED that I'd fly over the handlebars and be run over.

After that adventure, the actual parasailing was pretty anti-climactic. We saw some dolphins, though. :oP

Thursday we paid for a snorkeling package that went from about 9am-3pm. For about an hour and a half each way we were on a seaworthy school bus - a very rickety boat that made me so seasick I threw up. The island where we snorkeled was a tiny patch of sand with a lot of rocks, and the water was so murky you couldn't see anything. However, the day was saved by the fresh fruit and grilled chicken they gave us for lunch, and Manoj's insistence on learning how to swim. In addition to never flying, Manoj had never seen an ocean or been in water before! We all took turns teaching him to relax and float, and do some basic paddling and kicking. It reminded me a lot of Grandpa and all of my early swim lessons :o)

Friday we went to Old Goa, where you can see a lot of the Catholic churches left behind by the Portuguese. One houses the mummified remains of Saint Francis Xavier, patron saint of Goa. I was MAJORLY creeped out, but then I think collecting bits and pieces of mouldering dead things and worshiping them is a bit off. The artwork and architecture were very cool, and it was interesting to see the footprints of a different set of colonizers. We also took in a lecture at Goa University and learned a bit about the cultural and economic situation of Goa - both are in dire straights, since the area attracts only low-budget tourists and the excess of touristy shopkeepers is driving everyone out of business.

All in all, my "spring break" was and wasn't a fulfilling time. Th heat was devastating - it gave a white haze to everything. One of the girls got severe food poisoning and had to be hospitalized for 3 days for dehydration. While in a lot of ways Goa is much more chill than Delhi (you can't expect a woman to be covered head-to-toe in this kind of heat, though many were), the locals were still overly pushy, and if I see another man swimming in his briefs it'll be too soon.

I had a few adventures, but I spent a great deal of the time on my own, reading by the beach. The other IES girls have an extremely unfortunate high school clique mentality, and I'm on the outside of the inner circle. I knew it was something I was going to have to deal with on the trip, and by the end I was able to be comfortable in my own skin, doing my own thing. Goa also made me acutely conscious of how much I miss the family. Being in a tropical area reminded me of all our vacations with mom, and I would have much preferred her company to IES :oP Goa's main exports are cashew nuts and seafood, so I was constantly thinking of dad. I swear I saw a t-shirt in one of the shops that David owns. I miss and love you all :o)

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