Elephants, Saris and Perverts
Trip Start
Jul 27, 2004
1
36
42
Trip End
Dec 21, 2004
Where I stayed
Colva Goa, India
Monday, November 29, 2004
Goa is fantastic. Much more chilled than Mumbai, the people are friendly & even though we still get hassled by market traders it's not as aggressive.
Colva is a proper holiday resort, particularly for Indian people so it can get hectic. We're staying about 10 mins from the town where it's v. v. quiet. Our hotel is smack bang between 2 villages - both with traditional huts made from thatchted palm leaves (and the odd bit of plastic). The village in front of us is a fishing village built on the beach & the walk to our fave beach bar shack invovles us walking through village saying hello to the mums & dads & ignoring their kids who without fail will say "Hello. Rupees?" with a filthy held out hand.
Been here for a week now & we've become part of beach life. Kerry has made best friends with sarong/jewellery/henna selling sari women & they sit around our sun beds chatting away, interspersed with us buying them drinks & fruit for their kids. Paul is best friends with the bar man Joseph who is hilarious. Calls Paul "Paul Sir" & nothing is too much trouble for him.
Big scandal on Saturday. The fuzz turned up & arrested 4 of the sari women for ilegally trading on the beach. Funny to watch the women pegging it down the beach, a whirl of bright blue, red & yellow saris throwing their sarongs as they went or stuffing bags under sunbeds - the rozzers wouldn't dare touch a tourist. The sad bit is that the women were locked up for the night & then a 'fine' of buying back their confiscated goods & paying more backsheesh.
Of course the women are out of pocket so we're buying them more drinks & fruit (& paying double for the fruit at that coz the fruit woman also got nicked).
Biggest hassle on the beach are the pervy Indian men. In Colva for a holiday they walk up & down the westernised bits perving at the western women's...well bits. Yesterday two old pervs were taking photos of the girls (including Kerry) the bar man from the shack ran over, snatched the camera from the photographer's hairy palms & ripped out the film!!
Had a day away from the beach & went to see the Exposition of St Fancis Xavier. Poor sod has been dead for 400 years (shrivelled a bit, skin a little leathery but not looking too bad). Every 10 years they drag him out for pilgrims to look at (he's in a glass case, obviously). Imagine the smell. 10's of thousands of Christian Indian people make the pilgrimage & attend a special mass. 3rd Dec is his feast day when they carry him around in a parade, it was a bit crackers when we went so we're not too bothered about missing the celebrations. Interesting fact. It's exactly 10 years since Paul was last in Goa & also the last time St Francis was disturbed.
Last time Paul was here he went to the hippy market at Anjuna beach. He had a brilliant time watching the albino circus family, fire eaters, snake charmers & acrobats. He also enjoyed walking around looking at the stalls full of Indian & hippy crafts. This time he hated it. No albino family, no snake charmers etc. The market symbolises the impact package tourism has had on north Goa. The market was full of stalls selling overpriced tatty 'I Love Goa' T shirts, along with badly made jewellery, fake designer gear, very dodgy fags (it might say Marlboro on the pack but it was definately camel poo inside). All at premium price of course. Many stall holders unwilling to haggle & selling inferior stuff to the beach sari girls at 3 times their price. What a shame. Anybody planning on visiting Goa - don't go. The Saturday night market is supposed to be better - we didn't bother trying it.
Hotel we're staying at is called Lucky Star. Only us & another back packer couple the rest are German or Dutch package holiday types. Which suits us fine because the waiters & bar man love us for being English (& young). We eat in the hotel every night & now know all the waiters' names, their life stories, hopes, dreams & aspirations. After the restaurant manager leaves for the night the waiters come over to our table for a chat, a game of cards or to show us magic tricks. They've also got Paul hooked on Fenni, otherwise known as Goan fire water. Very strong stuff!!
We're off now to pack our bags ready for the last 3 weeks of the trip.
