Back to reality

After a lovely four days at the spa we have come back to our apartment and met up with our friends again.

The weather has been particularly hot for this time of the year and the Goan weather dept tells us in the Goan Times that it is 4c higher than usual, and has reached the heady height of 38c.
We generally use three different beach shacks, where there are restaurant and loo facilities as well as the usual sunchairs and parasols.  But we have decided to stick to Glorio's as its slightly higher on the beach and is surrounded by palms and other trees which give us much needed shade.

Denise & John in Jones corner with Vishnoo giving a foot massage

We have seen a lot more people here as with windy conditions and parasols blowing inside out, the trees are a definate draw.

The dogs have also been running into the sea to cool down.
We also found out that the Indian gentleman from London, had a brain tumour which he knew about and must have had a seizure before dying in the sea.

Sorry not the best picture but you can see the Vipers top right

There was a lot of shouting this afternoon when the bar boys found a couple of vipers sitting on 20 eggs within about 10 feet of the path to the beach.  We all dashed round to have a look, they were nesting under some riggly tin.  I guess they were shocked   to see us lot when the boys lifted the tin to show them to us.  We asked what would happen to them and the boys said they would bag them up and throw them in  the field - yikes!  Hindu religion doesnt allow them to kill anything.
I shall be looking out for them now ......

Mayfair Hideaway Spa

Its always nice to have a bit of a change, and we'd booked a four day spa break over Valentines Day instead of going city hopping as in previous years.
The Mayfair Hideaway Spa is tucked away between the Sal River, surrounded by palm trees and Betul a tiny village.
The hotel very kindly sent a car for us, so no worries about finding the place

The Spa has wonderful statues of elephants as you cross the bridge to the entrance, and all the walkways throughout the hotel area have pretty coloured starfish and animal ceramics set into the path, and at the very edge there are rows of turtles. 

 We were shown to our room which was beautifully furnished with a huge bed and lovely deep mattress.  Anyone who has ever been to India will understand that the mattresses can be a tad on the hard side, this was just so comfy!

The view from the window was fabulous overlooking the river estuary going out to sea

with swaying palms just in front 

 The bathroom was very lush too with an extremely deep bath, shower etc.

There was a Hindu Shrine and the bell tolled every so often for people to come to prayer  As you walked to the pool you had to go through the Mermaid corridor where there were dozens of paintings of beautiful mermaids

There was always something lovely to look at, every time you walked the paths

The infinity pool was so inviting, and while we were there hardly anyone used it. So our own pool for a few days!

The formal rooms were also very interesting there was the lighthouse room where you could browse books and DVD's, but whose got time for films when your actually in a setting like this one

Every room seemed to have a unique theme to it, even the bar had a huge aquarium to watch

The restaurant was also first class, we took breakfast here, lunch by the pool and evenings in the restaurant or on the pool deck for Valentines Night

And, as we got engaged 47 years ago on Valentines Day, they even gave us red roses and chocolates in our room and a lovely cake at Dinner.  We shared it with a couple who had been married just a week and were having their honeymoon in Goa.  They live in Delhi and had never been here before, so it seemed a nice gesture to give them some of our cake, and to be honest we couldn't have eaten it all anyway!

We both decided to have a massage, it was funny really, we had our massages in the same room, with a Thai guy doing his Lordships and a small but extremely strong Thai girl giving me mine.  I have to say I booked a Swedish massage for himself, and an Aromatherapy one for me, but I think I ended up having a Swedish massage too.  My legs and back have never been stretched and pulled like that before and the grunts and groans from the next massage table weren't exactly sounds of pleasure!! He said he felt as though he'd been through a spin cycle in a washing machine.  Needless to say we both slept like logs but it took a while to ease ourselves out of bed in the morning.

Sad, bad day

Its hard to believe a beautiful stretch of beach like this can be tinged with sorrow
We've had some very rough seas over the last few days, probably something to do with the full moon, the lunar eclipse and several planets all being in line at the moment

The day before we found two turtles dead on the shore, one fully grown and the other not quite as big, obviously washed in by the huge rollers that hit the beach.
Yesterday the sea was much calmer, but Sanjeed one of the bar boys was just walking along to the beach bar when he saw a body in the sea.
As it was before 9am the coastguards were not on duty so he shouted for help and Chris ran down to help give CPR and mouth to mouth resuscitation.  The coastguards and lifeguards came to help, but after 40 minutes he was pronounced dead.  He was thought to be an Indian from London.   All this had a devastating effect on the bar boys and all of the Brits & Canadians who use Glorio's beach shack.  The lifeguards think he had a heart attack, but after some careful deliberations, we think he might have been stung by a shoal of jellyfish ( I counted 27 washed up on the beach) and maybe went into anaphylactic shock before drowning, as he had water in his lungs.  So a sombre day.

We are going  to the Mayfair Hideaway Spa tomorrow for four days for a bit of pampering, so no blogging until next Wednesday.  I hear its snowing in the UK ha ha ha ha ha :)

Food for thought

As you all probably know I'm married to a man who is absolutely passionate about food.  He's certainly not one of those who eats to live, he lives to eat, and for me thats not a bad thing!
When we planned our trip himself decided we ought to bring the two things we really always miss with us, smoked bacon and cheddar cheese, both items that are more or less impossible to get here.
I have to say he has a serious rationing system in place, so we when the time comes to get smoked bacon we really appreciate it.
The cooking facilities in our apartment are pretty good for this part of the world, I know friends who only have a halogen ring to cook on, which when your a chef is extreemely frustrating.  Not only do normal pans not work on them, you have to juggle cooking items to get the food cooked all at the same time.

 Please note pans in India dont always have handles, good job we bought an oven cloth with us

Yesterday we had a lovely breakfast of smoked bacon, poached eggs and toast which was nice.

Today himself decided he was so impressed with the menu at Dinhas in Benaulim, that we would go there for a late breakfast.  Not only was there ground filter coffee on the menu, but lots of lovely other things to try,  This morning he went for the creamy porridge with fresh grated coconut and honey, and having seen another diners breaky I went for the creamy porridge with banana and golden syrup!  Please dont tell Dr Shackley! ha ha ha,

I must just tell you about last nights fiasco.  We were having our first Gin & Tonic as the sun is setting over the field, picture the scene, peace, tranquillity , peacocks roaming, pigs shuffling, egrets finding the insects, a buffalo being taken to the watering hole, dogs walking, the boys playing football on the distant pitch.  Sounds pretty idyllic doesn't it ?  Then at the far end of the field a group of church goers congregate at the religious monument (too far away to get a decent picture) they sing and pray then one bright soul lets off firecrackers?? Why?? The mayhem that happened was as follows, seven peacocks took flight, the pigs and dogs shot off in different directions, the buffalo stampeded through the footballers, complete with his owner trailing on the rope behind him, absolute mayhem!  Oh how we laughed.

You couldn't make it up!

Every morning I go for a really good walk to improve my fitness, I try to do a bit more every day, but Goa has eventually got me.  I didn't realise at first but I found myself ambling along without a care in the world, the speed walking has definitely gone out the window.  Himself has also started to amble along with me too, he's got a bad back and feels that it might improve if he keeps mobile.

I love the writing on the wall at Dinas

We went down to Glorios Beach Shack yesterday and found that there was a marquee with tables and chairs over the road to the beach.  You'd never get away with building a marquee over a public road in the UK but I dont suppose it matters that much here.  We rode the bike through it!!  Apparently it was for Vernon's Confirmation,

C

Today we caught up with old friends Steve and Ann, it was wonderful to see them again, they were very worried about me last year.  We had a couple of pre-luncheon beers and caught up twelve months news.

We spent the day at the beach with lunch at Mamas Kitchen, Prawn Noodles for me and Chicken soup for himself.

We popped up to the shops for some essential supplies, having been here a couple of weeks himself is desperate to cook, and after Steve mentioned he had Bangers and Mash on the plane he went for a shufty through the freezers at Home Supplies.  I'm not sure what Chicken sausages are like but if they're served with Bubble and Squeak and Port gravy, I'm really not going to complain.

We got back to our apartment and were having our early evening G & T when  two boys of about 8 or 9 walked over to the watering hole with a duck on a string?  They threw the duck in, it was then we realised it was probably a cormorant - it puts a whole new slant on going fishing.

Lazy Sunday

It was a warm sunny Sunday and we decided we would give the beach a miss for a day and take the bike to Benaulim for some touristy shopping.

We went the back way along the coast road, avoiding trucks, tour busses and anything bigger than us basically.  We tootle along  at a very sedate speed, the only thing that doesn't pass us is the occasional push bike.

Our first port of call was to the German Bakery.

  Goan bread tends to be white sliced, something we never eat, the local brown bread is only marginally better.  There were lots of different breads on offer and we opted for a brown tin loaf.  The shop assistant put it in a brown paper bag and sellotaped the end to keep it fresh, it cost about 60p and when she handed it to me I very nearly dropped it.  To say that it was heavy would be the understatement of the year.  I have to say that it looked like a brick and felt like a brick, however, the truth would be in the eating.  So, having bought the bread at the beginning of our shopping trip I had to cart it round in my shoulder bag for the rest of the morning.

We spotted a lovely little coffee shop called Dinhas just along the road and sat with the locals and other foreign tourists and had  two large lattes, which cost the princely sum of 60p for two.  Along the walls were sayings to while away the time you waited for your coffee to arrive.

On leaving we noticed that the proprietor had just put a sign out saying Roast Beef dinners.  Might be very tempted next week.

Himself was eager to buy some lose fitting shirts, unfortunately they one had one in his size, but as luck would have it, they had lots in my size, so I did rather well with three cotton tops, and a nifty looking handbag (might last to the end of the hols) for £10.

Lynn and Pete had told us about a good Sunday Lunch venue called the Farmhouse.

Queue at the Filling Station

Weve done 230k on 230 rupees so 1rupee per kilometer - pretty cheap

  As we had to refuel Blue belle on the, way we thought we might go in to see what the place was like, and on the road to Varca a surly Cockney voice shouted "how much road do you tourists want?" and it was Pete with Lynn on the back going to the Farmhouse.

Lovely surroundings and a live band.

  Lunch was excellent, we had

Stuffed Mushrooms,

Golden Fry King Prawns with seafood dip

Coconut & Mango Ice Creams

Yummy

As for the German Bread, phew it was as heavy in my tum as in my shoulder bag!

Wildlife ....,

Every morning we have coffee on our balcony overlooking open fields surrounded by palms. There is an abundance of wildlife; egrets, sea eagles,

peacocks, snuffling pigs and the occasional dog or two. 

Yesterday we had a near miss by a low flying peacock when we were on our way back from the village on our bike. They're quite ungainly beasts when they're in mid flight and himself uttered some expletives, and we did a bit of a wobble, phew, lucky escape then!

I go for a walk every morning, I'm trying to get some of my fitness back after last years ill health, and I met up with an old friend who lives in Varca.  She walks for two hours every day with her 3 dogs.  She also has a project that she's running to get the female stray dogs spayed. There are a lot of strays around the tourist areas and some are in a very poor state.  Lynn raises the money through the charity and the local vet charges her £20 for each femail dog.  As this is a local problem you would think that the local people would like to do something about it, but they keep the male dogs and dump the female dogs in various places. Its a real shame for the puppies.

Lynn & her dog and me and my shadow. Her T Shirt reads really well!

It was really great to catch up with Lynn and Pete, we met them down at Blue Waves where we all had lunch together.  The people who run Blue Waves are a really friendly bunch, Samsun who puts out our towels, gets our drinks and waits on table, has a remarkable memory, he never rights things down, but he knows what goes on the bill!  Two hot Chicken Salads, chips and two shandies and two beers cost the princely sum of £7.50.  Its also a dry day as the local elections are taking place, but Samsun gave us our drinks which we had to hide from view, just in case the inspectors came around, which apparently is not unusual,and if your caught then you lose your licence.