Jon and Laura had vacation from work for a festival here called Diwali, so we headed to Palolem Beach in Goa, India, for a short trip to the beach. As you can see, it was beautiful…
A quick comment on being pale in India…as Laura and I would be laying on the beach, enjoying the shade of the palm trees, Indian women would come up and say, “Oh, your skin is so white!” Umm, seriously? I mean, I know it’s pretty obvious; however, complete stranger, you really don’t have to come point it out… But then I realized that it is considered a compliment- pale skin is considered beautiful here. (So now I am seriously contemplating moving here…)
Yes, that is a cow walking off into the sunset on the beach. I guess the cows really are everywhere. In fact, at Palolem, they didn’t just mill about on the roads and go sunbathing on the beach. Oh no, not these cows. They even stopped in at the local restaurants. This is a cow that had wandered into the restaurant where we were eating one night…and he stayed and made himself right at home. Nobody seemed to mind…
We didn’t let the cow bother us, though, because the fresh seafood was so good. You walked up to these platters of freshly caught fish, chose which one you wanted and how you wanted it cooked. It was pretty great.
Not so great…eating fish eyeballs for good luck. Gross, Laura. Just plain gross.
We had a really good time enjoying the waves and the sun setting over the water and the walks and the good seafood. I kept looking around and thinking, am I really here??? Oh, and there was also a Baskin Robbins. Heavenly.
Tomorrow morning, bright and early, I catch a plane to Calcutta. Or Kolkata. Or however you’re supposed to spell it. It will be a whole new experience there. If you’re of the praying sort, pray for me to find some good folks to work with, play with, eat with, explore with, and debrief with after what I expect will be some pretty intense experiences. My internet access will probably be pretty limited, but I’ll try to keep you posted as best I can!
I have been so thankful to be able to stay with Jon and Laura here in Delhi- thank you guys for being so hospitable and for letting me stay in your home for such a long time! It has been so much fun to catch up with you, Laura- I will miss seeing you every day!!!
3 Comments
October 30, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Cool stuff Megan . . . except the fisheye picture. That’s made me kind of queasy.
October 30, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Safe travels Megan! You’re in our prayers. Thanks for giving us suburban folk some vicarious travels through your blog.
By the way, pig eyes from an Eastern NC pig pickin’ are so much better than fish eyes! Gross.
October 31, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Megan, what a great experience, I’ve loved reading the blog, almost as good as being there myself!
Thanks for sharing your wonderful adventure.