Goa Recap

So we were three and then we were two and then we were three and then we were two and finally we ended up being three! J cancelled on Monday as she was summoned to Portland, so then Stacie and I proceeded as two. Then a friend from Mumbai Komal decided to join us - to then cancel at 2:30 a.m. the morning of our flight, to then rejoin us later that day at the last minute! man.. it was so confusing and difficult to go to Goa for a weekend!!

But we made it and had a good time. Stacie and I seem to be able to do just about anything together and have fun. It was nice to spend some good quality time with her and to just chill out, laying in the sun, reading books, taking naps and chatting.

I hadn't been to Palolem in 3 years, so I wasn't sure what to expect after so much time away. This time, we stayed at the north end of Palolem which seems to be much more mellow than the southern end, where I stayed previously. The north end is quiet and asleep by 10:30 pm and is filled with people my own age - some single, some with their families. But being mellow did not stop the women from going topless. Stacie and I were shocked by this... This is India after all - a very conservative country! We were also very happy with the hotel we ended up with - Alessandros. The staff were very nice and went out of their way to help us entertain ourselves! Stacie and I even made our own breakfast on the last day. She wanted french toast and I wanted eggs my way! Our rooms were right on the beach which was great as well. Except the waves at night were insanely loud! But we got used to it and fell asleep nicely listening to the quiet and the sea moving back and forth. It was pretty hot during the day, but at night it was still cooling down quite a bit which I loved but made Stacie cold with the fan on! hah.

Here's the view from our 'hut' on the beach!

I stayed out of the sun completely the first day -- reading under the umbrella, taking naps and just being lazy. The following few days I ventured into the sun briefly - mostly to play in the sea! Just a little amount of time in the sun creates disaster for my skin. I am apparently allergic to the sun and no matter how much SPF lotion I put on, I still end up with sun poisoning. :(

To help deal with the sun burn/poisoning, I had a nice cucumber body wrap which was nice. Otherwise we just chilled out, enjoyed our time and chatted with others at our hotel. we met some interesting Israeli's, a Canadian who lives in Mexico and watched lots of families enjoying their holiday.

Some observations -- the police really are enforcing the no hawking policy on the beach, so we had much fewer people hassling us while laying out, very few locals coming to stare at us, etc. So all in all it was a much more enjoyable beach experience than I've had previously at Goa. And also.. the water was much better looking than in the past. So given all of that, I think I will look forward to going back to Goa again in the near future.