Since we arrived in India we’ve heard from just about everyone that, if you are going to vacation in India, one stop is probably going to be Goa. As it happens after Hampi we made our way to Goa. It is rumored to be much more western in its style of vacation offerings with western bars and even women in swimsuits at the beach! We ended up not being in the most popular part of Goa, we chose a location a little to the south that the guidebook mentioned might be more interesting. Though beautiful it didn’t offer that much.
Indian males that have never seen a woman in a swimsuit, much less one in a bikini tend to gawk to the point of annoyance at any females showing the slightest bit of skin. Jenneli and I opted not to go swimming as a result. This is unfortunate because both of us have lugged swimsuits everywhere. You may be wondering ‘well if women don’t swim in a swimsuit what do they swim in?’ The answer is they swim in a full sari or punjabs, that’s right, their regular clothes. As you can imagine not many women or girls tend to go swimming. At the stretch of beach we were at there were probably 100 people. 90 males in various states of undress, swimming or playing on the beach, 6 females walking or dipping their feet in the ocean and 4 foreigners, two girls that seemed to be from the UK and us. They had on swimsuits but had sarong wrapped around themselves. Even still almost every male on the beach took a moment out of what they were doing to walked past the two girls. A few asked if they could take a picture and a few would pause after walking past to turn and gawk a little more. It took a little fun out of Goa.
On the brighter side the restaurants catered to tourists and the menus were full with English breakfasts, pasta, french fries and a good selection of drinks. We knew we wouldn’t be able to eat ‘western’ food in the coming weeks so we full advantage. Jenneli indulged in her favorite breakfast of porridge!
We also took a guided nature walk and got to see a family of wild peacocks! I also found out that Jain’s would keep peacocks as pets. I mentioned to our guide that my uncle Sid and his wife Judy have a farm and used to (and may still) have peacocks. He quipped “they were probably Jain’s in a previous life”. The guide brought along his son and it was fun to have them both proudly show us all the wildlife that the small area around the town had to offer. My favorite by far was the touch-me-nots. I had never gotten to play with them before and was truly mesmerized at the ability of the plant to move so quickly. For those that haven’t had the delight they are a small fern that when you touch the small leaves they close up and droop down in moments before your eyes. It’s the fastest I’ve ever seen a plant move.
