Saturday, February 26
Candolim in Goa – Rest Day
The plan for today was to have breakfast, then a latte, then a facial, then do a little exploring and also see if we could find the beach. Last night we spotted banana pancakes on the menu of a nearby restaurant so that was our destination for breakfast – I had the banana pancakes with of course… chocolate sauce. It was ON the menu that way I promise! I am rebuilding my body’s chocolate reserve here in Goa so it was a no-brainer! J
We ate breakfast with one of the younger riders in our group, Anna. Anna and her husband James are a fun couple – full of energy and enthusiasm! Anna is working on her thesis which she will defend in April when she returns to Canada. She is working towards her law degree and getting close to finishing her formal education before moving on to the bar exam. Anna decided to take advantage of a broken hub on her bike by taking a taxi here and spending a few days working on her thesis – it was nice getting to know her a little better over breakfast. We laughed when she told us about how she had asked someone at our hotel where she could take her laundry to be washed and they took her to a nearby house where she left it to be washed… the only catch was, she couldn’t remember WHERE the house was and hadn’t seen the person who took her there since. J She has no idea where her laundry is… but she and James will go searching for it when he arrives later today.
Our next stop was the coffee shop – a nice, clean shop with wireless internet available. There are two dogs that lay on the patio out front. The young gal in the coffee shop explained that they are street dogs but that she feeds them every morning and they go next door to the restaurant in the evenings for supper. In this tourist area, there is an animal agency (I believe she said from Europe) that comes in and picks up any dog that does not have a collar. The dogs are either spayed or neutered, given vaccinations and then returned to the spot where they were picked up. She put collars on them and they live as street dogs but are well fed and healthy. I named them Mocha and Latte for our time here – Latte is the brown one on the step, Mocha is black and white. They sleep in front of the coffee shop during the day and are most active at night when it is cooler.
After coffee we had our facials… If you know me very well you know that it is RARE for me to go to a spa and two days in a row sets a record for me. In fact, this was my FIRST official facial! . I picked the facial that also included a shoulder massage and hot stones… it was divine! I must admit it feels good to be pampered… especially knowing that in a few days we will load up our bikes and hit the road for another 3 weeks of riding in the heat. Here’s the entrance to the resort where our spa is located. If I ever come back, this is where I would stay. It’s very nice here with an award winning restaurant too!
We wandered aimlessly in the afterglow of our facials… haha! Well not really, but we did explore more of this little town and found our way to another coffee shop for lunch before hitting the beach. I had a wonderful salad – something I haven’t had since I left home. The fruits and vegetables are usually rinsed in local water here which contains bacteria that our bodies just can’t handle. But this restaurant cleans all its food with reversed osmosis water and is safe to eat. Apples, walnuts and greens never tasted so good!
The beach is alive with people, people, people! A huge ship had run ashore many years ago and remains just offshore.
Looking away from the shore, the beach is lined with benches, umbrellas and huts that sell snacks and drinks.
Jan and I walked the beach on the water’s edge… getting caught in the waves up to our knees a few times. The wind was blowing and in the distance we could see parachutes from the parasailers enjoying themselves. Here’s another overall beach photo looking north.
If you look closely to the right of the Bonos sign below you will see a woman carrying blankets on her head and selling swimsuit cover-ups, sarangs and other items. I can’t imagine how HOT she must be under all that… but they are used to the heat unlike us tourists. This is winter here and it’s in the high 80s and 90s.
Leaving the beach, I snapped a picture of the hot water tanks here. These black tanks are mounted on roofs and stands of all sorts and they supply the hot water for things like showers and sinks. Warmed by the sun, they are energy efficient and simple – cold water in, warm water out. Maybe they never heard the story of the 3 little pigs but if the big bad wolf came and huffed and puffed he would surely blow this stand down. J
Finding our way back to the main street led us through some of the back streets and of course I love the ox carts so had to take a picture of this brightly painted wheels and pretty oxen just standing on the street.
Here’s our barista and her boyfriend who run the coffee shop… a cute couple. He was able to help Bernie and Beryl buy a new camera to replace one the lost AND one for Morgan who wants to take some of her own photos for an article she is writing.
