2 MID-LIFE CYCLISTS IN A MOTORHOME: December 2014

December has been a month of discovery for us. We have had some wonderful experiences and seen more of life 'behind the scenes' and at times it has almost been like stepping back in time before technology made everything so much quicker and easier but not necessarily better. It is amazing how much we have missed on our previous visits when we've only had 2 weeks so we've just wanted to chill all day and eat out every night. I finally plucked up the courage to see my dentist Uday and I did need a root canal as I had feared however it turned out to be as painless as last time and I believe I have finally conquered my fear of dentists (as long as it's Uday doing the treatment!!). We were enjoying being back so much that by the 2nd week of December I was already raising the option of changing our plan to spend the following winter touring Spain and Portugal in favour of coming back to Goa for 4 months. By the 3rd week of December Glynn had warmed to the idea and we were now checking out apartments!!

Riverview Restaurant

Cavelossim. As we were keen to see more of Goa and experience new things we happily accepted an invitation from Iris and Steve to catch a local bus and spend a day at Cavelossim. We initially met them when we were here in March and, like Jan and Cliff, they spend every winter here. They invited us to join them so that we could experience our first trip on a local bus. The battered looking bus was crowded when we got on it but after a couple of stops we managed to find a space on the narrow seats. The cost for the half hour ride from Benaulim to Cavelossim was 15 rupees (15p). The bus driver was happily chatting away on his phone while driving one handed, dodging other vehicles and animals on the narrow road. Although there are bus stops the bus pulls up for anyone that signals they want to get on.

River Sal

A conductor whistles at the driver to signal him when to pull up or set off again and quite often the passenger would have barely got a foot on the bus before its pulling away again. This haste seemed to apply regardless of the age of the passenger and many times I watched in awe as frail looking old ladies were still in the process of getting on the bus as it pulled away. There is a sign that says there is room for 11 people standing however Iris and Steve informed us that they never turn passengers away and will squeeze everyone in so 11 can quickly become 30 during busy times with people squashed in to every available space.

Kingfisher on the River Sal

The buses also play music, anything from bangra to British pop, quite often at a volume that makes conversation difficult but adds to the crazy experience that is a bus ride in Goa. We arrived at Cavelossim and enjoyed a leisurely stroll along the main street, checking out the various shops and exploring a lovely air-conditioned store full of everything from branded sports wear to locally produced goods.

Iris and Steve then took us down a back road that led to a lovely outdoor restaurant right on the bank of the river Sal. The setting was so peaceful with lovely views of the river and we enjoyed a very leisurely lunch as we sat in the shade and watched the river cruise boats sail past. We saw a variety of birds including kingfishers and kites as we sat chatting and it almost four hours had passed before we decided to head back.

Benaulim. We were taken to the local bakery to meet Wellington.

Fresh from the oven

It was basically a shed beside is house which contained a huge clay oven and a giant food mixer. There were 2 marble work tops for rolling pastry on and they supplied local businesses with meat and vegetable pasties as well as plum and coconut cakes and lovely bread rolls. We arrived just as several trays of pasties had finished cooking so we were able to see them being retrieved from the oven using a very long pole with a metal sheet on the end. Wellington's mother was sat outside peeling loads of onions while his daughter was taking coconuts from a huge pile and removing the husks with a very clever device that made light work of it. We purchased some lovely hot pasties and half a kilo of plum cake and decided to head straight home while the pasties were still hot.

Wellington de-husking the coconuts

Whether you are buying medicines from the pharmacy, samosas from the street food barrow or pasties from a bakery they wrap everything in newspaper just like we used to see in our chip shops.

Cuncolim. We had booked executive health checks at the Nusi Wockhardt hospital at Cuncolim which cost 4500 rupees (£45) Although it was only a half hour journey and we didn't need to be there until 8am we weren't confident that our driver would remember to pick us up on time so we had allowed for this by asking him to pick us up at 7am. Unusually he arrived on time with none of the normal "I am only 5 minutes away" so we got to the hospital early, in spite of him having to ask directions as he didn't know where it was. When he asked for 500 rupees I checked that this included the return fare as previously agreed but he said it didn't as the hospital was too far. He had quoted us a price without really knowing where he was taking us. He agreed to take 400 rupees for the outward journey and we said we would call him when we were ready to be picked up. We spent the morning having various tests done and the funniest moment was when Glynn came out of the cardiologists after having the stress exercise test. His chest was way too hairy for the sensor pads to stick so they had shaved a lot of his chest but left a nice thin triangle of hair in the centre. I nearly cried with laughter when he showed me and I joked that he'd been given the chest equivalent of a Brazilian.

Spot the "Brazilian"

We were both shocked when we were weighed to find we had gained 8lb since we arrived in Goa as we certainly didn't feel like we had gained that much. The day continued 'Goan style' when we had finished all the tests by midday but were told the consultant wouldn't be free until 2pm. We had already come armed with our Kindles so we sat and read for an hour and then went to the canteen for lunch. I have no idea what we ate but it cost us 80p each and consisted of rice, 2 curry type dishes and 2 rotis dished up on metal trays. It tasted much better than it looked! We went back to the waiting area and 2pm became 4pm before the consultant finally appeared!! She went through all the results with me first and it showed excellent results in all areas except for my weight and cholesterol. She advised me I needed to lose weight and as my total cholesterol was 5.61 and I would have to cut out fatty food etc and take statins. I politely declined the statins which didn't appear to endear me to her but as I am fit and physically active with no history of heart disease in my family I felt she was being a bit hasty with the statins. I was tempted to ask her if she had read "The Great Cholesterol Con" by Anthony Colpo but figured I had already annoyed her by declining the statins without making it worse. She then turned to Glynn and told him his test results were excellent apart from he needed to lose nearly a stone in weight!! She then looked at him and agreed he certainly didn't look like he was overweight. She weighed him on her digital scales and it showed he was over 2kgs lighter than the other scales had indicated. It turned out we had actually only gained 3lb each so that was a huge relief after spending all day discussing how we must cut back on the curries and step up the exercise. She informed Glynn that an 18 year old would be happy with his results so he left her office with a big smug grin on his face. We left the hospital clutching our folders which contained our X-Ray pictures, heart tracings and all the test results for us to keep. We called our Tuk Tuk driver and he informed us he was too busy and hung up on us, we burst out laughing as we had guessed this would happen. Luckily the bus service is frequent even if the buses are somewhat battered looking and we had barely got outside the hospital when a bus appeared. It was heading to Margao where we knew we could get a bus back to Benaulim so we flagged it down and paid the 20p fare for the half hour ride. We changed buses in Margao and were soon back in Benaulim. We decided to stay in the village and have dinner before heading home so we headed to a restaurant. As we weren't as overweight as we had first been told we felt that a curry with a nice Honey Bee brandy for me and beer for Glynn was in order. An excellent end to the day.

Margao. Jan & Cliff had offered to show us the key areas in Margao so we caught an early bus and were in Margao by 8.30am.

Fish Market

Our first stop was the fish market to get some lovely fresh prawns! What an incredible sight it was, I have never seen so many fish in one place. We wandered along the rows checking the price of the prawns at various stands before settling for some lovely big prawns at 450 rupees for a kilo. The array of different fish was amazing and in the next area were various people that will prepare your fish for a small fee. We gave our kilo of prawns to a guy who peeled and de-veined them for the tiny sum of 40 rupees (40p). It was fascinating to watch fish being efficiently de-scaled and filleted using quite primitive looking, but effective tools

More fish

We then crossed over to the fruit and veg markets with colourful displays of beautifully stacked produce. For 200 rupees I got a large pineapple and a melon, a bunch of coriander, some garlic, ginger, red carrots, onions and some courgettes. We then headed to the centre of Margao where Jan and Cliff showed us 'tin can alley', the best place to find shops selling little Indian dishes and other kitchenware and 'chemist alley' which was aptly named because of the abundance of pharmacies. As with the bakery in Benaulim much of Margao felt like a time warp with old fashioned signs and cobblers sitting under the arches of the Town Hall building waiting to repair your shoes as they sat on little stools with glue, needles and thread at the ready.

The girls prepare your fish for a small fee

Everything that can be repaired gets repaired in Goa, from the tailors who will repair or design your clothes to the cobblers fixing your shoes and the watchmakers that seem to have the skills to get any old watch marking the passage of time again. The streets were crazy with traffic, 1000's of mopeds vied for a space on the road amongst the cars and buses. Crossing the roads was no mean feat and required nerves of steel at times. It was a crazy experience of noise and colour and we loved it. By mid morning we had built up a good picture of the best places to shop and where to eat so we caught the next bus back to Benaulim to spend the afternoon chilling on the beach. As we had the lovely fresh prawns we decided to have a quiet night in and I made dinner using the ginger, garlic, onions, prawns and some coconut milk powder. The addition of a little spice sachet that cost 4 rupees produced a really tasty meal served with pasta and washed down with a honey bee. Heaven!!

Father Christmas next to our pool

Christmas on the beach. In Goa more emphasis seems to be placed on decorating the outside of houses rather than the inside and the area had slowly transformed over the last week as beautiful displays and coloured lights illuminated the houses at night. Christmas Eve had a real party atmosphere with everyone you saw wishing you a happy Christmas. Just before midnight 100's of locals headed off to midnight mass and this was then followed by lots of noise until the early hours as firecrackers were set off in celebration of Christmas. Christmas Day was a very quiet and chilled day by comparison (probably because no-one had got much sleep!!)

One of the many roadside decorations

and we spent it much like every other day, relaxing on the beach and enjoying the beautiful weather. The only difference was that everyone dressed up more for lunch rather than just wearing sarongs and there was a great atmosphere at the Sun and Moon as we celebrated Christmas. It still seemed a bit weird listening to Christmas carols about sleigh bells and snow when it was over 30° but it was the kind of weird I had no trouble getting used to! As Christmas evening is a more subdued affair we decided to stay in and skype our families back at home. We spent a great evening catching up with everyone and it was lovely to see them all rather than just talking on the phone.

My birthday!! 28th December. I had a wonderful start to my birthday when 4 Dolphins appeared very close to the shore and we were able to watch them diving in and out of the water. After a lovely day on the beach we spent the evening at the Rooftop Restaurant in Benaulim with Iris and Steve, Jan and Cliff and Pat and Margaret. They all spend the winter here in Goa and they have been a mine of useful information to myself and Glynn as we were now contemplating spending every winter here too. I had a wonderful evening and Glynn had arranged a lovely birthday cake to follow the meal. As everyone else headed home we set off for the airport. Our friends, Sharon and Glynn were joining us for 3 weeks and their plane was due to land just after midnight. We had decided to surprise them and turn up at the airport rather than just sending a taxi. It was great to see their faces when we jumped out on them.

Celebrating with Sharon and Glynn

New Year celebrations. Surprisingly it was a slightly overcast day with lots of cloud and it was forecast to rain in the evening. Luckily the cloud cleared taking with it the threat of rain and we were looking forward to seeing in the new year on the beach. We had booked a table at the Sun and Moon and enjoyed a lively evening of music and dancing before everyone stepped out on to the beach at midnight to watch the fireworks. It was an incredible display of noise and colour as all the beach shacks set off their fireworks

Happy New Year

almost simultaneously and as far as the eye could see along the beach there were explosions of noise and colour. It was a fantastic way to see in the new year. We had originally planned on walking back along the beach but we suddenly decided that a Tuk Tuk ride would be preferable to walking for an hour to get home and we were delighted to find a driver that was free.

December has been an eventful month with dentist and hospital check ups, trips to Cavelossim and Margao and wonderful Christmas, birthday and New Year celebrations on the beach. Glynn continues to remind me that I am married to an "18 year old" at every opportunity and will also relay the story to anyone who will listen!! January looks set to be just as exciting as I contemplate taking quite a momentous step but more about that in January's blog!!