Jesus is the Bom

April 2, Goa
Today has been a great day so far. I got up this morning to some nice phone calls from home and then sat outside in the little courtyard of my hotel and had a coffee and wrote in my journal. I was going to leave earlier, but I wanted to make sure I had something to post, because people have been asking me what happened to my blog. I’m glad I stuck around because my two German friends came out of their rooms to have breakfast and we were soon joined by two more Germans, Wolf and Rene - brothers here on vacation. They were very nice and it turned out that they were also planning to go to explore Panaji and old Goa today, so we decided to team up and go together. We were waiting for the first of three buses we were going to have to take to get there when Agatha came out of our hotel and told us her friend was going that direction and would drive us in his jeep if we just bought him a few beers later. Sounded like a good plan, so we jumped in and headed off. Both places were very nice – sort of like Pondicherry, European settlements in the middle of India. We saw a bunch of churches including the Basilica of Bom Jesus (I just love that name) where the body of St. Francis Xavier is kept. There was a mass going on there and it was so interesting to hear all of the familiar responses in English at a church in India. “Lift up you hearts.” “We lift them up to the Lord…” Anyway, the day was getting hotter and hotter and it was almost unbearable, so we decided to get in a taxi and go to the beach. On the way, I asked the driver to stop so I could buy some feni, which is a spirit that they make only in Goa. There are two varieties, cashew and coconut, and I bought one bottle of each… someone is getting a good present when I get home…
We changed at the hotel and the guys had rented scooters, so we scooted down to the beach and found Lena and Johanna in the same spot I had been with them yesterday. We all hung out, swimming and sunbathing and eating at one of the little shacks on the beach. It was fantastic! When we all felt sufficiently sunburned, we headed back to the hotel room to shower and change because we were supposed to be attending that festival at the local temple. We met in the courtyard and started out. It occurred to me as we were walking along that I was the only American with four Germans in a Portuguese colony going to a Hindi festival in India… very international. Anyway, it turned out to be a bust because when we got there they were still setting up – apparently it wasn’t starting until 10:30 and it was 7:30 at the moment. We went to dinner – I had fish cooked in parchment with herbs and mashed potatoes! And by the end of the meal I was so tired that I went back to the hotel to go to sleep. I think the two girls and Rene went back, so I’ll have to ask them tomorrow how it was. I was a little disappointed in myself that I couldn’t stay up for the dancing, but hey – this is my vacation and I can do whatever I want! Tomorrow I fly to Kochin. I’m really looking forward to it, but I will miss Goa, my little beach paradise.