Goa: An Aspect of Indian History
Trip Start
Oct 20, 2005
1
6
31
Trip End
Nov 04, 2006
Goa,
India
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Initially Goa was ruled by various Muslim and Hindu leaders. It was an international trading center for about a 1000 years when Arab seafarers and Asian merchants from the "Spice Islands" (what is now Indonesia) would meet to trade pepper, gold, perfume and other luxuries. The Portuguese, led by Vasco De Gamma, came in 1498 to spread Catholicism and ensure that they would have a presence among the traders. From that point onward, the Portuguese had a toehold in Britain's colonial India until the Indian government annexed Goa in 1961. A span of 450 years of colonialism and Catholicism has a profound impact on a place and a people.
Some of these effects were immediately apparent
01 Horizon Beach Resort
. Several centuries of intermarriage were apparent in the faces of Goans. People had subtle mannerisms that made us think of Europe (and let us know we weren't in Mumbai anymore!). Folks we met had familiar names like "Tony" and "Peter," and in some cases only faintly familiar names, like "Lazerus." Of course, one could not help but note the number of churches all around us. We noted that the next question after "what is your name?" and "where are you from?" was "what's your religion?" Expressions of benign puzzlement appeared on people's face when Jamie replied, "I'm Jewish." Despite the fact that we were in the "high" season for Goan tourism, we were able to get a hotel room through "connections." Our good friend Mary from graduate school married a Goan man, Wayron Henriques. We had a delightful time staying in Wayron's cousin, Tony's, hotel, "Horizon Beach Resort," which was about 200 yards back from the beach. We soon learned that the hotel is aimed at (indeed, survives on) European tourists on pre-packaged holidays; tour companies have special all-inclusive agreements with hotels like Horizon Beach Resort. Only five years old, the hotel looked like a tropical version of a condominium complex in Southern California.
The majority of the other hotel guests arrived on pre-packaged holiday tours
02 Jamie on our Veranda
. Many of whom had been coming to Goa for the past 15-years and staying for two weeks or more to enjoy the sunshine and relaxation that Goa provides. Initially Justin was a bit wary of the situation. He feels there are trade-offs with pre-packaged tours. To be sure, when you have little time and energy to plan, it's great to hire somebody else to take care of all the details [flights/hotels/transfers/activities] and ensure that the trip is relaxing and worry-free. But pre-packaged holidays are also more expensive than putting the trip together yourself, and you are going to be confined to a standard tourism "circuit." That makes interaction with local people less likely (on any other level than that of hotel guest-bellhop or guest-wait staff. As we recounted in a previous blog entry, our tour guide at the Ellora Caves once reminded us that visiting Indian monuments was not the same without Indian people there to round out the experience. Indeed, it is these interactions with the local folks that we always find the most interesting on any trip.
Nonetheless, we found that the other guests were fun to talk with. "Dirk from Cornwall" and "Volkar from Frankfurt" proved to be quite interesting. We were easily the youngest guests by 25 years. Our "pathway" to meeting Goans was "Tony," the hotel owner, who first brought us to his beautiful house. It is a recently constructed replica of a Portuguese-era bungalow with big open breeze-ways for steamy summers, intricate tiled floors, and traditionally carved built-ins made from local woods. Those of you (Vickers family!) who have lived or traveled in Southeast Asia would recognize the style of architecture. Tony also had us try Feni, the traditional Goan liquor made out of cashews - it goes down easily
03 Velsao Beach
! One evening we sat with Tony, his family, and a few other family friends at a beach shack restaurant - Nickytasha's Oasis - owned by "Peter," who Tony grew up with in Goa. As dusk fell, sitting on the beach with sand between our toes, Jamie and I sipped the Goan beer and feasted on shark prepared with the typical Goan masala and pork vindaloo. It was the peace and serenity that we were hoping to find outside of the city. Interestingly (for us at least) the beach shack was only temporary, though it had a working kitchen, flush toilet, and sink (see picture of "palm tree sink"). Each year, when the monsoon rains finish in September/October, they reassemble the whole wooden shack on the sand for the next 7-8 months.
During our feast at the beach shack, we discussed the fact that quite a number of Goans (as well as Indians from other states) need to work abroad, usually in the Gulf states or on cruise ships, to make money. This brought to mind a conversation we had with a Horizon Beach Resort waiter who was denied a US work visa for a cruise ship job he already had. The other Goans confirmed that, post-9/11, it was much harder and more expensive to get a US visa of any kind. We wiled away the evening speaking in English, in which everybody at the table was fluent
04 Jamie at Sunset
. Occasionally, they would tell a joke to each other in Konkani, the mother tongue of Goa - because, Peter told us, most jokes are funnier in that language. One day we hired a driver to take us to Panaji, Goa's (very small) capital to go to a festival - "Feast of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception" - which just happened to be taking place at a cathedral by the same name on that day. Business was brisk at the vendor stands when we got there - it seemed like every one of them were selling varieties of salted nuts and dried chickpeas, which proved to be an addictive snack. We walked around and viewed a parade with parishioners carrying figurines of the Saint on their shoulders. We then went to "Old Goa" to see several very old cathedrals, reputedly to be some of the largest in Asia as well as the remains of St. Francis Xavier. They were quite impressive. Most interestingly, one of the church's floors was made out of old tombstones taken from the nearby cemeteries.
The remainder of the time we just hung out or walked on the beach in front of Horizon Beach. We noted that when we walked about a kilometer down the beach near the Hyatt, we would be pestered incessantly by vendors selling everything from ice cream to clothing. This didn't happen at Horizon Beach
05 On Flag - "Our Lady of Health, Pray for Us"
. We later found out that Tony had some sort of agreement with the vendors not to bother the guests on "his" beach. This is no small thing, when you are trying relax and enjoy peace and quiet.Velsao Beach was your basic, run-of-the-mill beach (though a great place to be when you haven't been to a beach in a while!). We couldn't fail to note the factory on the cliffs over Velsao Beach (see pix). Tony told us that Goa, the Indian state with the highest per GNP, had been undergoing dynamic changes in the last few years - mainly in terms of new industrial development. This was done to complement Goa's long-term strength in tourism. Perhaps it was a poignant reminder that beneath the glitz and glamour of any tourism hotspot, real people live in that place and need to earn an income. In sum, Goa was a welcome respite from the nuttiness of Mumbai.
***Please Note!**
There are several other entries with pictures that we have posted in the last few weeks, but did not send out as "mass e-mails" to everybody. Please view them in the "Travelogue Entries" section if you'd like.
