Going to Goa and Visiting the Peshwars in Pune

I know that as this trip ends, I am trying to savor everything. Take in the last breaths of my trip, smelling the curries and actually opening my eyes as wide as they go to see it all. This is perhaps the main reason for my delinquency in posting about India. I regret that I cannot do all of my experiences justice in writing.

I had a long journey making my way from Varkala to Goa, first a night in Ernakulam, and then a 16 hour train to Margao (central Goa); and then 3 different buses to make it to the cheap, but very touristy Anjuna beach. Goa is a place known for its party scene and lovely beaches, but these aren't the only reasons one should visit. I absolutely loved Goa, partly for the company that I met and the ability to interact with the locals a bit more. Goa has a lot of cash inflows from tourists (meaning high structural development) and only recently kicked out the Portuguese in the 60s. There are remnants of this colonialism everywhere and perhaps the extremely high literacy rate is just a side-effect of this small state's history.

I made friends almost instantly and had the pleasure of attending a Halloween costume competition (mostly for children) and learning how to play backgammon. The best and winning costume was a boy who was the head from a failed science experiment, this might be one of those things that you have to see to understand. I was dressed as something in between a beach bum, backpacker, and many other things that give a spectator my level of apathy towards my dress while traveling. I found it unnecessary in India to be trendy, but covering oneself and protecting against the sun's ever powerful UV rays is important. There are quite a few of long-term foreign residents in Goa, and I had the pleasure of meeting many of them. The community is small, but there are a lot that have over 30 years of experience in relaxing or working along the stretches of white sand.

The following day I spent on a gorgeous beach up north, pleasantly deserted and busiest on Sundays. On Sundays the regulars make their way there by motorcycle. I met up with my friend from the previous day to hitch a ride there. Children of the foreign residents played soccer and splashed through the water, I think this stop was a good respite before the end of my traveling in India.

The next two days passed by very quickly as I rented a motorbike and rode around alone talking to random people and snapping tons of pictures. I saw pretty much all of the surrounding area, Fort Agunda, and many of the very crowded beaches. There is an abnormally large Russian tourist population in Goa, signs and much else are written in Russian or catered completely for them. A smiling boy approached me in the grocery store and I am sure he could see my confusion, since I didn't understand any of the Russian he was speaking. I met a couple locals at their shops that told me they only meet a couple Americans in that part each year (strange since the U.S. supplies the highest number of tourists each year to India).

The last day I spent a great deal of my time on buses. At 7 am I started with the first of three buses to make my way to Old Goa and its world heritage sites; Anjuna to Mapusa, Mapusa to Panjim, and finally Panjim to Old Goa (maybe an hour and a half total). Old Goa has a high density of 400 year old cathedrals and churches for its size, many remnants of the abundant missionary activity under Portuguese rule. The churches are well respected and adorned with wide boulevards and succulent-green grounds. Many of the old remnants of colonial sites I have visited on my entire trip, confuse my preconceptions, because they mesh two things such as India and Europe that I had previously kept separate in my mind. After generous picture taking, I decided that I would just grab a bus to make my way south to catch my afternoon train to Pune. I ended up taking the slowest bus ever to Ponda, and then getting on another to Margao, a quick 2 hours... And off I was on my last sleeping class train ride in India on this trip.

I arrived in Pune quite early, too early, and I wanted to spare my friend's parents some hassle by waiting to wake them up. Little did I know that most people know the general arrival times for the common train routes, and since I waited, I had worried them. Indians are such amazing hosts and hold themselves responsible for everything. I felt bad about this, but we made contact and I rode in one of the very fast rickshaws to their lovely house with a large yard, big German Shepard and their own street named after the my friend's great-grandfather.

Pune was a definite on my list of places to visit on my route. Mainly because it has a rich history from its position as a Maratha stronghold against the British. We visited the world renowned Pune University, the Peshwarship castle, and the walking paths on the hill over looking town. I met up with a couple of my friend's childhood friends and ate at a restaurant mixing all of my past 8 months in a couple dishes. Indian-Chinese food, which is perfect since I think of my past months as an Sino-Indo experience and a primary topic of many debates and conversations with strangers along the way. I was sad to leave Pune only after two days, but equally happy to have a couple to spend with my friend and his family in Mumbai.