DAY 33 in
Goa, India
We docked
in Goa just before 10.00am and it was lovely to look down at the wharf from our
balcony to see the families of crew members who come from Goa excitedly waiting
to see them. Goa and the families of the crew had never seen a ship as large as
this arrive into their port. It is the
first time Voyager has visited this part of the world as well.
Having
disembarked the ship it was time to try and find our driver for the day that
had been arranged by Datta our table Waiter. Datta comes from Goa. We were in
for such a surprise because as we walked around the corner of the buildings
there was the guy holding a sign with our name on it and standing with him was
the family of our Waiter; his parents, his wife, his sister and brother-in-law
and their two gorgeous little girls. It
was so touching to see how excited they were not only to meet us but also to
see Datta later in the day when he had some time off. We have a lot of fun at the table with Datta
and he had been telling them about us in his emails. They hadn’t seen him for 6
months.
Sunje was
our driver for the day and in no time we were on our way to visit the area of
Goa. In India everyone speaks English
well and it was nice to have Sunje give us a running commentary along the way. The driving here is horrendous; we were all
on the edge of our seats at the beginning as we weaved in and out of the
traffic. There doesn’t seem to be any
road rules, or if there are no-one takes any notice of them. We would be driving down a road with a single
lane going one way and another single lane coming the other but there would be
three lanes suddenly as there were cars dodging the cars but driving along the
centre line of the road tooting their horns to let everyone know they’re coming
through. Throughout the day we only had two misses, we nearly collected two
people on a scooter who ended up having to swerve and almost ending up in a
pile of watermelons that were for sale on the side of the road. Oh and no-one wears helmets on their scooters
and there’s thousands of scooters here. The second near miss was with a scooter
going around a roundabout which was a single roundabout with about 5 ‘created’
lanes and everyone pushing others and tooting frantically to try and get off
their exit. The scooter and rider nearly
ended up on the bonnet of the car. In
the end I decided it best just to look at the window on the side and not worry
about what was happening out the front of the car.
Our first
stop was to visit a lovely Hindu Temple which was quite ornate and decorated
with fresh flowers. It was prayer time
when we arrived, the elderly locals wanted their photo taken with me and kept
touching my hair…..probably because mine is so grey and they looked about 100
years old and they still had natural black hair with just a dusting of
grey….lol.
Then it was
off to a Spice Farm. By this time the temperature had hit 38C and the
air-conditioning in the car couldn’t cope so our ‘air’ was all the windows
down. We were welcomed to the Farm by having a red ‘dot’ placed in the middle
of our forehead and a garland of flowers draped around our necks. A glass of
hot Lemongrass tea was handed to everyone then our guide lead us off along the
red dirt trail. It was an interesting
tour looking at Cardemon, vanilla, cashew nuts, beetle nuts and the spices that
make up Garam Masala. Then it was time to enjoy lunch….for some… I wasn’t game
to try it, but I’m pleased to say that the other five who did are all still
alive and well tonight….. J
Next stop
was the Basilica of Saint Francis Xaviar who’s body still lies there in an
sealed glass coffin and amazingly he is preserved and more or less intact, not a
skeleton after hundreds of years. A huge church with such a lot of history of
Goa inside. Goa was in possession of the Portuguese for 450 years so the main
religion here is Catholic, then Hindi, then Muslim. Goa’s main export is Iron
Ore, and tourism is its second income as many from Europe, UK and Russia enjoy
Goa as their holiday destination.
Our last
stop for the day was in the town of Panaji for a little retail therapy.
Everything is very cheap here, they do take US dollars in some places but we
found we got the better prices because we had Indian Rupee.
As we
arrived back at the port the family were all there, this time with Datta as he
was saying goodbye to them. As were many of the other crew with their
families….quite sad to see them say goodbye to their wifes and children, some
born whilst they’re have been away.
However we could easily see that the income they earn working on a ship
is far greater than what they would be earning working and living in India. The
families stayed on the wharf to the very end, waving as we sailed away with the
hot setting behind us.
Tomorrow is
a resting day at Sea.
