The long way back from Paradise

It's that bonus day for leap year 2020, so a good time to round off the month with the rather mundane account of Greyrocks' travel back from Goa to Home in the Canaries on 13th-14th February.
We left our accommodation at 12.30 am and were soon at Dabolim airport wrestling with the txi driver's change, but then had no significant queuing issues at any of the potential logjams of Terminal entry. Check -in , Immigration and Security, with the result that we had an age to spare before boarding, in departure lounge that is comfortable enough, but "dry"! The flight was full, and we had not been able to select seats, so we ended up with Ruth at the window, Bob in the middle and an American woman with a 15-month old child onand off her lap, and no adult assistance! The child did not sleep until the last half-hour and Bob was being driven senseless by all aspects of the behaviour! This was not helped by his video screen being non-functioning, and a very poor breakfast! (Ruth managed to watch a film of some sort!) Flight time:4 hours 20 min Time Difference -2 hours 30 mins.
Arrival in Doha could not happen soon enough! We were sped through Transfer security and then into the cavernous departure lounge. On our outward journey we had thought to remember the location of the signaled source of wine for table consumption, but had forgotten, so there was some confused wandering, followed by a very nice bottle in civilised  surroundings until close to boarding! This was at 7.50 am local time - but the hour on the clock matters very little in these circumstances and Bob was very stressed! (There were many, many face-masks in evidence as te virus took hold!0

Fortunately the second flight was more agreeable! We had selected two aisle seats, and after some faffing by the group surrounding Bob and with a small child we were able to share the three seats, and had full access to films etc. The day's second Qatar breakfast was better and some wine flowed. There was very little turbulence and it was almost pleasant, with a bit of sleep! Flight time:7 hours time Difference -2 hours,


The temperature given for Barcelona from the flight deck was not too good, but Ruth decided to stick with cropped trousers and sandals and that was tolerable for the time were outside. This was not long as we rang the hotel for an ETA for the next shuttle and had a beer whilst waitng, and it did turn up only a shade late. We checked in and went to the neighbouring supermarket to buy a few bottles of French wine (this being Catalunya!) to take home, We then revisited Iberica that we had discovered in December.and had a very pleasant early supper.

Next day it was a routine to which we have become accustomed, involving the 1030 flight to Fuerteventura. This was nearly full, but one of the better flights, and Dave was waiting at the airport.so that we were chez nous by 2 pm local!  This was roughly 43 hours of elapsed time- including the overnight hotel stay!

Goa Retrospective 4: Being in Beni!

After our fifty nights in Palolem it was time to move about  35 km north to Benaulim. This would be our third stay there - and with a bit of luxury at Palm Grove. Our beach base was often at Castello, on the way to Trinity Beach, where our Paleo pals spend each day of their long stay. It is a very pleasant shack, and typical of the less densely packed development along this long straight and wide stretch of beach. The resort itself attracts many more Russians than Palolem, has more facilities, is a base for parasailing, a gentle, generally quiet vibe and a throng of women selling stuff! There are fewer backpackers and more British long-stayers. It made a pleasant change in preparation for going home. The main disappointment was the state of the sea, which remained too rough for Greyrocks to swim!


On two days we walked to neighbouring beaches. First we planned to get a tuk-tuk from the village centre to Sernabetim, but we could only find proper taxis so we walked on the road, which is a very long and winding one! "Are we there yet?" The beach was wonderfully quiet with a view up to Colva, which clearly isn't! We did not however linger there and walked back looking for an in-between shack we recalled, but failed and were soon back at the Beach Road junction. On a second day we aimed to find a recommended shack in the opposite direction. Once again we were not exactly sure what we were doing, but ended up skirting the posh Taj Exotica hotel. and did emerge on the beach at Sun and Moon as planned! It is, indeed, a very appealing place and we might have eaten there if we had stayed until a bit later, but the down side was a very vocal group of Brits (and a German) whose discourse started to turn racist!

Why did the cattle (and egrets) cross the road?

More usually we would walk to the beach along "Fish Road". This has been described before and there are still very striking swathes of drying fish, but in addition on one such walk we encountered an enormous trawling net drying all across the road. Traffic had to drive across it, and then a large herd of cattle was led from one field to another across it, leaving a few deposits on the net!



And on the subject of cattle another site seen only on Benaulim beach was the leading of a bull with a log weighting down its neck. We learnt that this is to strengthen the neck in preparation for dhirio - banned since 1997, but still popular!

We also ate well in Beni - including Ruth having a very messy crab masala, and Bob a "beef sizzler"!

Goa retrospective 3: Three ventures that really work in Goa and one that doesn't!

1. Flipkart

This is the Indian rival to Amazon. Greyrocks' attempt to bring out a cleaning kit for the laptop failed, but we were talking to Entrepreneur John and he offered to order us one on Flipkart, inviting us to choose from the wide selection online. In fact he got himself one as well! As he had predicted it arrived at The Nest three days later, (cash on delivery)  for us to pick up and pay the boys! Simply amazing! Sometime later we "went solo" and made another order using a mobile number of a friend and our stuff arrived a day earlier than stated! 

2. Optics

Since our second visit we have been having spectacles made in Chawdi - a 100 rupee rickshaw ride away. One needs to present a prescription. and then the many, many boxes of frames are brought out for trying, a cash deal done and the specs are ready within the week for a price Greyrocks believes to be around a third of UK  (and even less of the Canaries!) So here is some unsolicited publicity for the skillful optician and his efficient assistant! 




3. Boat Trips

Average of our party a little older!

Betty's Cruises out of Cavelossim: This is a highlight of every stay in Goa, and posts about it abound here! So, after failing to get a booking whilst Chloë was in Goa we arranged to in our final week as part of a party of seven! This time there was plenty of space on the boat. the big fish was a dorada and there were brand new bird reference books, We got further than last year inters of the dolphin-spotting at sea, bur still had to abandon that part due to the swell, and there were few fruit bats, but we had a wonderful few hours, and the meal was as good as ever. "Oh, those prawns!" Professional, good value and a good honest tourist trap!

4. Oh dear! Improving public behaviour

The English press has been featuring tourists' complaints about filth all around and citing this - and failure to do much about it - as one reason for the drop in tourist numbers and folks' intentions to go to competing "winter sun" countries. The reality is - of course - much more complex than that! (A Greyrocks mantra in these populist times!) Tourists who can't  deal with some level of the consequences of less development than chez eux shouldn't come, and things like single-use plastic are part of a global problem slow to fix. Dog poo is beyond the scope of legislation:- and they do send out hard-working beach cleaners, but there are a number of public health measures and irritants that just aren't addressed in any meaningful way. First is the smoking ban. This is supposed to be for everywhere public  along with spitting! we have never seen any police visits related to it, and of course the bar owners collude! We did hear of someone in our circle being fined in early season for smoking on the beach; and being handed notice that she could carry on for the rest of the day! Then there is drinking outside bar bounds! We have seen two instances of intervention over this - both of young Europeans at very quiet times of day outside peak tourist dates. In Benaulim we saw flagrant flaunting of rules on beach-selling, which there is a really pestering occurrence. and they can't enforce the safety helmets on motorbikes and scooters anywhere! Total inconsistency about it all, and a lack of consistency! What hope is there? The delights of baksheesh!

But we still love the place!

Goa retrospective 2: Shack tactics and the "Shack List"

.

 A typical Goa day for Greyrocks would revolve around the beach and its large number of shacks. All we need is sunbeds and access to the sea, preferably with some peace and quiet. This season it has been both difficult and irritating to stay all day in our usual spot between breakfast and sundowner, so we have moved around more than before.  Here is a summary of how we have found those we have used:

The “Shack List” 2019-20

An entirely subjective selection of the beach shacks along the length of the bay at Palolem, South Goa. It covers around a third of them all, with emphasis on daytime sunbathing, drinks, snacks and light lunches.

	General	Sunbeds	Food	Drinks
Sundowner	Access issues at High Tide! Wonderful view. Good Yoga sessions	None!	None	Pricey and no large beers
Dreamcatcher	Quiet area with river view.	None!	Healthy Menu	Pricey! Good on juices
Cozy Nook	Renowned as drug den – but no evidence seen! Popular spot with distinct seating areas	A few but liable to tidal flooding	Good menu, but very slow!	Normal prices, no large beers
Banyan Tree	Simple spot with shade from banyan.  Afternoon personal space pressure from families with babies. Very pleasant staff	Old but comfy!	Thai emphasis but wide menu. All good but very slow service from separate kitchen	Good value!
Fernandes 3	Long established, small inside with solid furniture. Many regulars and some active children of staff, but charming people!	Back row quite well-spaced	Very good!	Good value – even the wine!
Havana Cuba	Spacious with plenty of staff! Good music until late afternoon, when it becomes loud rubbish in competition with shack next door!	Numerous but see warning re noise later in day!	Good!	Normal
Neptune Point	As above without the noise!	As above	Good!	Normal
Big Bamboo	Very pleasant staff, fairly spacious, many Russians and Israelis!	Good quiet back row	Excellent	Good value – even the wine!
The Nest	Hob for Brits! Great welcome, good music but subject to appallingly loud & intrusive conduct at times!	Usually full!	Great breakfasts. Many very good main dishes and snacks. Efficient service	Good value but no large beers
Tide Exotica	Tatty, but spacious! Useful as annexe to next door!	Close together but not usually full!	Standard menu.	Normal
Found Things	Jolly place with friendly staff! Base for boat trips so can get overwhelmed when Russian group returns for buffet!	Fill up with large groups as day progresses	Italian tendency with good bruschette. Serves bought-in British style pies and steaks in the evening.	Normal
Papillon	Spacious and with very helpful staff.	Back row is fairly civilised!	Good! Interesting salads	Normal
Chascaa	Beautiful view! Attracts lunchtime day-trippers and groups. Eager staff	None!	Excellent menu including active tandoor all day and fresh fish. Efficient service.	A shade pricier than some!

Goa retrospective 1: Goan Nights

Greyrocks is safely back home in Fuerteventura having had two gloriously sunny days of re-entry!The account of the (pretty - but not entirely - glitch-free) journey will follow, but first the next few days will look back - with themes - on a great couple of months, bearing in mind that Chloë was with us for twelve days across the Christmas and New Year period. Once the sun has made its dramatic descent thoughts turn to further entertainment, and in Palolem there is a choice: a film, a significant meal, the quiz or live music.

Films

As stated earlier this is now a more troublesome topic! In the main social area there is just El Diablo (very close to our digs!) Simon now has a more varied offering so the number of evenings with films has been reduced, and he does cater for all tastes, further reducing it to anything Greyrocks would want to see! The visual image is now very good, but the sound is always spoiled by bar, kitchen and road noise, plus the highly intrusive - and deliberate - music output from Hungry Jack's across the road (of which more later!) Thus, we watched here just one and a half films during the seven week stay! These were the latest Star Wars - which Ruth eschewed completely and from which Chloë walked out! Bob gave it a few stars! Much more recently we two went to see Jojo Rabbit, which we would score at 9! Brilliant in all regards and both hilarious and harrowing! There were not many punters there!

Enter Tattwa! It is a dark and hazardous walk to and from  the village outskirts, but - after a shaky start this year - we were delighted by seeing two films, each preceded by good meals and in comfortable seating! We remembered from last season that it is potentially a great venue for films, but you need telepathy or rumours to know what's on when! First we saw Once upon a Time in Hollywood, then The Irishman, which  -with its length and violence - made it a "two-torcher" for one couple with whom we went:- meaning they might be walking back separately! Ruth even stayed awake!
Significant Meals

Asked for a recommendation Greyrocks would probably name Dropadi, which some Brits have dismissed as being "full of Indians"! Unbelievable! Certainly it is busy, and we have usually booked a beach-facing table! Seafood is the thing, and we went with Chloë for dinner on Christmas Day, and then - unexpectedly - also on New Years Day. We two then had two further meals, which cannot be faulted -in all covering lobster (spiny). tiger prawns, kingfish fillet, crab meat masala and a couple of chicken dishes! The second visit with Chloë arose following disappointment at not being able to eat at Magic Italy:- a choice of hers, and very popular with residents.So we booked for a very early supper the next night, and could see why it is well rated; but we over-ordered and found the pasta portions enormous! Also within the festive period we went to Ciaran's, which had a singer and an interesting short menu, but a muddle in Ruth's order resulted in disappointment about crab cakes rather low on crab! We thought we might also try their new Indian "tapas" place next door, but didn't get round to it! On the less Indian front we had several steaks (water buffalo?) at The Nest and discovered a new favourite at Royal Italy, where Pete is producing pies so good it has driven Ruth to Trip Advisor.

The Quiz

Mention of Royal Italy leads neatly to their Thursday night Trivia Quiz, presented by Pete. The opportunity to participate was on our fist night so we didn't. On 26th December it was cancelled as he was exhausted after a very successful Christmas day of cooking, so  we three went the next week. We teamed up with Darren and Mary from Mallorca and became The Spanish Inquisition. Thanks to C's knowledge of 80's pop we did fairly well. By the next week  we had lost Chloë but gained Trudy and some loose ends, one of whom turned out to be a liability, and we were penalised. With renewed determination we scraped a victory the following week and took the jackpot of 700 rupees each.  Our final session was marred by a shameful incident involving the language and conduct at a neighbouring table, and we didn't do too well either!  It's not the best quiz Greyrocks has encountered (That has to be Mad Mik in Corralejo!) but like Samuel Johnson's dog........

Live Music
Again - a little disappointing this season, in terms of choice! There has been a fair amount of "Open Mic" on a regular night, but far fewer booked bands and artists. Early on we caught the tail end of a session by a well-known Mumbai band at El Diablo, but it was packed and we weren't able to appreciate it. We also saw there a duo including a female trumpeter that was quite pleasing, and just before moving on saw a couple of acts that were worth the effort.(One such was a certain Phil, who had been "drunk as a skunk" one day at the Nest, but had sobered up to do a decent set!)

The new Slimline Matthew fronts the Goa-Ts

We were also on the lookout for Irish Susie, whom we have been seeing with joy for many years! Often foul-mouthed, often anti-Brit and always full of joy to be in Palolem and Agonda, she holds the audience rapt and acknowledges some that she knows! She did two sets during an evening at Rococo Pelton, where Two Metre Mark and Indian Jesse were also good to hear, but as often happens the ambience deteriorated  as time progressed, and Greyrocks left before the curfew!

It is lucky therefore that The Goa-Ts continue to forage in the area! Our first encounter this season was during  Chloë's stay and was at Hungry Jacks's. This was called something else last year and developed a reputation for loud music - of whatever genre and source - and rough Russian clientele. In its new outfit we thought it was a fair bet and that we should eat there before the band started. There was much obsequiousness as we were so early, but they still messed up a cocktails order! We got to talk to the band members and praised Matthew's stunning weight loss, but the technical problems were evident! Those persisted through the evening, and then the staff asked that a very young boy touring the bars with his guitar and parents be allowed to play. Even fewer numbers! Meanwhile some very basis dishes were taking ages to arrive, and a party of ten Indians were given precedence. A "never again" situation, that was - of course - in time repeated! Bob and Chloë stayed on and returned quite merry1

On New Years Day they were due to play in Patnem. Chloë had by this stage developed a liking for the place, so we went for a beach day to be followed by the gig. It was cancelled by the shack with little notice! Hey ho!

We saw them a handful of times in Palolem and Patnem. One occasion was in a non-beach venue in Patnem which coincided with a dominance by young Israeli families with hordes of children who seemed to have had too many fizzy drinks, and little wish to listen to the band!

The final gig was back at Hungry Jack's - but we didn't eat! Still some sound issues, but a great evening, and Mark drew attention to us as "their most loyal fans" who had been about eight times, and knew the words better than them! An exaggeration on both counts , but touching!

For the record Greyrocks particularly likes:

Willin'
I'm waiting for my man
Highway 61/Route 66
For what it's worth
Cocaine.

We look forward to next year!

Palolem and Patnem - another North-South Divide

Noon - Jan 29th - Palolem - Wot no sunbeds?

Wednesday was strange! We visited The Nest for breakfast and Peter said to us "Hang onto that chair:- it will be like gold-dust later! There are no sunbeds on the beach today!" We moved to survey the scene - and it was true: as far as the eye could see -i.e.most of the bay - there was not one, nor chairs, nor unfixed parasols! There were a few tourists on towels, many, many sleeping beach dogs and groups of kayaks. We made a suggestion about combining the the latter two and judicious use of a power drill, but that was not universally popular! The details are patchy, but it seems to involve a visit by the Minister for Tourism. Why he should want to confuse and aggravate tourists in the middle of the season is beyond us, but it was serious. Removal of anything useful was supervised by a dozen police officers and some items were carted off by pick-up from one of the shacks!

We wandered off vaguely looking for the right spot to lurk and were hailed by N and T (as in Paleo, Benaulim and Macclesfield). We knew they were due to arrive soon after some days in Agonda. Up there sunbeds have been banished all season, so they didn't find anything odd about our situation, and the confirmation of the rumour about it scuppered any plans we had for a day trip! We saw them for two long afternoons - including that of 31st Jan, when they had spent the morning in Patnem and come across a bar filled entirely with Brits! A quote overheard there, apparently, was "I only celebrate Christmas, New Year and Brexit day" They left - as we would have done - and we mourned together the upcoming demise of Britain in Europe! !

But an interesting feature was that this is what they had encountered in Patnem! Greyrocks thinks of it as a much less rough and/or  British resort than Palolem! On our five trips this season we have felt the dominant tribes were middle-class (and generally quiet) British and young Israeli families. On the other hand we said as much to a couple who were off for a few days there and they came back saying there was nothing to do there, and they came back everyday to Palolem!

A case of "chacun à son goût "

Footnote: On the day in question Patnem also had no sunbeds!