Sunday, 9 February
7:30 AM – It’s freezing! It’s the first time I’ve stepped outside so early and it’s cold! It’s been cold at night too.
A few minutes into my walk to the massage school, Miwa, the Japanese girl from class who is staying at the guesthouse opposite mine, pulled up on her motorbike and offered me a ride. I would have preferred to walk but thought it rude to decline.
7:45 AM – Iyengar yoga. The class is led by a cute young Russian. When he and his girlfriend arrived at the school, they were all bundled up – so when the Russians are complaining of the cold, you know it’s cold. He is obviously new at teaching and she is clearly the more experienced instructor (- I suspect she may also be his mentor), so they were tandem instructing. I liked it. It was for beginners, so it was slow, with a lot of attention to correct posture. Which I was grateful for, but which meant that the yoga instructors among the students were bored and may not show up for subsequent classes. I hope the classes aren’t discontinued because of this.
9:30 AM – Almost caved in at breakfast at the sight of the aloo paratha that the other students ordered. Ordered a fruit juice and a fruit salad, but cancelled at the last minute to stay true to The Plan and stick it out till chai break.
Paratha stuffed with potatoes and coriander. Yum!!! I might have this for lunch tomorrow. (Internet file photo.)
12:00 PM – Chai break: fruits only. Bananas and oranges. No chai.
3:00 PM – Chetan, one of the massage school owners, was supposed to book a taxi to take us to Mandrem for lunch but had forgotten about it, so Monica and I walked along the street until we found a cab.
Monica is a Swiss lady who had taken the same massage class with me eight years ago. She still remembers asking me how I had gotten to the school in Morjim on our first day of class. I told her that I had walked along the beach. When she asked how long it took, I shrugged, “An hour?” After that, she offered me a ride from her guesthouse (which was just down the beach from me in Mandrem) to the school and back everyday.
After having lost touch for almost five years, it’s a happy coincidence that we decided to relearn the same massage at the same school at the same time.
We’ve been so overwhelmed at how much Goa has changed that we wanted to check out Mandrem and see if the guesthouses we stayed at are still there.
While we walked along the street, with cars and motorbikes zooming dangerously close, it was so hot that I insisted that we stop at Cafe Delicieux for a cold drink. Since she has a gluten intolerance, I didn’t think she’d want to stay but she gave in to the tarte tatin , so I ordered what is probably the most marvelous carrot cake I will ever have in my life. (And a so-so quiche lorraine. You know I never just order one thing off the menu!) The carrot cake was so good that I recommended it to a mom who was patiently waiting for her little boy to choose some cakes. She ordered it for herself and, as we were leaving the cafe, she called out to thank me for the recommendation. She nodded her head in agreement that it was a very good carrot cake indeed.
At the cafe, I also met the owner of a hotel in Goa that was just featured in the New York Times. Let me see if I can find the article. Here it is: Hotels with History in Goa. It’s the first one featured – Siolim House. Nice fellow. He asked us to stop by some time for tea.
We eventually found our way to Mandrem and were blown away at how much it had changed. At least from the roadside. From the beach, it’s still as wonderful as it used to be. I barely recognized my old guesthouse. Will come back and take photos and ask about the hotel next time. Monica said her guesthouse was still the same but with slightly improved surroundings. We ate at Oasis, our favorite tandoori chicken joint, which changed ownership five years ago and is now a pizzeria. We ordered the tandoori chicken anyway.
As we had lunch, looking out onto Mandrem’s shimmering beach, she asked herself the same question I had been asking myself all along: Why did I wait so long to come back?
5:30 PM – Since it was quite late and there was a strong wind blowing us back in the right direction, we walked an hour on the beach back to Morjim, just as I did eight years ago. Ashwem and Morjim are completely unrecognizable to us. There was almost nothing along the beach before and now it is crowded with bars, restaurants and beach huts.
10:00 PM – I missed a lot of parties today. What am I talking about? I missed a lot of parties the whole weekend!
Just saw that Urja, my instructor and owner of the massage school, sent me a message two hours ago, asking if I was going to the big party at Bardo. I would have loved to (- Goa has a 10 PM sound curfew so the party would be wrapping up by now) but that would mean eating and drinking and skipping out on yoga class tomorrow and being a bit slow at massage class… I’m being a good girl. For now. That may change next weekend.
My whole body hurts. I’m not sure if it’s from giving massages (the one I’m learning is pretty strenuous), the yoga, the walking or a combination of all three, but I sure could use a massage right now.