A long, hot day in Goa

We docked in Goa, a state on the southwestern coast of India, around 10 a.m yesterday. I had booked a tour called "A Taste of Goa". Generally, Ronnie and I have the same tours but we have a few that are different, so he was happy to spend a lazy day on the ship. He was actually more like thrilled because we had been off the ship the 2 previous days, and mine was a 7 hour tour to visit some churches and a temple, eat a local lunch and visit another spice garden.

As with the previous day, it was extremely hot and I still wasn't feeling the best. We were first driven by bus (thankfully air conditioned) to Goa where we visited 2 churches, the Basilica of Bom Jesus and the Church of St. Francis of Assisi. I regret that I didn't get a better photo of the Basilica of Bom Jesus church (Bom Jesus means "Good/ Infant Jesus" in Portugese). It is now recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Photos were allowed in St. Francis of Assisi Church. Of course these buildings have no AC so even if out of the direct sun, inside the air is stifling.

Church of St. Francis of Assisi - built 1661

inside St. Francis of Assisi

 

Basilica of Bom Jesus - World Heritage Site

 

After visiting the two churches, we were driven to a Hindu temple. It was another good walk from the bus to the temple ground in the direct sun, this time with an incline. There were vendors on either side of the street and at the temple entrance selling various types of flower offerings to worshipers and I snapped a few photos on the way into the temple courtyard. We were told that shoes must be removed to enter and that no photos were allowed inside. I wasn't feeling all that well and I really didn't care about seeing the inside anyway, so I headed back to the bus to try and cool off.

sellers on both sides as we walked up to the temple

floral offerings for sale

part of temple complex

opposite temple entrance

ll Shree Shangadurga Sausghan ll Temple - Kavle - Ponda

 

Hindu worshipers

 

From there we were driven to Gaonkars Nandanvan for lunch and a spice garden tour. We were greeted (both men and women) with flower pedals thrown over our heads and a red dot placed on the forehead. I didn't want one so I bypassed this, snapping photos instead. According to our guide, the red dot (or bindi) was traditionally worn by women for religious purposes or to show they were married, but nowadays is supposedly worn as a fashion statement.

Authentic Indian food was served buffet style in a covered open air setting on plates made from palm leaves. We were offered shots of an alcoholic drink made from the fermented fruit of the cashew (everyone said it was awful!) After everyone was finished eating, we walked through the spice garden and were shown which trees produced which spices. The 5 most expensive spices in the world are saffron, vanilla, cardamom, clove and cinnamon.

greeting of flowers and red dot (bindi) on forehead

buffet style lunch

 

Above: She will probably kill me, but this is my friend Leslie. I snapped some quick photos of her tasting the local brew. She posted a rather unflattering photo of me on FaceBook, so I guess we're even now. ha!

our guide brings dessert

plates made from palm leaves

palm leaf used for sturdy disposable plates

Saffron is the most expensive because it requires a very labor intensive handpicking process, with vanilla coming in second. Here's the google explanation - "The reason spices such as cardamom, vanilla, and saffron are so expensive by weight comes down to how they are grown and the labor that goes into their harvest. Saffron, for example, is the stigma of the Crocus Sativus, which only produces three stigma threads per flower, vanilla comes from an orchid that grows on a vine high up in tall trees and so is difficult to harvest, and cardamom must be picked by hand while only 3/4 ripe - a process that cannot be automated."

friendly but scantily dressed Indian rolling homemade cigarettes

masala tea, tumeric

lemon grass, cardamom

coconut art carvings for sale

After the drive back to the terminal, we had to get off the bus and once again go through a visa check and have our personal items scanned. Upon exit from the other end of the building, we weren't that far from the ship so we had the option of walking back or riding the bus. I chose to ride because my legs were feeling weak. Usually when getting on or off the bus, I try not to touch the handrails (being Covid conscious these days) but because I was feeling weak, I decided to use them to climb up. It's a good thing I did because on the second step, my legs buckled! Leslie (above) was behind me thought I was about to fall, and I would have had I not been holding on. I've never had that happen before but if you read yesterday's post, you know we cut our slum tour short because my legs were feeling weird. Needless to say, by the time I got back to our room all I wanted to do was shower, put on my night clothes and order room service for dinner. 

After a rough night, I decided I was in no shape to go out today (Ronnie agreed) so instead I went back to the onboard clinic to talk to the doctor. They insisted on re-checking me for Covid and flu (negative), he examined me, scolded me for going out in the heat, gave me some awful tasting cough syrup and an antibiotic. Not only that, he told me no more excursions until Singapore! We don't reach Singapore until May 17, so this is one doctor's order I don't plan to obey. But I sadly missed the one today that I had looked so forward to and I will miss tomorrow as well. Ronnie took a lot of photos for me so I will post those tomorrow and hopefully I can get a little commentary from him to go with them.

One cool thing that is happening around the ship now. Many of the ship crew are getting off in India and new workers are coming on, so there are lots of new faces around. Our butler (yes, that's what he is called and he even wears tails) Vishant left today. Ship crew work several months at a time without seeing their families. So when they reach home, I'm told that they are allowed to bring their families aboard to tour the ship and eat in the Terrace cafe. Sort of like "take your son or daughter to work day" in the US. So we now have a new butler who is also from India. His name is Rince and he is very nice. He probably thinks I'm going to be high maintenance since I've ordered room service 3 times today!