Goa

If you look at the Lonely Planet Series you'll find several things about India. In particular, There is an "India" book, a "Southern India" book, and a "Goa" book. Goa, it should be noted is India's second smallest state (second to Sikkim between Nepal and Bhutan). But, Goa still has it's own entire lonely planet travel guide. There must be something good here right? That's right. Goa, is basically renowned for being a tourist's haven within India. The tourist guides, however, say that the beaches are every bit as pristine as the people say they are. I'm not so sure about that. The beaches, were, in all fairness, the best I'd seen in India to that point. Nonetheless, the water was still slightly polluted. But I didn't scoff at eating seafood from Goa even though I'd just gotten sick eating seafood in mumbai. For our stay, yvonne booked a hella good hotel in a small town called Benaulim in the southern portion of Goa. We had a pool with a swim up bar. DID NOT THINK I'D SEE THAT IN INDIA! The beach was just about a mile away. In fact, the beach was much closer, it's just that the imposing "Taj Exotica Beach Resort" stood in our way, and even though we looked like wealthy tourists, they were still pissy about anyone entering to grounds at any time of day.

So, the first observations about goa...
One can't help but notice the portugese influence. Goa only (re)joined India in 1963. So one might imagine that with 400 years of portugese colonization there is a fair amount of catholicism hanging around. And if one imagines that, one is correct. I hadn't seen any concentration of catholic churches anywhere in India as in Goa. I doubt that any place has such a concentration. Certainly, Pondicherry might be another place, but the French quarter of Pondicherry is so small, that there are only a few churches there anyway (and half of them are british churches).

The second thing one will notice in Goa is the overabundance of white people. Goa must be have nearly 1/3 westerners at any given time. At Anjuna flea market there are plenty of old worn out hippies who just never left and opened up shop as t-shirt (and marijuana) sellers. The beaches are full of westerns and little beach snack shacks/restaurants/bars with tourists. There are only a few areas in India where I'd imagine the concentration of westerners is even remotely close to that.

The third thing one will notice (and first thing if you're ME) is the number of liquor stores and bars. They are simply everywhere. I really mean everywhere. Every third shop it seems! We were staying at an out of the way place in an out of the way town and between our hotel and the beach there were 4 pubs. Just 200 meters in the opposite direction a liquor store. You seriously can't go anywhere in Goa without seeing a plethora of bars and liquors stores. I attribute this to the portugese influence. I guess they think, similar to most europeans, that liquor isn't the devil's drink after all. In fact, the proper liquid to turn from wine into jesus' blood is port (If you're portugese of course). That said, Goa has wineries. It's way too damn hot in Goa to grow good grapes, but the Portugese made it happen anyway. Oh, I should also mention, that liquor in Goa is embarrassingly cheap. I bought a whole bottle of brandy (750 mL) for Rs 64. That is not much money in anyone's book.

The last thing that you might notice is again coming from the portugese influence, but it's the cuisine. Many Goans who have clearly never left Goa proclaimed that the reason I like Goan food is because it's western. WRONG! Goan food is not western! It is, however, delicious! Two specialties in Goa are Xacutti and Cafreal. These are both sauces (gravies) usually served with some fresh seafood right out of the arabian sea (which is clean enough for getting good seafood). These, to be fair, are Indian. There's no escaping that. But, they each have a distinctive European twist. I think the reason I liked them so much is that, well they taste good. The second reason must be that this truly is fusion food, but done extremely well. I must have eaten Xacutti 5 or 6 times in a week.

So, Goa, here we are, a week to explore, and attempt to relax/ escape India within India.