This is our last night in Palolem, tomorrow we're hopefully staying in Panjim, the capital of Goa and then back to Anjuna for our last 5 days in India. Hopefully I'll soon have some pictures from the camera card to show you, there's a lot of discussion going on behind me between the staff of the internet cafe, I hope thay can sort out the camera though...

The past few days celebrations for Diwali have been taking place, so houses are lit up with candles, paper lanterns and more Western Xmas tree lights. We saw two nights ago Diwali traditional celebrations where paper and tissue effigies of one of the Hindu gods are made and carried through the streets, accompanied by groups of young men hammering a rythmn on oilcans and dancing and chanting. The ghost god is set alight at the end of the dancing, one on the beach and one on the street, accompanied by firecrackers thrown on the blaze with no regard for health & safety. One of the men wearing the costume walks over the coals of the fire in his bare feet at the end of the night. Over the past three days there have been random cracks of fireworks, people are in new holiday clothes, the ladies wear flower garlends in their hair and taxi's & shops have new crysanthemum garlands.

Yesterday we hired a Scooter for a day and went for a drive North to Fort Cabo de Rama, an old Portugese fort clutching the top of cliffs and covered in ivies. Got rather lost on the way and ended up going past the same group of road diggers (and their wives and children) three times; each time they wave with the same enthusiasm. Have dinner at Agonda Beach while watching the sun slink below the horizon - M is intent on Dan Brown novel. After food Matt drives us back to Palolem through the pitch blackness, street lights are few and far between. We get up a bit of speed when there's a rickshaw to follow.

Today we've largely spent on the beach reading our novels, drinking cocktails and generally chilling out. I love watching the hermit crabs in the shallow water scurrying about with great purpose. We hired a two person kiyak and went for a paddle up the bay and back as the sun was setting. Idyllic circumstances for me to allow Matt's glasses to be washed overboard! The rate that we're loosing possessions we won't have anything left to bring back. Recovered from the loss with a few more cocktails....