Goa, India - January 8, 2018

First, as a note, Internet is available only when we are in a port. And when I find it, the service is inevitably slow. I must upload photos only one at a time. Very tedious and frustrating! Further, we will be sailing for the next few days with no opportunity to update blogs or upload pictures at all. I will continue to write and take photos but will upload them as soon as I can! Now for the news . . .

We have had three glorious, relaxing days at sea. Although the sky has been hazy each day, the weather has been just right, warm enough to allow comfortable sunning on the ship's deck but with a soft breeze to keep us cool and dry. Only one afternoon did I feel the need to wrap a towel around my shoulders to ward off the chill.

It seems we are making a practice of sleeping-in on the ship. Sleep is quite nice on the ocean and it's a gift we are surely appreciating. Because of our late start in the day we've had to wait until afternoon when the early birds had their fill of the sun and finally abandoned their deck lounge chairs for us to take over. That schedule caused us no problem though. We simply leisurely took our time getting dressed, had our coffee, visited the gym then had breakfast. By the time we gathered our reading materials and changed into swimsuits, we found available chairs.

On the advice of our friends, Susan and Allen, we have recently begun listening to books via Audible rather than actually reading. We still love to hold a book in our hands and turn pages but for long driving trips and flying, listening to books together is a lot of fun. We have finished the Century Trilogy by Ken Follett and are now working on his next set of historical novels. We both finished listening The Pillars of the Earth over the last few days and now have begun listening to A Column of Fire. What great books! Had I known history could be so interesting, I would have given my history classes much more attention in high school and college.

We will be in ports on the coast of India for the next three days. Today, our first visit to India, we visited a Hindu temple and a spice farm in the state of Goa, India. The temple was about an hour drive away which gave us an opportunity to hear about a bit of history and to get a road-side glimpse of towns and villages along the way. Goa is said to be the smallest and yet the richest state in India. Still it is third world. The traditional caste system is in place in India which means there is wealth, particularly in upper castes but there is little chance for those born in lower castes to escape poverty. Not so much in Goa, but certainly in other parts of India especially rural areas, it is forbidden for people born in lower castes to marry persons of an upper caste. One can be killed for disobeying this rule; poverty prevails.

Houses are made of stone mined from the mountains; some looked attractive and are often painted in bright colors but most looked sad and ill-kept. Trash is everywhere. Not just a little trash but a tremendous amount of trash debris litters the roadsides, the small yards, the ditches and the streams. Even homes, buildings, bikes and anything else that has outlived its utility is left to simply deteriorate. They have no junk yards, no landfills, and no salvage mills. I read where an enterprising young engineer is mounting an effort to get government support for trash collection and recycling but what a big job that will be. Still I admire the effort. These folk need to start somewhere!

Not surprisingly, cows roam the streets and yards of villages and some even as if it is their birthright rest in the middle of the road; so do stray feral dogs. Cows graze on grass in open areas and on trash where it has accumulated; so do feral dogs. All the cows look alike; all the dogs likewise look alike, that is except one. I didn't get photo of that fella but one particular dog resembled all the rest except that he had a big black dark circle surrounding one eye. He reminded me of the dog on Little Rascals and he seemed a bit embarrassed about it.

Some new construction can be seen, but it appears to be performed at a very slow, uninspired pace. We saw pieces of heavy machinery for road and other construction but most of the equipment was idle. Groups of men on construction sites leisurely hand-carried sticks of re-bar to places where other men laid forms for concrete panels that will eventually support bridges and overpasses. Nothing moved quickly. We saw small groups of men and women digging ditches by hand, yes, by hand, for new storm water drainage systems lining the road. As dirt was accumulated from the digging, it was carried away not by wheel barrows but in baskets on top of the peoples' heads.

Still, there is big business here. While iron oxide and manganese is mined and exported, fishing and tourism are the largest forms of industry. The primary form of transportation in Goa is motor bikes. Everyone rides them; women usually ride side-saddle.

Because Goa was occupied and controlled by Portugal for over 400 years, many people still speak Portuguese but all schools teach English. Also because of the Portuguese influence, about 25% of Goa citizens are Christian . . . Roman Catholic. Most Christians live on one side of the river and the symbol of the cross can be seen on many homes. Sixty-five percent of people in Goa is Hindu and prefer to live on the other side of the river. Hindu homes are often marked with the swastika which has nothing to do with Nazi Germany but happens to be a Hinduism symbol of well-being and good luck

The Hindu temple we visited today, Shree Shantadurga, was built in about 1730 and was dedicated to a goddess who intervened in a fierce battle between Hindu Gods Shiva and Vishnu. She brought about peace between the Gods. The shrine was beautiful but was dusty and fell far short of the Hindu temples we visited in Bali a few years ago.

Later we drove another 45 minutes to visit the spice farm. We walked across a wooden swinging bridge and walked through a lovely forest of palms, vines and spice trees. We saw cashew trees and were shown how the nuts growing on the bottom-end of the fruit are separated from the fruit and how the apple-like fruit is crushed into juice to make a highly potent alcoholic drink called cachaça. We sniffed crushed leaves, berries, flowers, seeds and bark of cinnamon, vanilla, betel, allspice, nutmeg, cardamom and cloves. We saw coffee trees and red hot piri piri pepper trees. Our guide told us how these wonderful spicy things are used in home remedies for all of common ailments and how they are best harvested, processed and stored. At the end of our forest walk, we enjoyed a tasty lunch of freshly prepared curried mutton, fish, chicken and rice accompanied by a number of lavishly spiced sauces. Some dishes caused our lips to burn; some were sweet but the food was truly delicious.

Tomorrow morning we will be in Mumbai.