We had returned to palolem early from Hampi due to the demonetisation happening which meant another overnight bus. This one didn’t go to plan as we had a crazy driver who didn’t slow down for any bumps. After being thrown around our sleeper bed for 6 hours we arrived in palolem early at 4am. Remembering there was a 24 hour bar on the beach meant we could hang out there. We spent the next 4 hours drinking coffee and eating French fries waiting for everything to open.
We checked into our old room at our old guesthouse and had a much needed nap before heading to our favourite cafe (Cafe Inn) for breakfast. Charlie got to eat meat again after 3 days of being veggie in Hampi so he was pretty happy.
The super-moon had changed the tide here so we were pretty surprised when we arrived on the beach and had seen how far the tide had gone out. We spent the afternoon on the beach finding loads of tiny crabs and chasing them. Charlie collected loads of shells like a child which he keeps now in his backpack.
The next day we pretty much did the exact same thing. Charlie was excited to explore the crabs and rock pools to see what he could find. For dinner we met up with Aubrey and Lauchie who are both from Melbourne. We met at our guesthouse in Hampi so it was great to catch up with them and discuss everyone’s travel plans! Aubrey is also heading to Sri Lanka next so we are hoping to see him again there.
Due to the demonetisation we were in Goa for much longer than planned. After our trip to Agonda we had planned to head to Kerala but couldn’t get the money together to do so and had to cancel our plans. Goa is not a bad place to stay but our days became very repetitive. We started naming them Groundhog Goa. A positive to staying there was we got to eat brunch at our favourite cafe a bit longer!
Palolem was very relaxing and we did have some good days exploring Cola beach and Patnem beach close by. On our walk to Patnem we found some cute pigs walking around and snoozing.
Unfortunately two nights before we were due to leave Charlie had a dodgy prawn vindaloo curry and food poisoning hit. We just spent time in our room for 48hours while Charlie recovered, I spent time planning our next few months away and doing my best to nurse him back to good health. I had to go to the pharmacy to get him some tablets but Palolem doesn’t have any pharmacy so you need to go to a town called Canacona nearby. We had been there before to use an ATM and knew a tuk tuk should be 150 rupees return. Charlie suggested I get one so that he knew I was just going there and back with a driver, so I set out on the main road to hail one. It was clear when the driver pulled over that he didn’t want to take me, the local bus was going past at the time so he put his had up to make it stop and told me to get on. Without hesitation I got on and sat down – I had been to Canacona a few times so I knew it enough to know the way. Only the bus didn’t go the way I knew. Realising this was a bit silly of me and that I had gone out without my phone ( I was supposed to be getting a quick tuk tuk) so I didn’t have my offline map to follow for directions. I asked a local lady sitting behind me if she knew where the pharmacy was and she wiggled her head from side to side. While a similar action to this is the sign for no in most western countries, this means yes in India. I asked if she could show me when to get off and she wiggled her head again. Not sure if she actually understood a word I was saying I thanked her and hoped for the best. The bus stoped and she grabbed my arm and started leading me down a very long road. She must have understood English but not spoken it well or just didn’t fancy a chat because we walked for 5 minutes in utter silence. 5 minutes isn’t a long time but it felt a lot longer whilst my mind kept wondering… Should try to talk to her? Are we even going to the pharmacy? I wonder how ridiculously tall I look walking next to her? (the top of her head didn’t even reach my shoulders). A lot of pointless thoughts and a little walk later we arrived at the main part of town I was familiar with. I found the pharmacy, stocked up on tablets and took a tuk tuk back.
Charlie and Lisa are Travelling 