I came, I saw. Now I never have to go back again. Coastal India is not one of my favorite places. Goa is located on the Arabian Sea. The Mormugao harbour on the mouth of the River Zuari is one of the best natural harbors in South Asia, and this river is one of the busiest in India. This was our first time calling in the port of Goa, and we docked at the commercial harbor that has equipment for exporting ore and oil. And like most commercial ports that we have docked at, it is not very pretty.
Goa is the smallest state in India and has 1.5 million population, 60% which are Hindu. They are very proud of the fact that they have a literacy rate of 90%. Goa is different from the rest of India because of it's Portuguese influence. The Portuguese first landed here in the early 16th century as merchants and conquered it soon there after. Goa was a former Portuguese province that existed for about 450 years; it was annexed by India in 1961. Goa is India's richest state with a GDP per capita two and a half times that of the country as a whole.
Michael did not have an excursion today, but I did. My tour took us to two UNESCO world heritage sites in Old Goa. I really can't get excited about visiting old churches, I was fascinated by what I saw by just driving out in the countryside. We rode on small buses that were not that well maintained, but at least the air conditioning worked. I must say that the weather was a lot more pleasant than I thought it would be today. Riding along on narrow winding, twisting roads and sitting over the back wheels, I had an extremely bumpy ride, thus my pictures are pretty unsatisfactory today. So I will have to use all my descriptive writing techniques to explain what it was that I saw that fascinated me so much.
Once we left at the port we traveled through the town of Vasco de Gama, the largest town in Goa. There was nothing here really worth mentioning. But once we got into the countryside, we passed many small villages and homes built right up to the road edge and in the tropical jungle. For many miles we had the jungle on one side and an estuary on the other where we saw several different species of birds doing whatever birds do in an estuary.
We saw many homes that had blue tarps on the rooftops. Blue tarps were also used for carports, and as coverings for roadside fruit stands. It seems that blue tarps are used for a lot of things, so if you are a blue tarp salesman, you would have a great deal of business in this part of the world. Many homes had corrugated tin roofs, and the side of the buildings had a mishmash of patched corrugated tin as well.
I just threw this one in because I happen to like the picture
What was astounding was that there would be a very beautiful home and right next to it would be a shack. They definitely do not have any zoning laws here. Quite a few of the homes were painted in bright, garish colors such as knock-your-eyeballs-out yellow, royal purple, bright orange and whatever else I guess was on sale at the paint shop that day. Many homes that looked like they were made of concrete were stained with black mildew because it rains so much here. Monsoon season goes from June through September, and it is not unusual to get 120 inches of rain.
Nice home
We passed many agricultural fields where coconut palm trees were quite abundant, as well as mangoes and pineapples. There were also rice fields and water buffalo. Teak wood is also harvested here.
We visited two of the oldest churches in old Goa: St. Catherine's Cathedral (the largest in India) and the Basilica of Bom Jesus, which contains the relics of St. Francis Xavier. These churches were built around the 1560s and they are in pretty darn good condition for being that old, although the roof in the basilica had plenty of daylight showing through.
Basilica Bom Jesus
The altar
Saint Catherine's Cathedral (notice that the belltower on the right-hand side is missing)
Our final stop was to the ancestral home of the Oliveira de Fernandes family. The Fernandes family has been living here since the house was built 250 years ago. Our host today is the sixth generation of occupants, and she greeted each guest personally as we arrived. We were free to move about the house and admire the furniture, some which is over 300 years old and made of solid wood. Goan puu puu's were laid out for us to enjoy. We were then directed out to the yard where tables were set up amid many beautiful flowers. There was a live band to serenade us. There were also dogs, turkeys, chickens, and birds all roaming around the grounds.
Our hostess
China cabinet
We were now fortified for the almost one hour trip back to the ship.
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