Our first visitors of this trip arrived from London.  We met David & Hannah a few years ago on our travels in China.  They had decided to take a trip to India and dropped in for a couple of days before heading off further down the coast.  They did their own thing during the day and it was great to catch up on things during the evening over dinner.  They also brought us a present……Christmas Cake……..and it’s a Marks and Sparks so it’s absolutely delicious.

Just before Christmas we had the usual Christmas Party.  Not on the boat this time but in our shack.  The shack owner Alton laid on a superb buffet for our 25 guests and at 350R (£4) it was a steal.  Nibbles while people got drinks then starters of BBQ chicken wings and mushrooms stuffed with cheese and chilli.  Mains included a Goan favourite, beef assad, chicken tikka, paneer tikka, Goan salad, vegetable xacuti, breads and pilau rice……delicious. 

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We had a visit from Santa, and as austerity is officially over, the budget for the Secret Santa present was a huge 100Rs.

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It was also Ann’s birthday and we enjoyed watching her blow out the everlasting candles on her cake…..tee hee, until she finally pulled them out!!

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The evening continued with dancing to our special Christmas playlist which went on until the early hours.

Christmas Day followed very soon after the party.  As usual we spent the day on the beach.  Neil had a beer and a vodka in memory to his mum and dad. Lunch was chicken tikka, mushroom kebab, bottle of wine, Christmas Cake and a few other drinks to boot.  Cheryl had an afternoon nap, then it was next door to visit friends in Rex’s Shack for one of Bee’s famous mince pies and to deliver some Christmas Cake to her. 

Then at the end of the afternoon we had telephone calls with Miranda and Paul and Alex and Freddy.  Cheryl also had a couple of G&T’s during the calls so that when Alton got out his karaoke machine she decided to treat us all to a solo performance of Band of Gold.  It was noted that two couples who looked like they were going to come into the shack turned around when they were close enough to hear her screeching!   

Finally, on the way back home we stopped off at Jack’s Corner for a beef vindaloo and a couple more drinks.  It was a very boozy day and we were in bed quite early for a heavy sleep.  The next day we managed to get the call into Leanne and Neil that we had to postpone the day before because she was running late the day before.

Tourist numbers are down throughout Goa by around 30%.  Russians are showing the biggest decline but Europeans are also coming in fewer numbers.  The Russians are apparently not coming because other countries nearer home like Egypt and Tunisia are offering big incentives to tour companies and airlines.  India, as usual, continues to make it very difficult for tourists by making visas expensive and complicated to get and by charging very large airport taxes.  Yet again Goa is suffering as tourism is such a huge industry but the it’s national government that makes these laws.  However, between Christmas and New Year we saw a marked increase of ‘fresh meat’ although getting a table in a restaurant is still easy.  In previous years, the best places were often full from 7pm!

On our way to see in 2019 we stopped off at Jack’s for our favourite vindaloo and a couple of drinks.  Then we were off to the beach for a party in Rex’s.  We started off with Alton but, as expected, it wasn’t quite our scene.  We had a drink in there with Roger and Ann and then wandered next door to see in the new year.  The fireworks were superb as you could see them for miles in both directions up and down the beach.  After a modest evening we climbed into bed around 2am.