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As usual it took us quite a while to get over the journey from the UK.  It’s a combination of the journey duration, the heat and the horrific humidity which leaves us washed out.  We know that November is one of the hottest months here but the last 2 to 3 years have been ultra-hot and humid.  We had already decided before we got here that this would be our last trip to Goa before Christmas preferring to come instead in January.  The weather we experienced on arrival just cemented our thoughts that this is not a pleasant time to be here. 

It hasn’t been an insurmountable problem.  The cyclones meant that the shacks were not open and, as we had floor plans to look at for the house, changes to consider and decisions to be made, spending the time indoors under a fan just made more sense.  It’s very sad for the shack owners that have such a short window in which to make a living.  Combined with the bad weather and the incompetent Goan licencing authorities many of the shacks were still not completed by the start of December…..unheard of in the past.

We’ve continued to use the pool and spend less time on the beach this trip.  The weight loss has continued at a slower pace as more people arrive.  It would have been more but when a large bottle of kingfisher costs just over a £1 and a large G&T costs the same it does make the routine less effective than it should be.  It’s also a very sociable place so it’s very difficult to go out for dinner and not meet someone a have a ‘cheeky one’ with!

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Talking of ‘cheeky one’, this phrase originated from Tony, AKA Tony and Brenda.  They contacted us to say that this year they were arriving late into Mumbai which would have meant arriving in Benaulim in the early hours, not a good time to wake up your landlord.  No problem we said, don’t stay in Mumbai, it’s very expensive plus you’ll have taxis to pay for.  Get the late flight and we’ll leave the key under the mat and you can stay with us.  So, we had some unplanned visitors for a couple of nights whilst they cleaned their own place plus Tony bought a bottle of Honeybee for that bedtime ‘cheeky one’!  It was great to have them stay.

The climate hasn’t stopped us doing lots of the usual things that make this place such a treat to be in.  Sundowners to watch the sunset with a few friends followed by a visit to Jack’s Corner for the best vindaloo in town.  We have too many good restaurants to visit making it very difficult sometimes to walk past as the friendly waiters call out ‘good evening sir, hello madam, how are you?’

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We took a bus ride into Margao to visit the dentist, the bank, the optician and to do some shopping that you can’t really do in Benaulim.  The bus fares have gone up, outrageous, 50%, making the 20 minutes ride in the bus that hasn’t seen a service in the last 20 years cost a whole 15p each.  We’ve been coming to Goa for around 15 years and Margao is still a noisy, dusty dump of a town!  Nothing seems to have changed which in some ways is actually quite quaint.  Whilst waiting for the bus back you can still buy oranges from the hawkers walking up and down or nip into a grubby establishment to buy delicious samosas for 10p.  You can get your shoes and bags mended by the old cobblers sitting on the floor in the shade and using their feet to hold things whilst they stitch with their hands….all absolutely timeless.  Romanticism apart, it’s still a shithole!

We celebrated Cheryl’s birthday with a trip to Martin’s Corner with John and Yvonne.  Margarita for Cheryl and a beer tower for John and Neil.  Excellent Goan food some of which we can’t find anywhere else including tongue roast.  To round it off, Cheryl and Yvonne managed to consume a large portion of chocolate brownie & ice cream each.  Bill paid, it was then a delightful 90 minute walk back along the beach. 

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We had forgotten how beautiful this stretch of the coast was.  It’s very quiet with hardly any shacks and you can see enormous expanses of deserted sands.  Benaulim used to have some quiet stretches like this when we first came to Goa on normal holidays around 15 years ago. 

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Sadly, this has all changed now with barely 5 metres between shacks from one beach head to another.  It’s wall to wall sunbeds and some shacks have started pumping out the music – despite a noticeable fall in tourist numbers.

We strolled back to Benaulim just in time for a sundowner, how convenient was that?  The birthday finished with a trip to Savios for a light dinner of homemade liver pate, crispy roti and a bottle of Cabernet.  We did sleep well.