Palolem

On arrival in Palolem Beach, we surveyed the possible places to stay and found ourselves in a beachfront room in the hotel La Allegro, one of the pnly permanent buildings on the beach (more on this below). It has an attached bathroom, purple walls, a pink mosquito net, and a porch for good settin.' The days at Palolem are drift by easily, and people tend to stay much longer than planned. Something in the air makes each cell of the body relax into sandy earth. The many open-air beach cafes serve delicious Indian fare, including local (and fresh) Goan fish dishes (I look forward to eating, even when I have just finished a meal!). Kingfisher beers, sunshine, the warm Arabian Sea, palm trees, fresh coconut and pineapple, non-Goan Indians selling (cheap and not so cheap) jewelry and clothing, local fisherman pulling in their nets, cows meandering the coastline, homeless dogs being terratorial, a hundred Israeli tourists and a hundred more from Europe; this is Palolem Beach in a nutshell.

Palolem is paradise in many ways, but it has been interesting to see how much it has grown over the past four years (when I was here before). I estimate there are four times as many coco huts (palm and bamboo bungalows), restaurants, and stores. The government has an interesting take on development, which local Goans seem to support: the hotels and restaurants on the beach have to be torn down and rebuilt every year. Furthermore, only a certain percentage of the land can have buildings on it, they must be 200 m. from the ocean, and only one story tall. The idea is that big ugly concrete buildings and permanent development will not ruin the beach. High season starts around Nov. 1, so the men and women are busy, busy, busy hauling sand in baskets on their heads, roping together the bamboo buildings, setting up the chairs in their restaurants, and tacking up blue tarpaulins. It is quite a scene... Many of the business owners and waiters are not from Goa, and the stores and independant sellers who come here just for the season often do not pay taxes. Being in Palolem makes me think a lot about how tourism adds to the commodification of a place...

There have been some particularly memorable moments here:

On one of the first days I walked to the end of the beach in the morning and met yoga teacher Raja. He encouraged me to walk to over the rocks and to go onto the small peninsula because I might see dolphins swimming in the sea. I walked up and perched myself overlooking the sea, and indeed I did see some dolphins jumping!

Because Nancy and I won't be together on my birthday, she decided we should celebrate early. She gave me a lovely scarf and a miniature wooden backgammon board, which I love. We then shared a piece of poundcake with walnuts and golden raisins and enjoyed some good ol' very sweet and milky Nescafe coffee. It was wonderful.

The first few days in Palolem were very humid and smoggy. One afternoon it started raining, and poured for the next hour. The rain was the soaking kind- big drops that fall heavy and close together, wetting you to the bone in a few minutes. It was such a relief from the heat and humidity. I thoroughly enjoyed walking in the sweet rain, recalling the freshness of moist Oregon... A few nights later, we again experienced the rain, but this time it was a grand storm, with sheet lightning every other moment, and strong gusts of wind. We holed up in our favorite restaurant, Fernando's, and watched as the electricity up and down the beach flickered on and off. The electricity seemed to be playfully responding to the flashes in the sky!