Thursday, February 14, 2008

February 8 Big Foot, Nuna Beach




I am going very easy on the diet as things are definitely not in the best working order yet. Toast and tea for breakfast, a strange cole-slaw-like sandwich for lunch, and we’ll see about dinner. Ate a bunch of pistachios I had stashed away as a back up plan. Can’t find the trail mix and granola bars I also stowed at JFK so they are probably at the bottom of the suitcase.
Veins are still very tender but no redness or major swelling. There is some bruising starting to show.
We went to Big Foot, an outdoor museum showing what Goa used to be like before modernization. They said Goa was like this in places up until only the 1980s. It was really interesting and much of it was familiar from our trip through the previous two states before Goa.
Finally we went to the beach for 4 hours of afternoon sun, seashells, tans, sand sculpture, swimming, walking, and just relaxing. It was very pleasant and just what the doctor ordered. And I didn’t get burned. The water was hardly salty at all, very warm, and there was lots of sand and shells, no seaweed or kelp, and only two seagulls. Lots of the Indian Crows though.
Well, okay, I just discovered sunburn on the tops of my feet and up the front of one leg. It hurts and itches.
We went to the Margao Rotary Club and did our presentation for them then had the usual dinner afterwards. I had rice with dal and a dinner roll. I am getting sick of bland food very quickly. The Rotary Club has their own space in a tall building and it was their charter day celebration meeting so they had a happy birthday cake to celebrate.
I have noticed a decided increase in my allergies here in Goa, more nasal congestion. Along with the topic of allergies, my host’s wife said that there are a lot of people with allergies but they don’t know why they are sick and/or don’t go to the doctor to get tested and find out. She said her daughter had an allergy to wheat, celiac disease, which no one had heard of and they had to go to a big city to get her diagnosed. I don’t know if her former statement about allergies was about anaphylaxis so much as she was referring to gastro-intestinal intolerances. I will have to ask more people about it. One thing that I may have mentioned before but I will say again is that, here in Goa, we have seen a lot of white skinned people, tourists. After three weeks of seeing dark-skinned Indians, it is very strange to see white skin besides that of my team-mates. I almost feel like I am staring at them like they are the foreigners and I am the native. As Jennifer said in her speech at the conference, she came as an American and is going home as an Indian. I am beginning to feel the same way

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