Photos: host family and dogs in Margao, 295 steps
So far the belly is mostly cooperating today.
Last night, on the way home from the Rotary meeting, we stopped to see the magnificent showroom my host is rebuilding. He sells cars and motorcycles. The brand of motorcycle is the Royal Enfield. It is a high-end motorcycle here, a little bigger and more expensive, equivalent to a Harley in America. The Royal Enfields run 200-300 cc whereas the typical bike on the street is 100-200. One thing I thought was curious on it is that the shifter and brake pedals are switched on which side although the remainder of the controls are in the usual places. A sharp looking cruiser.
This morning we climbed 295 steps to a temple on top of a mountain. The temple was carved out of a big rock, but differently from the other temples we’ve seen, this one, when you walked around it, had the raw outside of the rock visible and sticking out from the concrete protection built around it. The views were incredible too. It reminded me of the mountains of North Carolina, in a way. We also had the privilege of seeing a huge chariot they had tucked away in a tall garage.
We moved to our new host homes in Vasco, the last city we visit before departing for America. It is hard for all of us to believe that we left four weeks ago today and we are leaving day after tomorrow. None of us want to go home yet. It is so beautiful here that we want to stay, at least for a little while longer. I want to stay long enough to eat the Indian food again, though I might cheat a little! I really do need to be careful though so I get home healthy. I think I’ve caught the cold my last host’s daughter had. L First week was pharyngitis, second week was bronchitis, third week was gastroenteritis, fourth week is sinusitis. My immune system is getting worn out! That or this is the trip of the –itises. At least I don’t have another fever!
The style of building here is interesting. I have yet to really see steel beams. They use concrete and re-bar to building the beams, fill in between with the giant handmade bricks that are baked, then build with the bricks and concrete mortar, and finally cover the bricks with a smooth concrete for the walls. The interiors are almost always marble for the floors, stairs, handrails, and anything else that can be made of marble. The marble is shades of white, beautiful, plentiful, and keeps things cool. I would question the strength of using only concrete and re-bar but everything seems very sturdy and solid. I think it is the massive amounts that give it strength. I find the bricks fascinating. They are made out of local clays and we have passed many people digging, shaping, baking and stacking the bricks into huge stacks. The bricks appear to be rather crumbly and about 6X9X12”.
After spending time here at my host’s home typing the above, I was picked up by the District Governor, Bazil DeSousa, and several others and we met the others on a mountain at the Three Kings Church to watch the sun set over the ocean. It was gorgeous!
We had dinner at Sinatra’s where I was able to eat a spring roll, rodi, and rice with some kind of mild sauce. Everything is still not working quite right so I’m going easy yet. We had a pleasant surprise of the performance of a hula dancer/fire eater. I never saw that in real life before and it was incredible to watch. First she started off dancing with one hula hoop, and then she built up to about a dozen, spinning them on her arms and legs as well as her body. Finally she spun up to three flaming hoops and proceeded to use her mouth to hold then extinguish the flames on spinning rods and she picked up little burning tidbits of some kind and ate them, fire and all. I think I might have gotten some decent video. Bazil said that the hula dancing is not native to Goa and that she probably came from another area to where there was more available work.
Last night, on the way home from the Rotary meeting, we stopped to see the magnificent showroom my host is rebuilding. He sells cars and motorcycles. The brand of motorcycle is the Royal Enfield. It is a high-end motorcycle here, a little bigger and more expensive, equivalent to a Harley in America. The Royal Enfields run 200-300 cc whereas the typical bike on the street is 100-200. One thing I thought was curious on it is that the shifter and brake pedals are switched on which side although the remainder of the controls are in the usual places. A sharp looking cruiser.
This morning we climbed 295 steps to a temple on top of a mountain. The temple was carved out of a big rock, but differently from the other temples we’ve seen, this one, when you walked around it, had the raw outside of the rock visible and sticking out from the concrete protection built around it. The views were incredible too. It reminded me of the mountains of North Carolina, in a way. We also had the privilege of seeing a huge chariot they had tucked away in a tall garage.
We moved to our new host homes in Vasco, the last city we visit before departing for America. It is hard for all of us to believe that we left four weeks ago today and we are leaving day after tomorrow. None of us want to go home yet. It is so beautiful here that we want to stay, at least for a little while longer. I want to stay long enough to eat the Indian food again, though I might cheat a little! I really do need to be careful though so I get home healthy. I think I’ve caught the cold my last host’s daughter had. L First week was pharyngitis, second week was bronchitis, third week was gastroenteritis, fourth week is sinusitis. My immune system is getting worn out! That or this is the trip of the –itises. At least I don’t have another fever!
The style of building here is interesting. I have yet to really see steel beams. They use concrete and re-bar to building the beams, fill in between with the giant handmade bricks that are baked, then build with the bricks and concrete mortar, and finally cover the bricks with a smooth concrete for the walls. The interiors are almost always marble for the floors, stairs, handrails, and anything else that can be made of marble. The marble is shades of white, beautiful, plentiful, and keeps things cool. I would question the strength of using only concrete and re-bar but everything seems very sturdy and solid. I think it is the massive amounts that give it strength. I find the bricks fascinating. They are made out of local clays and we have passed many people digging, shaping, baking and stacking the bricks into huge stacks. The bricks appear to be rather crumbly and about 6X9X12”.
After spending time here at my host’s home typing the above, I was picked up by the District Governor, Bazil DeSousa, and several others and we met the others on a mountain at the Three Kings Church to watch the sun set over the ocean. It was gorgeous!
We had dinner at Sinatra’s where I was able to eat a spring roll, rodi, and rice with some kind of mild sauce. Everything is still not working quite right so I’m going easy yet. We had a pleasant surprise of the performance of a hula dancer/fire eater. I never saw that in real life before and it was incredible to watch. First she started off dancing with one hula hoop, and then she built up to about a dozen, spinning them on her arms and legs as well as her body. Finally she spun up to three flaming hoops and proceeded to use her mouth to hold then extinguish the flames on spinning rods and she picked up little burning tidbits of some kind and ate them, fire and all. I think I might have gotten some decent video. Bazil said that the hula dancing is not native to Goa and that she probably came from another area to where there was more available work.
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