Just when I thought I might start getting bored with Calangute, I was walking to get water and next thing I know, I’m about to get run over by a car that’s headed straight for me and speeding up as it gets closer, at the last second, the car stops and the driver is pissing himself laughing at my expression of terror. Papi’s in town. We went to check out Arambol beach where a contingent of dogs and puppies followed us everywhere and I ended up almost losing a sandal when I stepped in the wrong spot and my whole foot sunk into the mud. From there, we checked out Mapca market where we got some fruit and I stocked up on band-aids from the chemist. Wet + Sand + Loads of walking = blisters upon blisters from my sandals. Once back in Calangute, I got a call from the embassy saying my VISA for India had expired, when I had gotten my SIM card, they had scanned all my pertinent info so I was a little freaked out until Papi starts laughing and I find out it’s Wayne pulling a prank on me. Anyways, we all went to l’orange to watch their friend’s band play and meet up with a bunch of other friends and there were flaming tequila shots and Papi tried to convince me I was eating turtle eggs but they were really stuffed mushrooms and they were delicious so I wouldn’t have cared even if they had been turtle eggs.

After the chaos of visitors, I had more days to chill and get into the futball games and find I’m really starting to feel at home in Calangute with many familiar faces to chat with daily and having laughs while the tourist papparazi lines up to take photos with me. Sometimes it’s innocent, like the fellow asking ‘why not?’ the same way a 5 year old would when I said no to a smooch, sometimes it’s a little creepy when your neighbours are knocking on your door at 11:00 at night (I should add it’s pitch black here by 7:30) asking to ‘make friendship’ because they’re bored. I find it easier to respond by referring to a partner nearby that’s coming soon than trying to explain why my husband is on the other side of the planet and that I’m alone here.

I had a day trip to Panjim which was really cool, this is Papi and Tina’s town so I had a map with places to go and tour around. It was a lovely day, little rain, I would just walk, find a bench, stop and read, repeat. There was a beautiful garden I hung out at for a while and then I went to Kala Academy for some chai. It was so serene there, open concept with a lush lawn, a nice walk by the river and string music playing in the building. I enjoyed reminiscing the calm feeling from the Ashram in Bombay. I also walked around the town, checking out the older Portuguese homes and managing my way around piles of uniformed children on lunch break. Two little girls said hello and high-five’d each other when I responded, so sweet.

For my last day in Calangute, I made sure I went to all my haunts, visited and said goodbye to the familiar faces and ate all my favorite meals, including a late night dose of egg sandwich. The last week or so there have been many more foreigners in contrast to the complete lack of them my first week, most have been fairly closed people, wandering around with looks of fear and pretending not to see you. I decided to be adventurous and hang out with some of the foreigners who were hanging at a pub nearby and actually interacting with the people around them and had invited me to join them several times as I went about my day. Turns out it was a 21st birthday party for one of the crew of a French Navy boat. I was very glad the seats were plastic when the celebrations turned into beer showers for everyone. At about 8:30 and drenched in beer, I wished them well and made the short journey home to dry out my clothes so that I could pack them the next day. It was definitely an entertaining way to end my time there!

Anyways, SPAIN ROCKS! Ciao for now! Tomorrow, the Palolem edition.