Goa

Goa, a seaside Indian state, is very different from the rest of India. It was colonized by the Portuguese, unlike the rest of the country, which was under the British rule, and the resulting differences in culture, religion, and architecture are very visible. The Portuguese ruled differently and tried to convert their colonies to Catholicism, while the British allowed their subjects to continue their current religious practices. The capital city of Goa, Panjim, has numerous old Catholic churches and cathedrals, most of which are still operating to serve Goa's numerous practicing Catholics. I have seen many old Catholic churches across Latin America, and those in Goa were among the oldest. One of the churches, the Bom Jesus Basilica, has the remains of St. Francis Xavier, a famous Catholic saint.


Our meetings were held at a lovely seaside resort that was literally right on the shore of the Arabian Sea and allowed several lovely walks on the beach during sunset. The meetings themselves were intense (we were working towards producing a training manual), but gathered people from the executive committee of the program that I work on, so the conversations, work, and cultural experiences were a lot of fun. This was a perfect site for a writing workshop like that.
Our resort

Sunset over Arabian Sea

Several funny things:
1) The resort where we stayed was full of...Russians!!! Apparently, Goa is a very popular destination for Russian tourists with direct charter flights from Moscow. My co-workers were remembering the Russian pilots at our hotel in Uganda (February 2007) and were joking that I have a Russian posse following me everywhere:). I'm very grateful to the Russian tourists at our hotel---because of them, the food was not very spicy and I could enjoy most of the meals. (And once again, the proof of my firm belief: there are Russians in every corner of this planet:)
2) On our sightseeing day in Panjim, our local collaborators wanted to give us a full Goan experience. (Goans are very lively and fun-loving people who like to eat and dance.) In the evening, we took a boat cruise on the Mandovi River---it turned out to be somewhat of a booze cruise, but instead of getting drunk, people were dancing to the Indian pop music like crazy, especially the men, who were having a great time despite not being able to dance with women (India is a very traditional sex-segregated country). It was hilarious to watch!
On the way back to the US through Mumbai and Amsterdam I learned that I can now fall asleep anywhere---I laid my head down on my hands at the Mumbai airport and fell asleep for a good hour while waiting for my 2am flight.