Merry Christmas from Goa!
On the beach… bottom right – the shack we use (Pearl’s) down at Mobor have now finished their Christmas decorations – putting out the pot plants they’ve had hidden out the back until now…
The weather these past few days has been a bit changeable… always warm but some days windier and cloudier than others. That said, I think, after 3-weeks, we are definitely more acclimatised as, even though it’s hot (low 30’s most days…), it feels very pleasant with the almost constant breeze and we often have to turn off the air-con in the apartment as it’s too cold! I know, it’s not the same everywhere in the world (see para below describing the weather in Romania for a start!) and we are lucky!
On Sunday 22nd December it was my Niece, Rominista’s, 7th Birthday and I completely forgot… what a rubbish Aunty I am! Apparently, with Romania having snow at the moment, Romi had her first go on the slopes to celebrate her big day! Happy Belated Birthday Romi ❤️❤️
Of course, we did what we usually do during the day… lazy morning followed by lunch on the beach with a bit of sun / swim to follow!
A Woolly-Necked Stork (top); A Great Egret, Black-Headed Ibis and Woolly-Necked Stork all in one shot – pretty cool!
Yesterday, 23rd December, we were going to go into Margao but couldn’t be bothered so thought we would go shopping locally instead as we only really needed a few snacks and bits for the apartment. We were going to go shopping and then, after that, head to the beach for the afternoon… in the end, we decided time was ticking on a bit and headed for the beach for an hour in the sun and some lunch… we’d go shopping later – talk about indecisive! As it turned out, after lunch it was quite cloudy and windy and, although it was lovely sitting reading on the beach for another hour, around 4-ish we decided we couldn’t put it off any longer and headed for the shops – via the garage so we could fill up the scooter (not sure of opening times over Christmas out here!).
Knowing we will be out over the next three nights (Christmas Eve, Day and Boxing Day), we decided that we’d have a night in last night… it was actually quite nice catching up on a few of the Christmas Specials on the iPlayer!
It’s definitely beginning to feel a lot like Christmas here – not just with the iPlayer but with all the lights and decorations. Wherever we go, there are always people putting more lights up (they are worse than Pete would be if we were at home!) – whether it be along the road through each of the villages, on the houses we pass each day, the churches (we’ve seen a number of “hidden” Nativity displays outside churches… it will be interesting to see them once the big reveal happens (guess that might be Christmas Eve?) – apparently they keep them covered up so that others do not steal their ideas… a bit like the beach shacks – they are a competitive bunch here when it comes to Christmas!
This morning (24th December – Christmas Eve), we decided that we needed to head to Varca (biggest nearest “town”) to get our friend Ida a Christmas gift. We decided to go with a pot plant and headed to a place which we had spotted were selling plants at the side of the road… it turned out to be a little garden centre which was a lovely surprise – see pics below!
Top: A pleasant surprise finding a little garden centre just past Varca!
Bottom Right – the plant and pot we decided on for our friend Ida (together with one of my hand-made crocheted Christmas decs!);
Bottom Left – the Church in Cavelossim ready for Midnight Mass!
Bottom Left – the Lifeguard station at Cavelossim;
Bottom Right – a Common Greenshank
We are off to Ida’s restaurant tonight to celebrate Christmas Eve… she has promised fireworks at midnight (although I think it might just be a few fire-crackers… whatever, am sure it will be pretty noisy!) and also said she is making some special Indian sweets for everyone… we’re not that keen on Indian sweets, except for gulab jarmun or Jalebies, but we’ll have a go to be polite! Who knows, we might just get to try something knew that we love!
I know Christmas isn’t celebrated by all and is not a happy, jolly time for everyone… but whatever you might be doing over the next few days, we wish you all a peaceful and happy time xxx
All the gubbins… 
Leave a comment