Author: Juliet Stratton (Page 12 of 39)

We left the madness of Mumbai behind and headed to the beach resort of Goa, an hour’s flight away, for what was supposed to be a 3-4 week rest, to catch our breath, catch up on sleep, cook ourselves some plain food, and plot the rest of our trip south……. We landed in South Goa, booked into a flat for 3 nights, looked about and finally found an apartment where we could stay for a month, a comfortable bed, cool air conditioning, our own cooking facilities, a pool, bar and restaurant on site and a 10 minute walk to the beach. But we hadn’t taken into account the dreaded Corona Virus…..

Paradise:

We felt we had found Paradise, beautiful yellow sandy beaches, beach side restaurants, tasty fresh food, cheap food, colourful properties, and friendly people. So friendly, helpful, attentive and chatty. Food was amazing, the spices and herbs could be tasted at different levels, everything was “spicy or non-spicy” but both were more than manageable for my delicate stomach! Fresh meat, vegetables, fruit and salads at every corner, and side to side sun and blue skies, warm seas and clean sand.

Lockdown:

In India, each “region or county” has it’s own “panchayat” the equivalent to a local government, which can basically be run by one person who can do more or less what the Government dictates but with very flexible blurred lines. So the Goan Minister decided to hold a one day trial lockdown, on Sunday 22nd March 2020, from 8am to 8pm, with EVERYTHING to close, borders with other areas to be closed, all travel banned, all shops, vegetable and meat stores, shopping centres, pharmacies, tobacco stalls, restaurants and bars to shut……but at 6pm the Minister went on Indian TV and announced that the lockdown will be continued for 3 weeks!!! Even fishermen were stopped from going to sea and those already at sea were told to stay there!

There was uproar after 5 days!!! How could the Minister expect his loyal subjects to fight off this unseen virus without their daily food? He was told he was killing off his flock, as the majority of people shopped and cooked daily. Plus, no-one in India so far actually had the virus, so the majority of locals didn’t believe it existed, however, they are suspicious or supersticious, so they adhered to the rules.

Luckily the resort we had booked into had it’s own small shop stocking basic essentials, beer, vodka, ice cream, tourist trinkets etc. We also made friends with neighbours, who knew several friendly locals and were able to obtain vegetables so we shared them out, cooking larger meals and sharing the vegetable casseroles or curries. For almost a fortnight we had no chicken and almost a month with no beef, we were struggling……we are not vegetarians!

However, we found a restaurant that was allowed to remain open “to feed foreigners”. Lots of people go to Goa, book into accommodation that is room only and eat out every day, its so cheap. A 3 course meal for 2 is less than £10. So Domnick’s bar was allowed to serve food (and discreetly serve beer) to Brits, Germans, Russians and Dutch that were stranded in Goa, Domnick became our saviour!!! Twice a week we would venture down to his place for our dose of tandoori chicken, butter chicken or fresh grilled fish to break the monotony of chicken casserole. We became addicted to curry and it’s spices.

Supplies were limited for a long time so we had to be clever, chicken was cooked 12 different ways in the end, minced, sliced, boiled, fried, battered and breaded, the highlight being a home made BBQ, with chicken skewers, cooked on our balcony when it was still 30c at night! We only had 2 electric rings, no oven or grill so very limited.

Monsoon and Glowing Frogs:

We were able to swap a hired scooter for a hired car and we ventured out on several days, to explore some of this beautiful Portuguese colony. As days turned into weeks and then into months, the Monsoon hit, and what an experience. We have never seen so much rain, not even in Wales! It was torrential, but bizzarely, it was still 30c outside, so if you ventured out you came back wet, caused by either sweat or rain. Some days it was dry, sometimes it rained for 5 days solidly but we still went out. The surroundings changed. Roads became narrow as the shrubs and trees sprouted and took over the pathways. Beaches became dumping grounds for debris washed down from the streets and washed up by the rough tides. Potholes appeared in roads, the size of small ponds. Fields disappeared underwater and became huge lakes. Buffalo and cows were seen rolling about in huge puddles in fields, covering themselves in glorious mud. Different birds could be heard in the jungle behind our apartment and one day we were visited by a troup of monkeys. BUT the highlight was the frogs, at night there was a true chorus of frogs from dusk to midnight, and if you went to find them in the grass or fields, you could see them glowing, but get too near, and they all stopped! The glow was under their chin, caused when they sung, attracting their mates.

Repatriation:

After a few weeks, the Goan Minister sent some of his team to every Hotel, accommodation resort or guest house to count the foreigners that were in the country. Other countries were immediately talking to holiday makers stranded in Goa and arranging repatriation flights, free of charge, and suddenly the Dutch, French and Russians disappeared and only the Brits were left. The British Government said there were approximately 3500 people in North and South Goa, so they sent planes with seats costing £450 each for 900!!! First priority was given to those over 80 and with medical needs. Next batch of flights a fortnight later, priority was given to those over 70 and the rest (about 1000) were left to their own devices or told to wait until “flights open up again”. Some people paid silly money to get flights with other carriers, one neighbour flew with Lufthansa to Germany, then France, then UK, another person we knew took several flights over several days to return to Canada.

But, we figured that as the borders were still closed to surrounding areas, we were safe. No cases were found in Goa for a long time, the state was given a “Green” status until the end of July, when a dozen cases were identified from people coming up from the neighbouring state of Kerala as borders had re-opened. It was “normal” to put a face mask on as soon as you walked out the door, have your temperature taken as you went into a shop or restaurant and hand gel was given to you, queueing became a normal sight in the village and people spaced out, no pushing and shoving any more. Local police enforced the “distance” rules, shouting at locals who bunched together, stopping and fining people with more than 2 riders on a scooter or in a car. Hygiene improved as tables and chairs were disinfected regularly! It was well known that the virus cannot survive in sugh high temperatures, but wherever cases were found and increased, whole neighbourhoods were sealed off, people were locked into their accommodation, fed by safety protected volunteers, and attended to by doctors daily. We felt safe.

As time went on, we became bored with the rain and thunderstorms, missed the sun (Monsoon is a cloudy season), our clothes (which we supposed to last 3 months) were disintigrating after 8 months, we had outstayed our 180 days visa and needed, and wanted to get back to the UK. British Airways finally contacted us to say they were being allowed to oeprate a limited number of flights from New Delhi, so we checked in, and checked out! We arrived back in the UK at the end of August.