Damaged Beach
One of the things I did on my first day was to have a look at the damage to the beach at Sinquerim end of the beach near the Taj. I had read some reports but wanted to see it for myself. I went down about 7.am when the beach was quite, as I made my way over the dunes down to the waters edge near Baywatch shack the magnitude of the damage hit me. I must have stood there for a full 5 minutes trying to remember how wide the beach was 18 months ago. In front of the shack 30 meters of beach must have gone. As I walked along the waters edge towards the Fort it felt like you could stretch your arms out and touch the water with one hand and the bushes at the back of the beach as had become that narrow in places.

I remembered there used to be scores of shacks nestled against the wall by the Taj, now there are two maybe three at most. The water was that close that a couple of shacks had built verandas so customers could sit and eat whilst the sea lapped about underneath them when the tide was high.

The beach near the Taj has been washed away; the footings of the retaining walls have been undermined. Walls with footings 4 foot deep pushed over and scattered about like children's Lego bricks. Further along a 50 foot section of the sand was all gone exposing the red stone that is abundant in Goa, huge holes make it unsafe to walk on for fear of slipping, in the past you could walk all the way down to the fort, now it is like an assault course and not for the fainthearted.. As a stood there taking it all in, it reminded me of the coast line in Malta. I went back later in the day with my video to record what I had seen, I wish I had taken my stills camera as well.

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=2583421569997862512

Ball Gowns and Posh Frocks
Mrs Mad wanted to have a ball gown made for my graduation next year; we also have a wedding to go to this year and wanted something different. We asked Lucia where would be the best place to look for material.

I will come with you she said, 20 minutes later the three of us are on the way to Mapsua in a tourist taxi stopping at a couple of Goan seamstresses on the way, as it was Christmas it was difficult to get the dresses made before our return, Lucia informed us that this would not be a problem she would get a guest to bring it home and we could meet them in England to pick it up. As I stated to object on the grounds that this would be unfair for these people I realised that if Lucia said it "could be done", it would be done.

Having found a seamstress who was capable of the quality of dress Mrs Mad required, we set off for the market to buy material. It was our first time to Mapsua to say the Friday market is busy is an understatement, Lucia ran us around like a couple of Olympic sprinters, in one shop out to another, zigzagging from one side to another, all the time we where accosted to buy shirts shorts Christmas decorations and any thing else they could thrust under our noses. Eventually we found the material shop after a lot of haggling by Lucia we secured a good price, retuned to the seamstress who gave us an even better price and returned back to our accommodation.

As we sat talking later in the day we tried to think where else in the world would your landlady give up her free time and take you shopping.

Breakfasts and Animals
I would wake around 7 every morning to sit on the balcony and watch the animals in the trees, whilst Mrs Mad snored like a lion after a major feast, within 5 minutes of me sitting down Joseph would be there with coffee. On our previous visit to Candolim we had walked past the guest house on our way to the beach and never noticed the abundance of wild life in the land adjacent, As I sat quietly the area would come to life, in a tree in front of me Joseph pointed out green parrots nesting, chipmunks playing in the nearby mango tree, bee eaters sat on the electricity wires the sun glistening on there feathers making them look like green silk. We saw a kingfisher on numerous occasions, wild pheasant, woodpeckers, on one occasion we saw a nightingale, every morning the local pig would come foraging for the fruit peelings from breakfast, I heard the call of the kookaburra but never saw it.

No two breakfasts where ever the same, although we always had fresh fruit salad, even that had different fruit in it every day. There would also be an option of eggs anyway you wanted, or toast buttered, dipped in honey gypsy style, chapattis with mango jam or Bombay potatoes and Puri, one morning Lucia showed me how to make Puri and chapattis, I bought a cooking plate in Mapsua along with some Atta flour to get me started at home.

We spent many hours talking to Joseph and Lucia; they have to be the most hospitable people we have ever met, although they are running a business to support themselves through the close season nothing is ever to much trouble. Already they have bookings for the 2007/8 season from people who return each year; we hope to become one of their regulars in the future.

I hope you have enjoyed my ramblings, ihave enjoyed writing them.

I will be putting some photos on the site, I bought a video this year for the first time so when I work out how to link it to a public site I will post the link fir that that if anyone is interested,

ramble all you like! Another great post! The only negative thing is that you might just have written yourself out of a room at Josephs and Lucias- they will be fully booked after your report
Re the video- you can download onto our photo gallery and I think the beach erosion would be a useful one for people to see as members have asked in several threads just how bad it is.

hi ..goan mad ...thanks again for another great report.
we can not wait until we to return to goa .
i tell everyone i meet that goa is my favourite holiday destination.
many regards..............john-doe.........

Have to agree about Joseph and Lucia I stayed there last year and will be back in Feb this year. Even got a suprise Xmas card from them . Just don't tell everyone about them