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Dec 23:
This morning we toured fort kochi with a tuk tuk driver who was very knowledgeable about the area. The coolest spot we visited was a laundromat that employs families who used to be 'untouchable' in India. Kerala has gotten rid of the caste system and these people are now integrated back into society. The entire city sends their laundry to this place. Many families own small stations within this laundromat and thy beat the clothes on rock to get things clean. We even saw a man using a 20lb iron that was actually made of iron and was filled with hot coals for heat. We never realized that the word 'iron' is quite literal. The clothes are then dried in a field in the sun. Our driver obviously had to take us to a tourist trap shop. The salesman there was unreal. For every reason I had to not buy something, he had 8 reasons why I should. He offered us tea which is a great way to make someone feel compelled to get at least something in order to reciprocate. (This guy obviously didn't know that I'm a psych major, and sales is all psychology and head games). We defended ourselves against his tactics and left without purchasing anything. After our tour we ferried across and made our way to the train station. We were delighted to find out that we were given a private 2-bunk room on the 1st class cabin. It was unreal. Our area was quite roomy and we really enjoyed the ride. We both slept quite early and woke up at around 1am to be ready to get off at our stop. There was no way of telling which stop was ours so we paid a train man to tell us when to get off. We got off at 2am and decided to wait at the station until 4am and then catch a train for a 25minute ride to Canacona. From there we got a tuk tuk to take us to Palolem beach and after walking for about 30 minutes in the dark we found our accommodation! We were able to check in early and we were greeted by a cockroach in our bathroom when we entered our beach hut. Our hut looked rather bleak at first glance. The walls are rickety and everything is made of thin plywood. The pipe that drains the toilet enters the bathroom through a hole in the wall that is twice the size of said pipe. This allowed me to scare Aaron one night when I threw a piece of wood through the hole and it hit his foot as he was peeing. This gave us both a good laugh after he was so worried and puzzled as to where the wood came from until he heard me giggling outside. In the light of day our place made us giggle rather than cringe. We woke up and were literally steps from the beach. The beach is lined with beach huts and restaurants and is about 3km long. Palm trees stand right behind the restaurants. Beach cows lay in shady spots and beach dogs like to dig little holes and sleep in them, usually next to people's beach umbrellas. Our bare-bones accommodation has been a fun adventure here and we've gone to bed and woken up to the sounds of crashing waves. We've also woken up to the sound of someone outside horking phlegm every morning. This gives us a giggle every morning and serves as somewhat of an alarm clock.
Dec 24:
On our first day here we tanned, lounged, ate, and relaxed. Mid-day came and I had to play nurse as Dan, Adam, and Danielle came back from a scooter trip where Adam and Danielle fell and got quite scraped up. With how dirty the ground is here I was worried about them getting an infection so I put my first aid kit to good use. They scabbed up nicely and are both doing better now. At night we went bar-hopping down the beach to take their minds off the crash. The sunset was incredible.
Dec 25:
We all enjoyed a western style Christmas breakfast at our favourite place called Banyon Tree. Our day was full of sun and relaxation as we met up with Kevin and anj and their Calgary crew. Our Vancouver crew enjoyed a buffet Goan Christmas dinner on the beach with unlimited Fenny cocktails. (Fenny is a Goan liquor).
Dec 26:
Today we did much of the same. Eat, tan, drink beer, enjoy the beach. We are both very glad that we got to see a lot of India before having this beach portion of our trip. This area of India is very un-Indian, except for the very nice people.
Dec 27:
We're currently laying in bed. We'll have some breakfast and then taxi to North Goa where we have 4 days of music festivals ahead!
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