29.10.2007Sahakari Spice PlantationWe have been planning to go the spice plantation for a few days now and decided that taking a day off on Sunday would be a good idea to do so. After a while any trip away from the retreat becomes a highlight and I was particularly excited as the guests who have been over the past few years always enjoyed the spice plantation so it could surely be no disappointment.We left the house around 11am, and after an hour drive past Panjim and Ponda, which is always eventful on India's high roads. There are all sorts of vehicles, what we call a tin-box which literally is a box with four wheels, a pinto truck whereby 50 skinny Indians could stand on and travel, obviously the huge and scary trucks with colourful paintings and gods as well as the writing at the back that states "please horn ok", local buses packed full of people who all help the driver along the way by doing hand signals to cars behind, numerous bikes and scooters with passengers varying from one person to a family of five or carrying huge particles like a ladder or a five metre pipe, cows (how could we forget) and people who for some reason love walking on the roads. We stopped to get some coconuts on the side of the road which was very refreshing and good excuse to stretch our legs and get some blood circulation in our bottoms as most Indian cars do not have suspensions, your bottom gets very sore after a while from the bumps as well as your head that keeps hitting the roof of the car every time you go over a stupid triple speed bump.We finally got to the spice plantation, for 300rupees you get a guided tour of the place and a buffet lunch at the end. Welcoming was the funniest thing ever. As we walked in I notice the guard blowing a whistle which soon I discovered was a signal for a bunch of women to start singing and dancing on the side of the entrance, a song that gets more and more irritating the more you hear it. As soon as you get greeted and given a string of flowers and a tika (red ink on your forehead) the dancing women sit down and chatter amongst themselves, until the whistle blows again. We were then taken into a bar area and given a spicy tea with lemon, ginger, cardaman and tonnes of sugar. I took one sip and wanted to spit it back out. You are then given some crackers and cashew nuts as snack accompanied with pieces of loose paper which states the spices available in the plantation and what they are good for. From heart disease to vagina rash they had a cure for all diseases. Why do we waste our time in western world with medicine I really don't understand? A bit of spice mixed with milk and honey is the best remedy. We were then put into a large group with some Indian tourists (who you can always identify by what they wear and the cameras that keep flashing every 2 seconds) and taken around the grounds. Our guide seemed to give a lot of useful information but none of it really stuck in my head. We saw cinnamon tree, turmeric plant, curry leaves, bay leaves (Indian version of it), pepper, banana and many more. Indian ladies were more interested in how you cook things. There was a point where the guide was giving us a leaf to smell and I asked what it was, the Indian lady next to me kindly butted in and began to tell me what you can cook with it. All I really wanted to know was the name of what I was sticking up my nose. I think it is a theme with the Indians; they always want to help a little too much and predict what you may want. For example I was taking a photo of some bananas close by, one of the guides came very close to me to see from my camera screen what I was doing and then said "if you want you stand there (next to bananas) and I take your picture". Now why would I want my picture taken with bananas? I kindly thanked him and declined his offer of course.Anyway, we survived the tour which was around 40min. Adam tried to climb up a coconut tree which was very amusing to watch. I think he did a pretty good job. Oh, we also stroked some elephants in the farm that are used as income from getting guests to ride or have showers from (apparently it spurts out water on your from its truck, oh no thanks!). We had some buffet food which was ok and left swiftly as there was nothing else to do. It wasn't as painful as I thought it was going to be but seemed like a long way to come to spend 1.5hours. I think we'll be recommending that the guests combine it with other things like stopping by in Old Goa or visiting a temple nearby.