I only took three pictures in Goa.
To be honest, I was disappointed by Goa. I first heard about Goa when I was deployed to Afghanistan. I had the India bug back then, too, and I was 24 and determined to go to Mumbai over my “R & R” (two weeks of vacation mid-way through a soldier’s deployment). My dad (for safety reasons) did everything to dissuade me from going, to include sending me a link to a Times article detailing life in the Indian slums. Finally, after sensing that my India dream was too big to be squashed easily, he talked to a co-worker from India, who recommended that, if I must go to India, I should at least visit Goa instead of Mumbai.
Goa was described as a laid-back, idyllic beach town with a Mediterranean flair. This interested me, and gave me pause. It was a place, the co-worker assured my dad, where a 24-year-old girl would be safe.
What transpired next was that we had a death in our family. And this death made me see things differently. Life is precious and fragile. What if something were to happen to me on the second half of my deployment? Or to a member of my family? Instead of going to India, I flew back to the United States over my R & R.
Long story short, Goa popped into my head again a few months ago when I watched Matt Damon’s Bourne Identity. Jason Bourne and his girlfriend are shown riding scooters along the Indian Ocean in Goa, under a canopy of palm trees, past colorful shops.
I guess I kind of built Goa up in my head and placed it on a pedestal.
Goa is beautiful. And I don’t want to dissuade anyone from going there. It’s just very touristy. I was hounded on the beach by vendors. I could barely even read my book or sunbathe without being approached by locals wanting to sell me something. I finally had to tell one of them, “Look, Buddy, if I want to buy something I’ll come to YOU” (and then make a sour expression, cross my arms and avert my eyes for a good 60 seconds before he finally got the hint and walked away).
Another downer: the ocean water in Goa is filled with trash. It was pretty awesome swimming in a sea full of plastic garbage bags and used syringes and…(j/k, Dad, on the syringes, I mean).
To be honest, Goa made me sad. It made me see how much tourists ruin a place. I thought about Varkala (see Varkala, India post) and how Varkala will probably be Goa in another 20 years. And how many of the most beautiful places on earth are following the same path as Goa. (However, I heard that south Goa still retains some of it’s original charm; I was staying in north Goa, closer to the airport.)
My last night in Goa was my last night in India. There was a Bollywood movie on TV and it made me realize how much I’m going to miss this country.
