The partying starts early on the last day of Holi in Mathura. From our terrace, I see people playing Holi (throwing colours) with great abandon. Not even the holy cows are immune to the paint throwing. However I’m not sure if they are being targeted or caught in the crossfire.

We had been warned that it gets a bit rowdy, especially as the day goes on and more bhang lassis are consumed. It is mostly young men on the street however there are a few women and tourists. Everyone is covered in colours.

We put on our coloured clothes from yesterday and head out. I’m a bit nervous, so we take the back street to check out the large water stepwell nearby called Potra Kund. A little girl sprays us with colour and we call out Happy Holi as we walk by.

Getting a bit more daring, we walk down a busier street. I’m glad I put on my safety goggles because so many colours and sprays are showered upon us…all in good fun. My goggles are caked with colour…actually everything is. People come up and wipe colour on your cheeks, forehead and neck. 

We run into some tourists from Canada and the USA.. They say that they wish they had thought of goggles. They are having a good time but I notice none of them have protected their hair. Like the lady the night before, they will will be sporting green, blue, pink, yellow and every other shade of hair for the next number of weeks.

We head to the street in front of our apartment. A mother holding her toddler comes towards me and shows her little girl how to wipe colours on my cheeks  so cute. Then of course there is the picture taking.

In another area there is lots of exuberant dancing to loud music. Mostly young men and some tourists are dancing. One older lady, possibly in her seventies (but hard to tell since she is covered in colour) is really getting into the dancing. John and I join in the dancing for awhile.

We leave the dancing and a bit further down the street I am swarmed by picture takers. Mostly teenage boys. John is videotaping. The crowd is increasing and I’m starting to get uncomfortable. John continues videotaping.  Then someone pinches my butt and then I get a boob squeeze. That’s it, I’m out of there. John stops the video and follows me. I’m done for the day.

 

 

It takes forever to get the colours out. I do some laundry and hang it to dry on our clothes line in a small caged monkey proof patio off the back.

John and I decide to sit out on the terrace and watch the action below. We have to bring chairs from the apartment because there is no furniture on the terrace. We munch our chips and people watch.

 

A troop of inquisitive red butt monkeys show up above us, spot our bags of chips and start moving closer. After John’s monkey assault yesterday, we decide to move back into the apartment.

We spend the rest of the day relaxing and packing for tomorrow’s flight to Goa.

 

 

Next morning Bhola shows up as scheduled at 6:00am to take us to the taxi service which will take us to the airport in New Delhi. Bhola is covered in paint. He explains the there will be more colour throwing in the morning and the women hit the men with sticks in the afternoon. See, I knew there was some stick hitting involved. Very convenient that John booked us out of here on a mid-day flight.

Throughout this part of the trip, our taxi transfers from New Delhi to Mathura, day tour from Mathura to Agra and Taj Mahal and from Mathura to the airport in New Delhi were done by Radha Madhav Travels, which is a transfer service that can be reached at +91 70607 05986 . He can be called on Whatsapp. He is just starting his company with three cars and was dependable and fairly priced.

The Indira Ghandi airport in New Delhi is modern and spacious. John read that in 2019 it was rated the best large airport in the world and we can see why. It is so peaceful compared to the streets of Delhi and Mathura. We left Mathura so early for our 12:40pm flight because it’s a 2.5 hour drive with good traffic. 

Our Air Asia flight to Goa leaves a few minutes early and when we arrive at Dabolim Airport it is 30 degrees Celsius and sunny. Goa is actually a state, not a town and the capital is Panaji. Beaches on the Arabian Sea run the length of the state and it can take several hours to travel from the northern to southern beaches. Our pre-arranged driver is waiting to take us the 1.5 hour drive to our accommodations in the south. The first thing I notice is the quiet. No one is blaring their horns…and people are driving in their lanes…most of the time. 

I am delighted to see a few holy cows by the side of the road. I don’t know if our driver is as delighted since one rambles onto the road out of nowhere and he has to hit the brakes, just missing it by a hair. Unconcerned, the cow moves on. There are huge fines in India if you hit a cow.

Goa is much more tropical than anywhere else we’ve been in India; lush vegetation, an abundance of coconut palms and never ending sandy beaches.

 

 

The driver takes us to our accomodations, Palm Forest Palolem on Palolem Beach near the town of Canacona. Four staff members are waiting for us at the end of a path by the road. They take our luggage and walk us down a long sandy pathway bordered by trees and small homes. We pass a pack of pigs rooting in the ground. There are even some baby piglets.

We arrive in an enclave of palm trees that will be our home for the next week. The small resort has ten bungalows. We are immediately seated in an outdoor roofed lounge/restaurant area that is also the reception. We are given coconuts with metal straws to drink from while they check us in and the luggage is brought to our bungalow.

Our bungalow has a front porch with two chairs and a table. Inside is a nice, well sized bedroom with king size bed, night stands,  bar style table, air conditioner, mosquito repelling machine, water cooler, safe and shelves. The bathroom is really cute, with a decorative metal sink bowl. They have environmental artisan soap, shampoo bar and hair conditioner bar. A door from our bathroom leads to our private outdoor shower with a table and candle lantern. The whole bungalow including bathroom and outdoor shower has gorgeous vases of orchids. Needless to say, I am delighted.

Our resort is a one minute walk down a sandy path to the beach. We deliberately chose not to be directly on the beach because we heard it could get loud due to partying and after five weeks in India, we just want some peace and quiet.

We take a walk on the beach and watch the sunset. The beach is a huge crescent thickly lined with coconut palms and small, independently owned accomodations, restaurants, yoga studios and massage spas; nothing taller than two stories.

Our day ends with a candle lit supper on the beach. I am soooo ready for this week.