Heather's cousin Lisa was in town last week and since Hyderabad has very limited entertainment options, we went to Goa. Lisa brought her boyfriend's sister Marilyn and the four of us had a great time there.
We stayed at a great little place called Sonesta Inn. It was not nearly as posh as the place we stayed last time, but I loved it just the same. Plus it was closer to all the hustle and bustle, so we had no shortage of stuff to do and restaurants to try.
This place wasn't right on the beach, but since the beach there was overrun with Europeans and filthy beach shacks whose proprietors wanted you to pay to use their lounge chairs, we didn't miss it much. It was only a couple of hundred yards walk down a thin forest path from our hotel to the sand so we did go once. While we were there sitting on the tiny unoccupied stretch of sand between the beach shacks and the Arabian Sea a pack of about 20 dogs came barking and howling down the beach. They all seemed to be following one particular female who I can only guess was in heat. Each of the beach shacks had their own dogs that would start howling and barking as the pack passed by, which would in turn set all the dogs in the pack to howling and barking and it was simply cacophonous. I found the whole thing quite amusing, but Marilyn who doesn't like dogs was quite irritated. This made it even better for me. I don't trust people who don't like dogs. Don't get me wrong, if Marilyn had been mauled by a giant mastif or something I would be sympathetic, but her reason for not liking dogs: One time she stepped in poo.
The absurdity of a person condemming an entire species just because that person can't watch where they're walking baffles me. Heather and Lisa both shared in my amusement for the rest of the trip, when no matter where we were, dogs seemed to ignore everyone but Marilyn. But as I would learn over the course of the week, the dog-hating was the least of Marilyn's neuroses.
After a dip in the ocean, we checked out some of the millions of street bazaars and I got myself a hammock(which I already have set up on our balcony and have fallen asleep in daily). I also got the greatest pair of gloves ever made, and had the heat not stolen my wits from me I would have bought a pair for everyone I know. I bought them from a Tibetan man who had a leather shop.
And, once again, my old friend Seafood and I were reunited. I think when I return to the states I'm going to get a houseboat so I can just wake up every morning, reach out my window and paw fish out of the water like a bear.
We returned to Hyderabad Saturday morning and Lisa and Marilyn left for the states at 12:30 that night. Then about a half an hour later, my cell phone rang. It was Lisa. "Our plane doesn't leave until tomorrow night." Apparently they had to get packed and go all the way out to the airport and even argue with an airport employee before they decided to actually look at the date on their tickets.
Needless to say I laughed A LOT.
So 24 hours later we did the goodbyes again, they got on their flight, and we haven't heard from them since.
