My World of Food and Travel

(Caution: Long post ahead!) My first memory of Goa was as a wide-eyed kid, squealing with delight as the waves took away the sands under my feet, way back in 1989. The wonder of this small coastal state remained with me and I continued to visit it repeatedly in the subsequent years, sometimes with family, a few times with office colleagues and once with my cousin and her friends. And yet, each time I ended up seeing the same things over and over again. So much so that Goa became synonymous only with beaches, shacks, churches, clubs and port wine. Finally, the trip in October 2014, the ninth one in the series, cracked this belief. Goa was a revelation as we explored a side away from the beaches, the non-touristy circuit, a facet so rich and diverse in its ecosystem and culture that it took our breath away.  Come along with me and I will show you what I did this time that was different from the other trips and was so fulfilling. Here’s what I did: 1. Went bird-watchin...

I had first read about Cancio’s House in Shivya’s blog while she was visiting Goa last year and stayed with the Amarals. When I won the Kissan contest, India Untravelled offered me a number of choices, spread through the country. All the locations looked equally inviting and I took some time to arrive at my decision. Finally, I chose Goa and Cancio’s House. It promised me a life beyond the beaches and the art of practicing susegad (Portuguese for contented). I deliberately refrained from reading TripAdvisor reviews about the place, lest it filled my mind with pre-conceived notions. I was determined to enjoy my vacation and my prize, you see. *Grin* We were scheduled to spend 3 nights with our hosts, the Amarals, during the Diwali holidays. Since we wanted our son, my muse for the winning post , to enjoy his first tryst with sand and sea, we booked into a beach resort near Anjuna/Vagator for a night. By the time we reached Roberto Amaral’s house in the late afternoon the next ...