The tide is high, but I'm holding on

The past few days have been a whirlwind of madness.

I've mentioned Dilip and Aggie, who have become very special to us. We've also met quite a few of their friends, Dom (local Casanova turned good) and Julie (Irishwoman semi-retired in Palolem), Matthew (Dom's brother), Sunil (helps oversee the restaurant and has a great poker face), Sinead (works in Bollywood industry in Goa) and many others whose names I can barely recall through my rum-sodden haze. :o)

The restaurant at Cozy Nook was supposed to open, so Aggie threw a huge party - free food and alcohol. Then some of the locals came over to play poker. Lydia doesn't know the rules, and I'm not familar with beach poker rules, so instead Dom adopted us as his "poker chicks." We did well, we won him 1,270Rs! Next poker game we're in, and we're going to take all Dom's money!

The restaurant hasn't opened though. The local government is refusing to allow it to go into business. It's not only Cozy Nook, but also restaurants and hotels up and down the beach. Basically a local law means no permanent structures can be built - and they keep a close eye on any modifications you make to your place of business. We're gutted - really wanted to see it open, but still - we had the party.

What else? Oh yes, there was a full moon the other night. Lydia and I walked down the beach and got some (fantastic!) Indian takeaway - we came back to the hotel, Dilip had lit some candles and put them in a huge circle. We all sat there to drink, eat, talk and laugh. We then dragged our mattresses outside and fell asleep looking at the stars until it started raining and we legged it quick sharp back to our hut!

Last night we went to a wedding near Margao as guests of Dom and Julie. Dom runs a taxi business in Palolem, both himself and his brother Matthew have matching camper vans. They were dressed all in black with rhinestone studded jackets. Julie said they looked like taxi mafia! They consider themselves to be Irish Goans, and their campervans reflect this - with fluffy shamrocks and leprechaun cluttering the dashboards!

The wedding was great - reggae music is big in Goa, Matthew had both Lydia and I up and dancing for a bit, although it didn't last long! It was far too hot. The hall was lit up with fairylights, and when the wedding procession started fireworks were set off in the background. Magical. Dom smuggled some rum and whiskey into the party, so we spent the evening ordering coke and lemonade and surreptitiously slipping our hard liquor into the glasses from underneath the table. Just like being a naughty schoolgirl once again!

Not long now till we come home. We're definitely not postponing our flight again - we'll be on that plane on the 18th. But I'm going to find it really hard to leave. India is not like other places, it is not a country ruled by laws, but rather by the heart. We're coming back for sure. We were talking to Julie last night and she has a friend in the Bollywood industry who will be setting up the Goan office. She is going to have a word with her friend and see if she can arrange something for us. Julie has said that if we decided to come back here to work she would be able to help us out in finding a job and a place to live. It's something that I'm seriously going to think about...

The tide is way up, so I'm going to wade back to my hut.

Caroline xx