Goa, India

We arrived in the Indian state of Goa at 7 yesterday morning, Friday, April 6, for an 8-hour visit.  Goa is the first region in what is now India to have been colonized by a European power, in this case Portugal.  Portugal ousted a local king in 1510 and did not leave until 1961.  According to our local guide, as soon as Portugal ceded power the Indian central government came in and all of the Portuguese who had been living here fled because of the way they were then treated.  Relations between Portugal and India today are very good.  Indians of Goan Portuguese descent have been granted dual citizenship by Portugal which entitles them to seek work and to live in any member state of the European Union.  As a result, tens of thousands of Goans now live and work in Europe.  Their place of choice turns out to be Swindon, England, about 80 miles west of London.  That said, a large percentage of today's residents of Goa are of Portuguese descent but, of course, consider themselves to be Indian.  For example, our guide in Goa was a man named Antonio de Sousa.

The Portuguese converted many Hindus to Catholicism during their rule of Goa.  Today,  the population of Goa is 1.5 million, 70% of whom are Hindi, 25% Christian (mostly Catholics) and 5% Muslim.  Much of our Goa tour took us past several churches and into three major ones.  Unlike in Chennai and Cochin, we passed only one or two small Hindu temples and visited none.  Likewise, many of the homes we passed displayed crosses and other Christian symbols.  We certainly had the impression that the part of Goa we explored was heavily Christian.

When I pulled the curtain back at 6:15 in the morning, it was still quite dark out and our ship was just approaching our assigned pier in the port of Mormugao.  Visible was a tugboat and what I assumed was another, if smaller, cruise ship although when it got lighter out it was apparent that what I thought was a cruise ship was just a rusting hulk of some sort.  (Any photo can be enlarged by clicking on it.)

  

When we disembarked this was our port welcome.

  

By now we were well trained in the ways of Indian immigration and, so, we just automatically reported to this temporary station to have our papers scanned.

As we drove out of the port, I could see that it was huge and full of large cranes and piles of material such as coal.  Although it looked very rustic and dated, we nevertheless were totally surprised to learn from our guide that it was not a functioning port, having been closed three years ago by order of the Supreme Court of India because of rampant bribery and extortion practiced by various mine operators, bureaucrats and area politicians.  The Court specifically banned the continued export of various ores that were mined in the area and ordered that the culprits make restitution, that the mines be auctioned and that the proceeds be distributed to the people of Goa.  (This account is as reported by our guide; I don't know to what extent it's accurate.)  We do not know how far along that process is, but what is apparent is that there are over 200 barges previously used to transport the mined ores, as well as other watercraft related to port operations, that are just rusting away along the port's shoreline.  All of this has had a substantial negative impact on the economy of the area.

                                           

On our way to our first stop we passed through Vasco da Gama, the largest city in the state of Goa founded some 300 years ago.  Here are typical scenes as we drove through.  There is a major shipyard in town and a number of men were lined up at the gates to begin their work shift.

 

    
      

Housing along the route was varied.  Some was fresh, substantial and nice looking and others not so much.  Some of this housing stock may look like it's uninhabited, but that's not the case.

          
          

Our first stop was the Se Cathedral, the largest church in Asia.  This Catholic church was built in the first quarter of the 17th century.  Beautiful.

                                               

Right across the street is the Basilica of Bom Jesus (meaning good or infant Jesus).  On our walk over to it we encountered this severely leaning Norfolk Island pine tree.  Our guide suggested it was protesting the fact that it had been planted in a hot, humid climate rather than its natural habitat.

Construction of the Basilica began in 1594.  The church, related to the Jesuit Order, was consecrated in 1605.  There was a Mass underway in one of the chapels attended by Catholics from south India.

                        

Our next stop was a "rest stop," which always also seems to mean some kind of shopping venue.

                                                    

We then drove into Panjim, the current capital of Goa.  According to our guide, we were now in the new Goa as opposed to the old Goa where the Se Cathedral and the Basilica of Bom Jesus are located.  Panjim is located on the Mandovi River estuary.  We passed a casino just before we entered downtown, as well as a funky sculpture piece on the roof of a low-slung building.  We also saw several dinner and show boats lining the estuary.  Apparently every evening these are full of patrons and provide Bollywood-style entertainment.  We were dropped off at a corner where another sculpture is located (The Thinker??).  It reminded me of the larger-than-life sculpture on the waterfront in Sarasota called The Kiss.  A new cable bridge is under construction, as shown in one of the photos.

          

I had an amusing experience in Panjim.  I went into a pharmacy to buy some meds.  I transacted that business at one counter, only to be sent with a printed order form to a cashier at a different counter where I paid for these pills but then realized I hadn't been given the pills.  The cashier gave me another copy of the printed order form to take to a third person at a third counter to exchange the slip for the pills that were waiting for me there.  Bureaucracy seems to pervade every activity here.  It's also a way to employ more of India's teeming population than would otherwise be necessary.

Well, that's it for our visit in Goa.  I'll leave you with a shot of one of the tugs, and an Indian coast guard boat in the background, that I saw at sailaway time.  We were a bit late leaving this port as well, but not by much.

After an overnight sail from Goa on the Arabian Sea, we arrived early this morning in Mumbai, our last stop in India.  More about that in my next blog.