Chance of Rain: 0%

I’ve been checking the weather in Goa online this week just to see if it’s as hot as it feels.  Today it’s 94 degrees F, “feels like 98.”  But there is no chance of rain.  Or snow for that matter. Humidity is 89%.  Can that be possible?  We drip with sweat just sitting around reading.

We have gotten off the porch quite a bit lately, as our social calendar is heating up along with the weather.  Next week, for instance, we are attending the birthday party of a one-year-old.  (Raffi, son of neighbors Audrey (Brazil) and Shaun (Oz)).  Actually we’ve had people in for drinks last Saturday, other people to lunch on Tuesday, and our current yoga teachers Sarah and Carrie over for dinner Wednesday night.

Monday we had a fantastic outing, set up by Joanna (aka Jazz) a friend of Ben and Kate’s last year.  Her son Xavi was in the kindergarten with Max.  Jazz runs a travel agency in the area, and specializes in bespoke travel arrangements. In between big jobs, she has other activities locally, like the Lunch Club where she sets people up with a car, driver, guide and other people to have lunch at a fabulous Portugese “stately home.”   Two people had cancelled due to illness, so she offered us the opportunity to fill in.  We jumped at it.

Before we had lunch, we also stopped to see another incredible colonial mansion, the Briganza home.  Two identical wings of a very large house were shared by the descendants of two Indo-Portugese brothers.  The West Wing is still in great shape because that brother’s family took very good care of all the furniture, Chinese porcelain, Japanese trays, English china and silver, books and paintings.  There were cabinets and cabinets of very valuable stuff.  “They never threw out a knickknack,” as Pat said.

The East Wing is falling apart, due to the feckless nature of the other brother’s family. There is a ballroom in both wings but the East Wing’s ceiling is in danger of falling in momentarily, which would mean the loss of several huge Venetian glass chandeliers.  The floor is sinking.  The family still lives there so kids play amidst the family treasures, and Bonnie our guide said that frequently the door on that side of the building was answered by someone with whiskey on the breath.  Actually there are far fewer family treasures in this wing, which leads us to believe a lot may have been sold off.

The guidebook says the family fell out over political differences but the chatelaine of the West Wing, Judith, says absolutely not.  Though one of the descendants was Lenin’s personal secretary and a big proponent of Goan nationalism, and  his photo had a definite Bolshie cast (cloth cap, beard, wild eyes), so it’s quite possible that the other brother’s people preferred merger with India.  Which happened anyway, and at that time the family lost all the land they owned and consequently all the revenue from it.  However, Judith says that the family disagreements are only over the poaching of visitors.   The West Wing takes visitors through their side f the house, and graciously directs them to ring the bell on the other side of the house, to see the East Wing.  This courtesy is not reciprocated, apparently, and the East Wing will just grab visitors coming up the stairs and hijack them.  Families, what can you do?

Then we went to see the Palacio de Deao, a house originally built  in the 16th century by a priest who also developed  the surrounding town using the labor of rehabilitated prisoners.  The gardens are just as they were in the 16th century.  When Old Goa, the former capital, was ravaged by cholera in the nineteenth century, the house served as a refuge for political and religious poobahs.  The house been completely renovated and restored to its former glory by a couple from North Goa,  who went to Lisbon libraries to find plans and pictures of the rooms and furniture. 

Lunch here consisted of food that would have been served over the past few centuries, and was the best meal we’ve had here.  It consisted of about ten dishes that just kept coming out of the kitchen.  Five starters, including a crab St. Jacques, and fresh tomato soup, followed by prawn curry, chicken something, grilled fish, pumpkin savory soufflé, and a few vegetarian dishes that were delicious.

We were travelling with an Indian couple, Veena and Raj, from Vancouver who were visiting their daughter, son-in-law and grandchild who lived in Chaudi.  They were great company and we learned all about their family.  Two days later we ran into them on the beach with their daughter’s family—who turned out to know Kate and Ben from last year because their daughter had also been at kindergarten with Max.  A ridiculously small world!