Goa/If

3.5.2024 Goa

Today I was out and about with Debbie again. We had booked the "Goa Street Food Tour", which was supposed to start at 11 a.m. at the "Our Lady of Immaculate Conception Church" in the Moira district.

Since this church was about 50 kilometers away, we set off early. The taxi drivers wanted to rip us off as usual, but we made a deal with an older tuktuk driver. With a shaved head, hairy ears and a swastika on his vehicle, he seemed trustworthy (ironic!).

We drove for almost an hour and a half and got to know a little about Goa. Lots of greenery, but mostly run-down and dilapidated houses. Garbage was piled up on the sides of the road, the noise level was high, and the traffic was heavy. Not a place I wanted to stay for long.

We reached our destination an hour before the agreed time. While Debbie rested in the shade, I set out to explore the area. But there wasn't much to explore. I bought some cold drinks in a tiny shop and returned to Debbie.

I expected the tour guide to arrive at 10:50 a.m., but he didn't. At 11:10 a.m. I tried to contact the organizer by phone, but only got a message and the call forwarding didn't work.

When I wanted to write an email, I saw that the organizer had contacted me. Where were we? The tour guide would be waiting for us at the agreed meeting point.

After some back and forth, it became clear that we had waited at the wrong church. Since we had to be back at the ship by 3 p.m., we couldn't just drive to the "right" church, even though our tuktuk was ready.

I cancelled the tour and asked for a refund of the amount I paid. The organizer had since corrected the address of the meeting point and thus admitted his mistake, but I have not yet received a response to my last email. We'll see if anything else comes.

So we set off on the way back with instructions to stop at a restaurant serving authentic Goan cuisine. The driver chose a restaurant that seemed relatively clean and where we had a good, spicy meal.

Debbie held up really well. She didn't complain about the long and uncomfortable ride or the tour that went wrong. She paid her full share of the costs and said that our adventure was still better than staying on board alone. I like that attitude.

We arrived back in good time and were treated to live music in the afternoon by our valued string trio and in the evening by our onboard orchestra and four of the five singers. Unfortunately, the singer Patricia was missing.