Arambol, Goa

Like the waves, the days roll into one another. I look back & see a vast body of watery time:  almost one month in Arambol (a beach in Goa). Trying to remember individual days is like forcing the waves back into a shape after they’ve emptied themselves on the shore.

Imagine paradise.  Imagine a postcard of a palm~fringed, white~sandy beach.  Imagine fresh papaya juice for breakfast & an endless supply of coconuts.  Imagine listening to the waves as you sleep.  Imagine being so overwhelmed by the existence of so many incredible aspects of your daily life, that you don’t even know which ones to list on your blog!

The entrance into paradise wasn’t without its challenges. First, Antoine missed his plane from France to India.  Then 3 days before he was to take his new flight, he announced that he might stay in France for another 6 weeks.  So, this gave plenty turbulence to my settling in Arambol.  Running parallel to this story, was a joyful reunion with Ashika (one of my best friends for 12 years) & his 2 sea-monkey children.  His wife, Lhamo (also my dear friend) was having problems getting her India visa & was stuck in her homeland of China.

When planning our reunion, we had imagined all of us together & it seemed strange that both of our partners were stuck in their own countries. The days passed, the tides rose and fell & the stories unfolded themselves.  We constantly reminded ourselves to stay in our Centre especially when part of us felt we were drowning in the unknown.

As always, hindsight allows us to see that the Universe was working in our favour & plans things with more love and care than we could ever achieve with our chattering~monkey~minds.  Antoine arrived on the flight that he originally thought he wouldn’t be able to take.  Lhamo arrived yesterday having studied T’ai Chi with a great master in Kunming for 3 weeks.  Ashika got to integrate himself & the children in India before Lhamo arrived & had the precious experience of looking after the sea-monkeys alone. 

So those were some of the stories that spread themselves like foam on the rolling waters & are now disappearing, merging into the very being of the ocean.

***

Before Antoine arrived, i took an apartment downstairs from Ashika and the children. There’s a large kitchen with gas hobs and a fridge (which is a first for me in India!).  Our bedroom window opens into vivid greens of sunlight palm leaves.  The balcony is secluded & enclosed by the same bright, swinging palm leaves.  We are level with the middle of thicker trees, and can see tree-tops disappearing into true, blue skies. It’s like sitting in a jungle hide.

Kitchen

more kitchen

bedroom (boyfriend & pyschadelic wall hanging not included)

view from bed

wall painting included

balcony

more balcony

 We have better amenities here than in the Canadian Yurt. The most notable are: running water!!! (sometimes it’s even HOT running water!),  double bed & a grocery store at the bottom of our apartment (in Canada we had to drive 25 mins to find groceries).

Not only is there a shop, but there’s also a fruit & veg stall.  This is another quintessential part of paradise. Fruit & veg without barcodes!  When you have to check carefully through the pile of misshapen tomatoes, to be sure you choose good ones.  And the price is incredible.  Yesterday for 270rs (under £3/$5/E4), i bought:

2 large, ripe papayas

1 pineapple

1 large mango

1 pomegranate

2 avocados

700g oranges

1 sweet cantaloupe melon

1 large watermelon.

Antoine bought us a blender so we can now make juices at home.  Coming home from a morning swimming in the sunshine, to chunks of watermelon, straight from the fridge ~ bliss.

It’s under a 5 minute walk to the sea.  I don’t know exactly how many minutes it is, because to walk through the coconut grove is so joyful, it’s not really worth counting.

***

My favourite part of the day is the sunset.  The beach is on the West Coast of India, so we watch the blood red sun sink into the water each night.  The colours of the beach are divine.  This, in itself, is spectacular.  However, it’s more about the people who gather on the beach at this time. It would be easy to say “hippies” and wave the hand, but if you look a little closer, you’ll see that most people here are actually incredibly talented.  The flamenco guitarist & dancers, fire performers, acro~yoga partners, hula~hoopers, the drum circle of currently around 15 djembes, one~handed hand~standers, didgeridoo performers, t’ai chi practitioners, people dressed in funky & chic clothes they’ve designed themselves to be sold at the weekly market here. People sit and play music together, some sing.  Some dance.  Some walk by.  Some sit in smaller circles talking with friends. There are families & people of all ages.  The sense of community, that everyone is a friend, is beautiful & inspiring.  A magical current running between us, uniting us like the waves as we flow together on the golden sunset sands of Arambol.

ALSO....incase you missed it on facebook, here's a video Antoine made:
https://vimeo.com/lovethrualens/goawatch

Antoine wants me to tell you how big his muscles are after all the swimming & body surfing he's doing!