We were planning on going to Goa. However, it just didn't make sense leaving this place we love so much, just to spend three days traveling to get somewhere that is really quite similar. So we canceled our train tickets south and in Diu we will remain. Having a great room makes all the difference when traveling and we now have probably the best room we've ever had in India. It is also the most expensive, but for $10 a night who can complain. The guest house is owned be a guy named Francisco(Yo calls him San Francisco). Every few days Francisco and his family cook up a huge meal: fish, calamari, shrimp, for the guests staying at his place(see photo in gallery). Yesterday of the 18 people in attendance we had people from 12 different countries digging into the family style meal. It felt like the United Nations.
In the nearly 3 weeks we've been here we've done just about everything there is to do. We've been to the fort, the seashell museum, the fishing village, the Alcatraz-like former prison on an island in the bay, all the beaches, the bird sanctuary, the caves, the waterfall. We even went to the tiny airport two days ago just to see the one and only flight arrive and then depart again. The only thing we haven't done is paid a visit to the infamous Footloose Disco. For some reason this seems really scary.
I've finished three books since we arrived and it makes me nervous to be down to my last two. One of them is Primo Levi's Survival in Auschwitz, not exactly a beach read. Yo arrived with only one book left. Instead of savoring it like I would have, she inhaled it in a single 36 hour session. She was hoping to trade with other Japanese travelers, but we haven't seen any in weeks. So she is now bookless and has started to try to learn to read and write Hindi.
Every morning after breakfast I walk into town to pick up an Indian English language newspaper. I remember the advice my father gave me right after college when I worked for a mutual fund company. He said read the newspaper cover to cover everyday and you will have something to talk about with everyone you meet. Still following this advice I've learned the names of all of India's big movie stars, the most popular cricket players(though I still struggle with the rules), all the prominent politicians, the names of all the states, and all kinds of pop culture trivia. It makes it easier and so much more enjoyable to chit chat with with all the locals we interact with everyday.
We fly out of Mumbai(Bombay)in less than three weeks, but it's going to be tough to pull ourselves away from Diu. Our favorite ice cream shop here, Ram Vijay, has begun soliciting Yo's opinion on the development of new flavors. She is now working on mint chocolate cookie crunch. She says its always been her dream to work in the ice cream industry. I'm worried that I may be returning home alone.
-Shawn