Leaving Goa after 18 days for Kerala
Tomorrow we leave for Kerala on the train from Margaon, 7:30 p.m., arriving at 5 a.m. in Kozhikode.
We are sad to be leaving Goa as we had developed a relaxing daily routine. On the other hand I am also glad to be leaving the specter of malaria behind; there are lots of rumours among tourists about how serious the problem is, some saying they knew people (tourists) who had got it, and locals trying to cover the extent of the problem up to ensure the continual flood of tourists.
Have to say, we hardly saw any mosquitos though, except when we were in Palolem beach in the south of Goa. Since the incubation period is anywhere from 10 days to 4 weeks in duration, we won't know we're clear until Thailand. During the time we have been here, the boys have only been bitten a couple of times and that was in Palolem, supposedly a lower risk area.
Our days here mostly consisted of having breakfast at Albuquerque, or Chocolattis down the street (excellent cakes and croissants), going to the beach on the motorcycle, hanging out at D'mellos, swimming, reading, home-schooling or playing in the sand until just after lunch. After the boys have a rest at home, we might go to the beach again or they would watch CBeebies before going out to eat at Casa Seashells. The boys would always have fried chicken, Carmen would order noodles or seafood and I the curry (with a specific request for grade 4 out of 10, which is probably about 300 on the scovile scale -- very weak, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale).