Week 9 – back to class, Weekend – Carnival, and Week 10 – more class
So, I’ve fallen behind on these, so this post is extra long.
First, a few thing I forgot to say about break week:
The hotel we stayed at in Baga was nice, for India. We had 3 people to a room. Each had a big bed and a mattress on the floor, a tv, and a balcony. I lived with Eleanor and Zach. We got along well.
The whole time we have been here, they have had a band together. They call themselves the Charismatic Megafauna. They have a facebook page. You should look them up and like them. It started out as kind of a joke I think, but they have gotten really good, and they are very nice to listen too. I’m working to figure out some violin parts to their songs, but it’s going really slowly.
The hotel also had a pool. It was nice to be able to swim in the fresh water after being in the ocean.
One night we went swimming at sunset. It was gorgeous, just laying there in the water. After a while we got out and threw a frisbee for a while. It was one of the best parts of the week.
Second - pictures! There are now 9 weeks worth of pictures up on facebook. Hopefully you can see them all. There are some really nice ones.
Anyway, Sunday night we took a cab out of Baga to get to the train station, and then took the train down to Karwar, just south of Goa, in a different state. We started off strong, with 6am class on Monday morning. We were all really dragging, but that’s when low tide was. We went to a beach, and were going to hike out around the rocky point and look at what was there. What we forgot to take into account was that the beach is the local bathroom, and that sunrise is prime pooping time. The rocks were filled with people squatting. We didn’t get to close. Instead, we walked around on the road, and went in the back way through the woods. It was a nice walk, but we were tired and not dressed for it. The beach on the other side was very nice. It was rocky, with some sandy areas that had black sand.
That afternoon we had a short lecture at Karnatak University, and then went out to look at the different weather stations they get readings from. They get readings and then use them along with satellite data to predict where shoals of fish will be and put the results on a monitor at the fishing boat landing for the fisherman to see. One of the stations was at the end of the dock, where all the by-catch (little stuff that comes up in the nets that fishermen can’t sell) was sitting out drying. It gets dried in the sun and then sold to make ‘fish meal’. There were fields of it sitting out. It smelled horrendous.
The next day, we got up early again and went on a fishing boat. Our last trip out on a similar boat was miserable. It was cold, and the waves were giant and everyone got seasick. In anticipation of another one, most people took an Indian version of Dramamine. They were all passed out for the entire day. It must have been extra-drowsy. I took my chances with the boat trip and didn’t take any. The boat ride ended up being absolutely gorgeous. The waves weren’t bad at all. We saw the sunrise over the water. We also saw a bunch of dolphins. I tried to get pictures, but I don’t think any of them came out very well.
Eventually we found a school of fish and the fishermen put their net into the water. It was a gigantic net. One guy in a rowboat held one end of it and the big boat traveled around in a big circle. Once the 2 ends met, they pulled a drawstring, closing the bottom of the net, trapping everything in. Then the process of pulling it in began. It took about an hour. About 10 guys were working at it. They chanted as they pulled, the same thing over and over. It was really cool to watch. I have a video of a few seconds of it. At home with fast internet maybe I’ll be able to post it.
That afternoon we went out and looked at some mangroves. We had a lecture on how mangroves plants are grown when people are trying to regenerate forests.
That night, we left Karwar and went up to central Goa just outside of Panjim to the National Institute for Oceanography (NIO). It was a very nice place. It is a government funded research facility, and lots of scientists work there. It wasn’t really a school, but we had a series of lectures from a bunch of different professors. We had a lot of lectures – 4 a day, and they were pretty long. It was nice though, because it was the first stuff we’ve done that really relates to my major. It was more oceanography than marine biology.
Outside of classes, it was a really fun place to be. We walked down to Dona Paula, where there is a nice pier to walk on with some little shops and a few restaurants. Other nights were more exciting. Panjim was a short bus ride away, and we went there several times.
The public bus was an adventure. It was only 5 rupees to ride to the market. People are packed onto the buses though. The seats “fit” 2 people each. 2 people my size are fairly cozy. They also have people stand in the aisles. The sign at the front says 11 fit, but 25 is probably more realistic in terms of how many people there usually are. Somehow, even with the crowd, the fare collector always makes his way through to collect the money.
The first place we went was the market. It is 2 stories. The ground floor was all produce. It smelled really good. Up the stairs there were a bunch of little shops that sold clothing and bangles and toys and lots of other things. We looked around for quite a while.
Goa used to be ruled by the Portuguese, and the influence still shows. We went to some restaurants with Portuguese food, and some of the buildings show the influence too. The main thing that we experienced was the celebration of Carnival. Carnival is a big celebration before lent starts. It is kind of like Mardi Gras but there is no flashing for beads and it starts earlier and lasts all week. In Goa, the celebration happens in one city each day and travels around.
The Panjim parade was on Saturday. We went in around 3:30 and things were already started. People were lining the streets watching the parade. There were all sorts of elaborate floats. There was a dragon, several gorillas, and a giant praying mantis. There were also a lot of dancers. Many of them looked like they might be high school groups who were not terribly excited. There were also a lot of cross dressers, some who were wearing scary, Halloween style masks. We couldn’t see that much because the lines on the sides were 5 people deep, but it was still really cool.
We saw a bunch of people walking around covered in paint. We didn’t know why or where they were coming from. We hoped we wouldn’t get hit. When we walked down a ways, we found the paint. There were a bunch of people throwing around brightly colored chalk powder. The first time we walked through, we tried not to get hit. Some of us did anyway. After that we walked through several more times and got completely covered. We had a blast.
At 6:45 we had to meet for dinner a couple blocks away. only half of us had gone in together, and the rest had avoided the paint. We were fairly surprised they let us in the restaurant. The next day we went to the beach. We had all showered, but some paint didn’t come off until we had soaked for quite a while.
Monday was a holiday, so we had it off. We spent the day walking around Panjim. Nicole and Lindsey and I found a nice park by the water that had some shade and a fairly empty playground. We went on the swings, and there was a really nice climbing tree. Even I could get up it.
Tuesday we flew back to the east coast. Now we are back in feral for almost the whole time we have left here. Later this month, we go south for a few days, but otherwise we stay here. There are only a couple more weeks of the science classes. For the last 3 weeks, we do an art class. I am also taking a class on culture, class and gender which started this week. It will be a lot of writing, but it will be very interesting.
Not too much had happened this week. We have had some down time. I started my field work for my research project, and I’m working on my funding proposal for my senior thesis.
We started playing volleyball again. We were playing everyday for a while, but then we started traveling so we hadn’t played in quite a while. It is a lot of fun. We have gotten noticeably better since we started. We go out and play after classes, when it is cool enough to be out in the sun for a while.
Tomorrow I think we are going into Pondy to do some shopping and otherwise having a slow day off. We have class in the morning, but it should only be an hour or so. It’s good to have things a little slower for a while.
