Post date: Sep 23, 2016 8:43:38 PM

Of course, visiting India for the first time is a kind of a shock. Culturally and geographically completely different country from what I have experienced before. So far we probably haven't been exposed to the toughest tests of being in India, as we travel through relatively tourist-friendly area - but even now we can see both the greatness and the poverty of Indian country and its people. People are friendly; but it is no doubt that 99% of all Indians who start talking to us on the street see us as a big fat walking wallet (this is just an assumption after being to southern Goa's coastline, I hope I am wrong, and that other regions on our itinerary will change my mind). Street vendors are trying to persuade you to buy from them on every spot - basically walking a local village street with vendors both from your left and right means you get an invitations like "come to see my shop, I have a discount for you" every 3 meters or so. We haven't had many encounters with beggars yet, although every sight of a 8-year old child coming up to you and showing a gesture of "I am hungry" is not pleasant and is hard to ignore. We are doing our best not succumbing to the tricks as advised in our guidebook, but every now and then some 50 or 100 rupees (1,5 USD) inevitably leave our pockets favoring the needs of those who mastered their tricks best (or, I hope, at the same time as I do not hope, their suffering was genuine and the money was well spent).

One possible reason why street vendors are insisting on their invitations extremely a lot is, beside that it is most likely cultural too, was explained to me by one vendor who sold me a folding pocket knife for 600 rupees (9 USD) - he said the last two seasons were quite bad and people living off tourism are desperate to get customers, and the major reason according to him is that Russian ruble reduced drastically in value since the economic sanctions of the west world were imposed on Russia after its aggression in Ukraine, and that that combined with falling oil prices (Russia is an important oil producing country having a whooping share of 13% of world oil production, highest of all countries as of 2012) hit hardly on Russian middle and upper classes who had Goa as one of their favorite exotic travel spots - the weaker ruble means tighter budget for Russians which often means fewer or no more vacation in exotic countries.

Back to India... People are everywhere; nonetheless, one can find some more or less quite spots along the coast if one just leaves the center of established beach resorts and walks to the edges of a beach. We kinda liked rather more quite Agonda beach, but even in more touristy Palolem beach we found a peaceful corner in the north of it. Some tranquility is indeed needed after being surrounded by thousands of people around you most of whom want something from you.

Nature is stunning. Coconut, cashew and banana trees, perfect beach sands, red-colored earth, majestic rocks and green jungle. And animals, of course: in less than a week we've already seen (in the wild) monkeys, dolphins, sea cucumbers, crabs, eagles, spiders and some strange insects which I have no name for - and of course there are countless domesticated cows, pigs and dogs just running around the dusty roads of every village.

Being a vegan in India seems challenging somewhat, but it is doable and does not have to be a pain in a butt. Vegetarians have it easy - it is heaven for them, as every food place offers something delicious for them. The concept of veganism is not understood though, and we had to explain many times in simple English what we want and what we do not want - for example, saying "no milk/dairy products" was often not enough and had to be accompanied with "no yoghurt and no cheese", too. But when the golden middle is found, the dishes are usually very tasty - and they are cheap. But lately we were minimizing our outdoor eating and just getting plenty of fresh fruits/veggies and samosas from street stalls and eating in our bungalows. So far we haven't experienced any diarrhea, and I hope we are either resistant to local bacteria, or we are taking all necessary precautions, or we just had it without even noticing it much.

This is Romuald writing from India. Namaste.

Originally posted on Facebok on Feb. 4th, 2016