Goa trip (Sept 2014)

When we went to India this time, we wanted to travel a bit. I had always wanted to go to Goa and it being Anand’s birth place, it only seemed right that we go there together with the family.
Unfortunately, I was told it’s not possible to visit Naval base where Anand was born.

After our Chennai visit, we left for Goa from Bangalore. My parents joined us there. We rented a guest house (Gabrielle), walking distance from Calangute beach. The guest house was awful. From the get go, we started off on a wrong note there but whatever. That didn’t stop us from having fun.

After a quick change of clothes, we all went out to see the area. We had lunch in a small hotel nearby, traditional Goan dishes. Megha had a blast playing around there. There was a little aquarium there and she really did have fun.

Food in Goa: One of my favorite parts of this little vacation was the food in Goa. It’s simply awesome. All the restaurants we had been to were serving Thalis consisting of traditional Goan dishes (mainly seafood and chicken). The dry fish fry is made with rava; this was the first time I ever tasted a fish fry with rava coating.
The curries include Xacuti. It came in Chicken, mutton fish (all kinds) and prawns. Another popular seafood dish was crabs which we all enjoyed. We had a little trouble finding something Megha really liked. She stuck to dal tadka with rice throughout the trip.
For dessert, we bought Bibinca, recommended by my brother Dimpu; we even bought some boxes of Bibinca to Canada to give to colleagues! Overall, for food, I am giving 4 out of 5 to Goa!

Things we did:
Of course we hit the beach whenever we could. The beach was just 2 minutes away from the guest house. We changed our guest house 2 days before leaving to another guest house. We should have done this a very long time on day 1. We absolutely loved this new place. It was friendly, clean and more importantly it had hot water 24 hours a day without us putting up a fight every day for it.
St. Xavier’s Church:
The day after we landed in Goa, we went to St. Xavier’s church. The church was beautiful! It was ancient and everything around it seemed wonderful.

Inside was the body of St. Xavier. You can read more about him Here.

We played for a bit outside and Megha really enjoyed playing with the stacked leaves. Here is us posing in front of the church.

Opposite to the church was the Museum. We could not make it to the Museum but it sure did look inviting from the outside. Perhaps next time.

Fort Aguda:
Following the Church (or was is before the church?), we went to the Fort Aguda. It’s a 17th century Portuguese fort constructed to guard against the Dutch and the Maratha’s. Back in those days, it had a fresh water spring and often, ships would stop by to replenish water. The light house does…what it’s supposed to do.

This fort overlooks Arabian sea.

Megha became a mini-celebrity there with her active walks and talks. A few wanted to take pictures with her :)

The fort itself was big and we had fun walking around its border.

Following the fort, we went to Baga beach. Some pictures from there.

The next day, we kind of relaxed at the guest house itself to recoup from the all day trip. We would wake up late in the morning, have breakfast and go to the beach. We built sand castles and we played to our hearts content.

We also collected a few sea shells. My mom also collected a lot of sea shells with which we made a beautiful art after coming home in Canada (pic later).

Santa Cruz: One of the evenings we were relaxing, we went to the dancing cruise. It was amazing to say the least. Megha was the star of the evening and she was dancing like there is no tomorrow. She looked absolutely amazing. At some points, she refused to come down from the dance floor.
When I "forced" Anand; he danced for all of 3 seconds.

Dona Paula:
Following day we went to Dona Paula. It’s probably better if I refer to an article about Dona Paula instead of me attempting to write something on my own. Here:

Here is a picture taken from there.

It had incredible views from up top. It was way too hot though; we couldnt really spend a lot of time here.

Sahakari Spice Farm: This was one of the best spots in Goa. The spice farm was a secluded part a little away from Panjim city. The farm itself is small but it was so rich with information.

Here is the entrance to the bridge. It was starting to rain by then but it still was beautiful. I was told that in the peak monsoon season, the river would be filled with water. More on spice farm here:
After yum lunch, we went out for a little tour around the farm where we were explained the kind of spices and their uses. It sure was a beautiful farm.
Megha enjoyed looking at the nature around her while having her lunch.

 We also had so much fun looking and playing with the elephants there.

What I noticed about Goa is that, a secluded spot filled with nature would just be a stone-throw away, no matter which part of Panjim you are in. It’s a lot more than any other city can boast of.
We can observe the nature without disturbing it, yet, being one with it. Luckily for us, Anand had the foresight to book the guest house a little away from the city. So, it was not really crowded with too many tourists at any given point

Arvelam Falls: There is so much more to write about Goa. We also went to a temple close to water falls by name Arvelam Falls.

 It was so beautiful.

It was surrounded by lush green small canyons. As the water flows, it isnt too deep. Here is megha right in the middle of the falls! The girl really knows no fear of water! Which is just great :)

Here she is, lost in the moment....something about water and the temples by water. If only we had more time, we could have spent the whole day here. My mom also shared a wonderful story about my grand-ma when she was sick and how they had spent a few weeks by river side to get her better.

Arvelam Caves:
The Arvalem caves, also known as 'Pandavas Caves,' are ancient rock cut caves dating back to the 5th-6th century. These are excavated into the laterite hill and consist of two major chambers. The cave complex draws tourists and archeologists alike.

I absolutely loved Goa and would like to go back again. Goa really is a wonderful state. 

India Trip with Megha- Sept 2014

It’s been a couple of days since we returned from India and we are still adjusting to the time-zone. We had a great trip, especially Megha. She was thoroughly pampered by her grandparents and why not? After all, it’s her right to be pampered by her grand parents.

The onward flight journey went great with Megha sleeping through the flight from Toronto to Frankfurt. In all honesty, I don’t remember how we spent the hours in Frankfurt; I however remember a long-haul in Bombay. Megha was behaving excellent but the poor thing was so tired. When we boarded the final flight (last leg of the journey) to Hyderabad, she was crying. Over-all, an excellent journey. Anand thoughtfully bought kid-sized headphones and they helped a lot during the journey. We also packed all her medication (which we had to use during our last week).

My parents were thrilled to see her and she was enjoying herself so much.

After we reached home, we slept for a few hours. The next day was the house warming ceremony for Megha’s apartment (a very generous gift by my parents). We three (Megha, Anand and I) had no trouble getting up early in the morning as we were still in Toronto’s time zone.
Here she is all dressed up for the Puja.

Here she is unraveling the name board.

Here is a picture from my parents Shashtipoorti:

Megha and her brother Jayeesh (my nephew) bonded almost immediately. She sweetly calls him Jayees-anna and they watched many a videos and played many games together. Here is another clip of Megha with my parents.

She got one gift a day from them and as soon as my parents realized they had more gifts/toys for her than the number of days left in our stay, she started receiving more than one present a day! Oh the joys of being pampered :)

The next few days went in a blur. We went shopping, got the registration for the apartment done, ate, ate and ate more.

We also got Megha’s Aksharabhyasam (introduction to studies) in a nearby temple on Thursday 11th Sept, 2014. Here she is.

During the puja, she was made to write (scribble) on the slate. The temple was beautiful and was surrounded by lush green fields.
We took lots and lots of pictures and here are some:

Then over the weekend we visited Chennai. Though very short, we did meet everyone we had originally planned to meet. A’s cousin Charan and megha had a wonderful time looking at the cows, calf’s, piglets, birds and fishes nearby. She also got beautiful outfit as a gift. Paati also made dosa with chicken kurma.

Also, she was on a scooter (for the first time) with Sampath Tatha. Later I came to know that it was him who had taught Anand how to ride a scooter
Continuing the tradition I see!

It was so nice to meet Avva (A’s grandmother). She was delighted to meet Megha and we were equally delighted to see her too.

They seemed to have formed a language of their own and she seemed at peace there. For the first time in few days, she ate her supper well (ven-pongal made by Durga Paati).

While it was really nice to see everyone in Chennai, we missed meeting Binoj and Hema (Anand’s cousins).

And then we went to Goa. Goa deserves a new thread altogether! So, I will post that and the fun we had post our Goa trip in another post.

Montego Bay- Jamaica! (March 2014)

Winter this year has been never ending. We had too many cold days and too much snow. Add to that, busy schedules. We decided its time to take a small vacation. We zeroed it down to Montego Bay in Jamaica.

This time Megha brought her Mickey along with her. Here she is awaiting to board the plane.

As soon as we reached MB, we were greeted by lots of sunshine and people letting us know that its OK to drink on the bus taking us to the resort :) It was such a pleasant change from the weather we had been having at home.

As soon as we reached the resort, we headed out to the beach! Lunch was closed by then but we started our vacation with small snack of Jamaican chicken, fries and chili...of course Anand was having his beer and I, Margarita!

Here we are at the beach...the moment Megha had been eagerly waiting for weeks!

In the days leading to the vacation, Anand taught her that we are going to the beach. Before going to Cancun, I taught her that we are going to Chichen Itza...

Me: Where are we going Megha?
Megha: Chichen Itza!
Anand taught her to substitute Chichen Itza with Beach.

After playing in the beach for a while, we showered, changed and came back to the main entertainment area by the pool. We had fresh coconut water after a looong time! Loved it.

Megha ate a small banana. She hadn't really eaten well all day and it made me happy to see her eat at least a small banana.

Mark my words, Megha is going to be famous! In whatever field she chooses her career in. She danced her way around the music, clapping her hands and shaking her...well, shaking her hands, head feet and even hair :) There was a dance competition among 5 ladies (over 18 years of age) and the winner would receive a 20 minute massage. The ladies were dancing so well but Megha takes the cake....when ever the music starts, she would start dancing. At one point, everybody stopped and watched Megha dance and she was on top of the world...I am telling you, she is going to be famous!
Here she is :)

Here is us, as the sun set.

We sat down by the shore and Megha loved throwing small pebbles and sea shells in the water. She would have spent good 30 minutes throwing stones. Of course she said hi to everyone passing by.

The next day, we chose another spot in the beach. We made sand castles and we played away the morning until nap time at 11:30 AM.

Sand castles:

After nap, we went to the kids pool. We played for quite some time there and by 5, we were all tired. Megha of course didnt want to step away from the pool and it took a little persuading to get the moving along. I guess we didnt take any pictures by the pool. 

 Here is us, having a snack and dancing away to the music.
Here is one favorite picture of mine.

That evening (and even that morning), we went to the swings and the childrens play area. Here she is saying, "sun, hiding behind the clouds"...it was a cloudy evening.
We had a BBQ night. With the music on, there was no stopping Megha again :)

The next morning was beach time again! Before that, here is my sweetheart in the lobby.

That day we also went into the Caribbean sea on this...boat. It was so much fun! We should have done this on day one itself, then on day 2 and then again on day 3!

That evening we went to a fancy restaurant. I had famous Jamaican Akee with salt fish, Jamaican chicken with beans rice and oxtail gravy and it was the same with Anand and Megha too :) Here is me!

Here is Megha watching Dora while eating (yes, kids meals are quite big there). I couldnt get a single good picture of Anand as he wouldnt stop a second for me to take a picture.

The next day we left :( Of course we did spend some time at the beach too before we left.

The food was awesome. There was a lot North American food and less of Jamaican. We absolutely loved the fish there; I didnt get enough Jamaican Chicken. We learned new food recipes with simple ground veggies called Ground Provisions. For desserts, custard was awesome :)

We picked up Appletons Rum, Jerk sauce, Jamaican doll for Megha, Blue Mountain coffee powder and Tortuga Rum cake.

All we did was sleep, eat, play, sleep, eat, play and more sleep, more eat and more play! Couldnt have asked for a better vacation!

On the way back, Megha slept through the night. Loved Jamaica.

Montego Bay!!

Here we come...cant wait! 

Cancun, Mexico (Oct-2013)

As is with almost all of our vacations, the trip to Cancun, Mexico was planned well in advance. I couldn't have been happier with the choice of holiday destination as we were just about to head into winter here in Canada. Here we are waiting for the flight; Megha and Dad having a great time at the airport, running around.

On 19th Oct 13 AM we left for Cancun. The moment we landed in Cancun, I knew i knew its gonna be an awesome holiday!

Here is Megha posing in front of Coco-Bongo ad...it's a party pub/place or what ever you want to call it. She had woken up at 4:30 in the morning and had slept only for 30 mins in the plane. So, she is not exactly in as high spirits as I was :)

Here is my very first piñacaloda and Anands very first Corona at the airport when we were waiting for cab! I felt silly to be wearing a sweater! No one else was!

We had booked a condo as it's easier to cook Megha's food that way. By the we reached the condo, we had our from Florida (Appu and Ramana) already there. I was so happy to see them!

The condo was cozy, comfortable and it had everything a condo should have, including a small kitchenette. Since we had packed some of the things like pressure cooker, it's supposed to make our life easier...alas, if only we had packed the weight for the cooker! Lol but still, it was very helpful.

The condo looks out to a lagoon. Here is a picture.

In an hour, we went out to Walmart to buy a few things like water, bread, butter, eggs etc. Once we returned to the condo, we had a quick lunch followed by a nap.

The evening came and thus began our vacation. We headed out to the beach.

 We headed out to the sea. Had so much fun! Appu and Ramana watched Megha for a bit while Anand and I swam into the ocean. Ah the joys of swimming in the ocean!! Loved it!

After a quick shower, we went downtown. My first choice of restaurant was Coco-Bongo but wasn’t 100% sure if it was appropriate to take Megha there. So we went to M-extreme! We had authentic Mexican food. The tortilla shells were so much different than the Old-Elpaso which we find in Walmart! And even the chips tasted different. We took a few pictures and headed back to the hotel.

22^nd Oct: The morning after reaching Cancun, we decided to visit Chichen Itza. We had multiple stops at different hotels and we stopped over at Mayan village. We bought Megha’s birthday written according to the Mayan way and here it is:

We also had lunch here. It was turning out to be a hot and long day. We bought couple of bottles of Tequila.

Finally we reached Chichen Itza, a large pre-Columbian city built by Maya people. Chichen Itza means “at the mouth of the well of the Itza (ethnic linage group”.  Between AD 900 and 1050 Chichen Itza expanded to become a powerful regional capital controlling north and central Yucatán. It established Isla Cerritos as a trading port.

According to Maya chronicles (e.g., the Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel), Hunac Ceel, ruler of Mayapan, conquered Chichen Itza in the 13th century.

Now to the most interesting part: At the ruined temple city of Chichén Itzá, the creators of the El Castillo pyramid devised a quirk that would shine on for centuries longer than Mayan civilization. Such is the pyramid’s architectural precision that during the vernal equinox – when night and day are of almost equal length all over the world – the morning and afternoon sun produces a light-and-shadow illusion of a serpent ascending or descending the side of El Castillo’s staircase.

The feathered snake at the bottom helps the farmers decide on harvest (Don’t ask me how).

Mayan civilization was barbaric, as were all the civilizations around that time. Below is a pok-ta-pok court. 

This Mesoamerican ball game was considered a sport  but mainly a ritual associated to worship,  and it was played for over 3000 years by the pre-Columbian civilizations of Mesoamerica . It is not certainly known how this Maya ball game was played but according to the most widespread version of it, the goal of the game was to pass the ball through one of the rings without touching it, the players needed to strike the ball with their hips. They used a solid rubber ball about 20 inches in diameter and weighed up to 4 kg (9 lbs) or more. It was extremely difficult to get the ball through a ring. In fact, when a player could achieve it, it was then the end of the game. The game ended otherwise when the ball touched the ground.

As is the ritual, the winner of the game is sacrificed to God, as only the best is given to God.

Below is the sacred Cenote located in Chichen Itza. According to post-Conquest sources (Maya and Spanish), pre-Columbian Maya sacrificed

objects and human beings into the cenote as a form of worship to the Maya rain god Chaac. Cenotes are formed by dissolution of rock and the resulting subsurface void, which may or may not be linked to an active cave system, and the subsequent structural collapse of the rock ceiling above the void.

And meanwhile somewhere, we lost Appu and Ramana but then where could they possibly go? We looked around to find them taking pictures! Not to mention, I ended up buying a plain cotton dress worth $50; Megha's dress was $35. If Appu were beside me, she would have steered me away as the dress appeared to be no more than $5. But never mind, some souvenir from Chichen Itza! below are the dresses! awww...arent they cute? A sleeveless dress in Canada...it would be interesting to see when I would get a chance to wear this again! for Megha? Forget it, she already outgrew it! lol...Appu, if you have a girl, you know you are getting this Megha's dress right?  

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped by another Cenote.

Here is Megha playing in the wa-wa at Cenotes.

 It was super cool! Close by was a Tequila brewery and it was interesting to see how Tequila is made.

The day came to an end and we finally reached the hotel.

23^rd Oct: The day after Chichen Itza, Anand and I decided that we will take it easy and relax at the hotel itself. Ramana and Appu had gone to X-caret. We woke up at last as Megha woke up…around 8 AM. Had a hearty breakfast of bread with scrambled egg and headed out to the pool. Oh, Megha had so much fun. 

The toddler pool was just the right size with just the right depth. It was already past 11 AM and of course Anand was having Corona and I, white wine. After playing for a while, Megha was dressed in a makeshift toga using a beach towel.

We returned to the room and we all took a loooong nap. Towards the evening, we headed out to walmart to buy a few other things. We also went to a Mexican restaurant. The portions were mui-grande! We packed some food for Appu and Ramana too but looks like they had a long tiring day at xacaret.

They left the next morning :( 
We shifted to their room...loved it. Here is the view from the room :)

The next day was Xel-Ha, pronounced as shell-ha. It is an aquatic theme park located on the coast of Caribbean Coast. It is mainly an underwater natural aquarium where you are allowed to snorkel!

Here is Megha posing infront of the park. We chose this park over xcaret because this is relatively a smaller park with certain of our interests in our minds.

We took all-inclusive package so that we can eat and drink everything we want. The park had lots and lots of small trails connecting various attractions like lagoons, scuba dives, snorkels, swimming with dolphins (which we didn’t do) and looking at the manatees.

It was so peaceful and so beautiful. Megha had so much fun talking to these pretty birds!

Here we had super breakfast; Meg also had her scrambled egg while watching Dora.

Then we went for snorkeling. Xel-Ha is known for its beautiful underwater natural aquarium. I must rush to add, Anand ended up buying a $57 swim trunks because the one he brought from the hotel was too loose..lol That upset him really bad. But i told him, he is neither the first one nor the last one to spend $57 on swim trunks! Oh ya, we also bought a phone cover to take pictures under water.,,,how much? $50! have we really used it? Ya...once.

We all wore life vests and here is my sweetheart wearing a baby-life vest!

I went to snorkel first while Anand was with Megha. This was the first time ever I was snorkeling and this was also my very first time in water with a life vest. I must say, swimming with a life vest is not really that comfortable and add to that the paddles (?) and the snorkel. But I must say, it was the most amazing experiences ever! The moment my head went under water, all outside noises drowned. It was magical…it was more than magical. Once you get the hang of it, you can easily be underwater/float and my oh my; beautiful fishes I encountered. 

The first time a big fish came too close to my eyes, I freaked out and immediately put my head above water. But the shock soon was replaced by a curiosity and I went under water again. The lagoons were really clear and I was able to see the bottom of the lagoon. The fishes were so pretty, I saw pinks and blues and even sting ray fish! A baby one at that!
Here are the kinds of fishes you can find in Xel-Ha!

Here is me by the floating bridge (in the water) where we encountered really beautiful fish.

After coming ashore, Anand took his turn to step into water while Megha and I played by the shores, watching lovely colored fish. She wanted to get into water swimming like we normally do in the pool. I tried but the life vest was so weird…I don’t know how to explain this. I felt like I was sinking (yes yes…I can swim very well) and couldn't manage Megha with her life vest on.

Nevertheless, we still had a great time playing by the shores. After that we fed Megha her lunch we brought from the condo (she didn’t eat much and I didn’t push it) and she fell asleep right away giving Anand and me some much needed yummy-lunch-time-in-peace…She is such a sweetheart. I also tasted some really good ceviche and some Mexican coffee.

After lunch we headed out to the floating bridge where we were advised that lots and lots of beautiful fishes swim around. Anand and I took turns swimming across. They were not exaggerating. It really was one of its kind natural aquariums.

Here is Anand snorkeling!

After this, we went for a walk around the park. We encountered iguanas, turtles, mayan under-water caves and many more fun stuff! What a beautiful day we had!

As it was time to go, Anand and Megha trying to relax by the hammocks.

24^th Oct: Happy 6^th Anniversary! Woke up very late, had a big breakfast and we headed out for shopping. We shopped at La Isla on Kulkulken Blvd. After that Megha had a wonderful time playing in the water fountains.

Here is Anand having equally great time with Megha at the fountains.

After that we had lunch at Baby Lobster…I had baby lobster and Anand had some tacos. Did I tell you all, they charge as much as 20% tip?

The food was really good, surely anniversary-worthy.

Then we returned home, napped, hanged out by the pool and beach and slept again. Beautiful day.

25^th Oct: On this day we went to a small island by the name of Isla Mojares. Its 13 km into Caribbean Sea. We took the Ferry out to the Island. The weather was not really good. We rented a golf cart like the rest of the tourists and went around the city. We stopped for lunch too. The rain really picked up towards late afternoon and it was getting cold. While the views were really beautiful, we couldn’t really enjoy the island to its full glory.

We stopped near a turtle farm where they save/breed the turtles. Megha loved this place. By then it was pouring…Megha vomited on our way back.

After 6 beautiful days of fun and relaxation, it was almost time to return home. Once we reached the condo, we packed everything, all set to head home. I was missing home so much and I was ready to call it a vacation.
My favorite picture in the entire trip!

A close second...

A close third!

Thanks Appu and Ramana for joining us for a couple of days…Anand and Megha for all the love, companionship and everything else.