Goa Belly and Other Gripes

The past few days in Palolem, although not unenjoyable, have not been quite the Beach-Bum marathon we were planning on. More a Runny-Bum marathon to be honest. Sorry to be so abrupt. Lets start from the beginning.

As our last entry details, we were quite enjoying the Cocktails on offer across Palolem beach. Trouble is, we were also enjoying the Fruit Lassies, Iced Drinks and Salads. Now to be fair to us, we checked at various establishments that they used filtered water for the above items, which they said they did - 'said' being the important word here. I'm sure that some places do wash their lettuce leaves in bottled water and only use filtered for their ice cubes, but someone somewhere has told us a porkies because we have both been suffering for our sins in the form of Goa Belly for several days now. Sun, sea and diarrhea. How romantic. Which brings me to our second Goan glitch - Sunburn.

Now I don't wish to seem ignorant or entirely blameless, but again we need to be fair about this. We purchased three bottles of Sunscreen from a lovely lady (in fact she was so lovely that she let us pay for the items later as we didn't have the full amount in hand) in a little shop just off the Palolem beach. When I say 'little shop' I mean just that, not some dodgy looking shack or a market stand out of the back of some guys van. These shops are everywhere and they look perfectly legit.

Anyway, a few hours sunbathing under an umbrella later and we've both got serious sunburn. The annoying thing is, on second examination of the bottles our instincts told us something was up. But we'd spent our money and felt safe in the knowledge we had bought branded products from a 'lovely lady' in a 'little shop'. But nothing screams 'should have gone with your gut' like glow in the dark skin.

We took the Sunscreen (otherwise referred to as Mayonnaise) to a local Doctor. She confirmed that the products were dodgy and advised us to throw them away immediately. She also told us to only ever buy such things from a Chemist.

We have not yet been to see the 'lovely lady' in her 'little shop' yet, but when we do, we imagine that the conversation will go something like this:
Us: 'You sold us dodgy Sunscreen'
Lovely Lady: *wobbles head in non-definitive manner*

Yes, the Indian head wobble is bringing us plenty of amusement at the moment, a fair bit of confusion too. It apparently doesn't mean 'Yes' not does it mean 'No' but equally it is not a 'Maybe.' We have come across it several times now, and after fruitless attempts to gain clarification from the wobbly headed subject, we now when faced with a wobbly head just resign ourselves to fate.

Another discovery this week: Indian women don't use Tampons (or at least the vast majority don't) and therefore they are practically impossible to get hold of. I wonder if it is not something to do with their religious stance. I say this because when we did finally find some they had a peculiar information sheet about the use of Tampons for un-married women. Perhaps not. It might just be a matter of preference, cultural or otherwise. The lesson is, unless you are happy to wear a pad the size of a gazebo in the blistering heat, stock up when you can. In fact, we now have so many Tampons that should India suddenly become victim to some freak flood, we can build ourselves a raft and sail our way to safety.

But all this silly business aside, and we are perfectly happy (thanks to the 'lovely lady' we're positively glowing). We are enjoying mooching around, taking in the beautiful scenery and indulging in the delicious food.

Its Agonda next, just a little further up the Goan coast. What to expect, who knows?

*Wobbles Head*