"Goa...Goa...Gone"

Bye-bye Goa...it's been real

So this is it.  The BIG departure.  One year ago today we landed on these Goan shores and set up shop in a funny Miami-vice-like pink and blue tiled home across the road from the beach.

We looked forward to a year of living creatively, spending loads of time with the monsters, and indulging in our one fantasy - namely, what would it feel like to come here to our beloved holiday destination and just never leave.

Well we found out.  It was amazing.  (And also, sometimes, not so amazing...but more on that later.)

As is typical, with just mere hours before we depart these shores for the 'frightland' which is London Heathrow, we are berating ourselves about things we wish we had done (more of):

*road trips (sans kiddies that is)
*swimming everyday in the Arabian Sea (I think I averaged only about a pathetic two swims a week)
*becoming a yoga goddess (or rather, ending up with a mega-taut yoga body)
*learning tabla (the husband bought a 'teach-yourself-tabla' book yesterday - does that count?)
*gone to at least one 'Silent Disco' on the beach (not our fault - couldn't secure a babysitter to save our lives)
*learned Hindi (I know how to say 'too expensive', 'have you seen my son?!' and that's about it)

And things we thoroughly enjoyed:

*dining out under the stars virtually every night, feasting on inexpensive delicious food
*living next door to the kindergarten (talk about ridiculously short school run)
*meeting some strange and wonderful people whom we never would have met otherwise
*the view from our amazing porch (a perfect dress rehearsal for old age...we clocked a lot of hours there)
*fitting in/joining our local beach community and the weird and wonderful characters we met
*our gorgeous Enfield motorcycle (we've stored it there - couldn't bring ourselves to sell it)
*morning runs through the local villages past wild water buffalo and amused villagers

And then of course there are the things we will NOT miss:

*mosquitos.  full stop. (see also: cockroaches, ant infestations, etc.)
*a fan that went from barely moving to hurricane level whirring with no option for anything in between
*no air-conditioning in HOT April and May...
*sand....everywhere...especially sheets - URGH!
*our disgusting, impossible-to-get-clean bathroom
*dog fights on the beach (or worse, frothing dogs chasing you down the beach)
*random food poisoning/24 hour flu
*the lack of any decent wine(!)
*breaking our 'we've never had nits' cherry (which is, for the record, ancient history!)

I could go on (and likely shall, in a nostalgic, annoying fashion as the weeks go by) but for now I feel like it's time to leave - however loathe I am to depart my own little parcel of Paradise.  The big bad world awaits and that in itself is an adventure I feel (almost?) ready to meet head on.

As I stand here, sifting through all our clothes, toys, books, and random accoutrements, I don't know what to do.  Take everything?  Take nothing (but the clothes on our back and some radom Balinese tupperware I bizarrely can't find myself able to part with)?

The husband isn't being much of a help with the packing.  He claims he'll make up for it by lugging all eight checked bags and four carry-ons up our our dirt driveway and through the bowels of Mumbai's airport.  We'll see.

(Stay tuned for our 'next chapter' wherein we drop in on London for two nights - expressly for the purpose of seeing Auntie Mo and halving our luggage - before embarking on a three month tour taking in Florida, Panama and Toronto...friends and family beware...we are a-comin'...footloose and nit-free we're headed to shores near you...)

Oh how I'll miss this...(sigh)

This...not so much