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Shopping is a major part of any visit to Goa, because practically every Goan resident seems determined to sell as much as possible to every foreign tourist. In fact just sitting on the in the sun, you will be approached by a regiment of beach vendors trying to sell you everything you can imagine and more. Warning - the first price quoted will be several times the amount the vendor expects to get. |
| And every street you walk along is lined with bars and restaurants, with every available interval filled with street vendors, all trying to help you avoid the burden of having to carry around so much money. |
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| But for the ultimate shopping experience we must leave the tourist beach scene and travel inland to the cities where the Indian people do all their shopping. Beach prices are too high for the locals. |
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From Colva, the principal city of Margao is only about 10 km inland - about two dollars by taxi or a $1.25 by one of the smaller "tuk-tuks" (from the sound made by the motorcycle rickshaw) Or the local bus will get you there almost as fast for ten cents. In any case, get out as soon as you see the "Garden" - a beautifully landscaped park right in the central market area of Margo |
| Only a block from the Garden is the huge "Suq" or indoor market where you will easily become lost among all the strange sights and especially the pungent smells of the spice stalls. You will not see many white faces but the vendors are not prejudiced; they will take anyone's money. Especially yours!!! |
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What would you like to buy? Fruit and vegetables? Baked goods? Something to eat or drink or wear? Hardware or appliances or pots and pans? Silks by the meter in many thousands of colorful designs or (left) rice by the kilo in any of dozens of varieties.
You just think of anything and someone will sell you more than you ever knew you wanted. |
| When you find yourself a bit frazzled by the crowds and noise, the nicest retreat in Margao is the Venice Restaurant, hidden far from the street down a long shady path to a beautiful and restful fruit grove. |
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I order the Tiger Prawns - the biggest shrimp I have ever eaten - fried without breading in garlic butter and served on a bed of fried rice and assorted vegetables. Practically the most expensive item on the menu at about eight dollars. |
| Your every need and desire is cheerfully supplied. Do you think you need salvation?
Try the Salvation Bar
Have you purchased more than you can possibly carry home? Make up a parcel and mail it home. |
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No matter how securely you seal up your treasures, even in perhaps a tape-sealed carton, the Post Office will not accept a parcel until you have taken it to a tailor and had it neatly sewn into a canvas bag, tailored to suit the size and shape of the contents. |
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This is Karen, one of my neighbors - a Norwegian lady who for several weeks has been patronizing the owner of a tiny tailor shack way down a footpath in the village of Benaulim. He has made five or six outfits for her so far, from materials she has bought while browsing the big city textile shops. Together they sketch out a design or she loans him a favorite dress and they discuss all the details in advance. She says everything must be clearly understood or he is liable to use white thread to sew a black dress. |
| Here is the first fitting and they are deciding where to take in an extra inch. His tailoring charge was 200 rupees (about four dollars) for any outfit such as this dress or for a a two-piece ensemble of some sort of top plus either skirt or trousers. |
| Outside a small tailor shop in Calingute are popular ladies slacks which are tailored made-to-measure for $2.50 including your choice of whatever material the tailor happens to have on hand. |
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| While the local dentist was giving my teeth a long-overdue cleaning, I enquired as to the local cost of caps. At only $60 each, I could not resist prettying up my smile by capping my two ugliest teeth, long discolored by their large amalgam fillings.
Which proves we are never too old to feel vain about our appearance. My smile is whiter, but look at all those wrinkles! |
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So I decided that this was exactly the place I needed. A "Gent's Beauty Parlour"
But when I stuck my head in the door, all the workers shouted "TOO LATE! - TOO LATE!" I didn't know that some places have early closing in Goa. |
| Wherever you are shopping, keep an eye on the sun. When it begins to get low in the western sky, head back to the beach, find a table at one of your favorite "beach shacks" and have a "sun-downer" to celebrate the end of another beautiful, cloudless day in paradise
I wonder what the poor people are doing? |
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