Mapusa Bazaar, Goa, India. A final (market) farewell

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We had an “off day” while in Goa.
It was the penultimate day of our trip that Exceptional Escapes had organised
and we had planned to do nothing in order to prepare
 for our long return flight back to South Africa.
But my wife had read about a market that was about a 20 minute ride away
 and was keen to visit it.
A quick Whatsapp message to Mr Aman at the offices in Dehli
and a few minutes later we had a phone call from their local agent
 enquiring what time we would like to be collected.
At the appointed time, a taxi arrived to collect us from the hotel!
How is THAT for service?
Aside from all the wares on sale,
the people in the market that caught my attention.
Being early afternoon, it was siesta time
 and several of the stall holders were
relaxing on the sidewalks outside their shops.

 

If language was not a barrier,
I would like to have chatted to this fellow who wandered past me,
all the while muttering to himself.

 

It seemed to my untrained eye that here both men and women worked.
This lady was cleaning rice.
Very slowly, one handful at a time.
Not quite a spice shop…more like a spice table in the middle of a walkway.
There were spices that we were familiar with.
And many that we had not seen before.
What was of interest to me is that there was not an overpowering
layer of incense smoke.
In fact, during all our tours, it was the lack of burning incense that caught my attention

 

There were many stunning fabrics up for sale.
Fortunately or unfortunately, the weight limit on the internal flight
from Goa back to Mumbai was 15kgs…hence none of these made it into our suitcases.
That does not mean to say that we did not buy anything.
It just means that that we did not buy THIS material.
We discovered this very friendly vendor near the material.
She spoke English and as a result we spent some time with her…
and naturally ended up buying items from her.
 Some small sculptures and several boxes of tea
 did make it into our luggage.

 

Dried fish…much like we have back in South Africa.
I have to say that this part of the market had a rather pungent smell
that would have benefited from a hint of incense
The only beggar that I found during our time at the market.
She was sitting on a busy corner trying to get
 the passing people to part with some change.

 

THIS is how you dress up to go shopping…

 

On our way out, I noticed this woman.
She was sitting so still that I actually thought that she was a statue or cardboard cutout.
After watching her for a few minutes, I realised that she was indeed alive.
Her product seems to be beans of some sort.
Shopping done, now to find our way out of the maze…
This was simpler than we thought it might be,
as the market is easy to navigate.
Now to locate our transport and head back to our hotel.
We had told our driver that we would be about 75 minutes,
and we returned early…hence finding him asleep at the wheel.
But he was instantly awake and kept a running commentary going
 as we returned to the hotel.
Many thanks to the Exceptional Escapes local agent
for organising this at very short notice.

 

Our trip itinerary was superbly handled by this travel company.
Ans specifically by Mr Aman, their Senior Travel Advisor
I would highly recommend that you contact them,
should you be considering a trip to India.
For more information on what they offer,
visit their website:
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