Well, here we are all still alive – to the best of my knowledge at the very least… It’s times like this in life that I wish I wasn’t such an epic worrier. It’s almost like I need a practice of some sort – one with both mental and physical applications – to help discipline the mind and still the incessant mental chatter… 😉

As for now, I’ve moved on to Palolem, another white sandy beach about twenty minutes up the coast. I have to say, it was a bit of a wrench to leave the blissful Bamboo Yoga Retreat after such an idyllic last few days, but thankfully it’s “only” on to another beach at this point and not like having to return to the “real world” just yet. That said, Panaji (the Goan capital) may end up being a bit of a shock to the system when the time comes – not to mention the inevitable return to work after all this too!

Still, I genuinely had a great time at the Bamboo, and would absolutely do something like this again in future. In fact, I’m rapidly coming to the conclusion that yoga retreats are to women of a certain age what youth hostels are to backpackers: i.e. a great way to meet people on the move, do something vaguely cultural / edifying by day, and then collectively converge on the bar to get a bit squiffy together by night… I even had one of the older ladies hug me last night and tell me that I’m a beautiful soul. I mean, she was four sheets to the wind at the time, but still, I’ll take it! 😉

As for Palolem, this is definitely much more how I expected a “typical” Goan beach to be, i.e. raised bamboo huts on stilts; lots of little dhabas offering curries and cocktails; and locals hawking everything from bracelets to boat trips on the beach (fortunately only minimal pressure to buy though):

After having a bit of an explore, I ended up popping into the quirky Mill café for a spot of lunch and a perusal of the local notice board. Yoga classes? Check. Art workshops? Check. Rebirthing ceremonies and past-life regression sessions? Naturally – this is Goa, after all, home of the stereotypical free-spirited, eco-conscious, yoga-pant-wearing, New Age type Western travellers, who flock here in search of spiritual nirvana… or maybe just a good Instagram post. My lunch – a turmeric and ginger lime soda and a chickpea and feta paratha wrap with pomegranate and vegan mayo – wasn’t exactly authentically Indian here. But it was, however, very much authentic “hipster wanker”…. 😉

Needless to say, I won’t be signing up to revisit any past lives any time soon. Still, if you can’t beat them, join them, I suppose… Personally speaking, I’ll happily stay on the whole wellness / ‘spirituality’ bandwagon here over the next few days, in the form of a few deep breathing exercises, the odd turmeric latte, and a good pressure point massage or two – achieving zero actual enlightenment along the way, of course… 😉

Anyway, on that note, that’s it for today – until next time!