Sunday Summary #25

Life and Lockdown in Goa

Namaste ,

Welcome to An Urban Journey’s 25th Sunday Summary. This edition of the Sunday Summary was written in our new two bedroom apartment we rented in Goa, India. We have been making ourselves at home here and enjoying our own space.

Last Week.

Our first two weeks in Goa we have been relaxing. We’ve had quite a few movie nights and taste tested many new Indian recipes in our kitchen. Jennifer has been making an amazing dal (lentil) recipe and I have experimented with making chapati and naan. It has been nice settling into an AirBnB which allows us freedom. Now we can cook meals whenever we wish, order food in from any of the delivery services, and even take our motor scooter, Lambo, for a ride! 

The coronavirus is still rampaging through India, however, the government seems to be taking it seriously. Goa had a surge in cases and instituted a night curfew and a 3 day lockdown last weekend. Just yesterday there were 6 new COVID deaths, a huge percentage increase over the past few weeks. We were glad the lockdown was short lived although we still see many neighborhoods roped off as covid containment zones. 

Goa has been a delight so far! We’ve been driving our scooter around the forests, rice fields, beaches, and forts. Goa is so green, it is almost as if we are in a different country. Goa was initially colonized by the Portuguese and we see many old churches and remnants of the Portuguese architecture scattered throughout the state. The buildings remind us of the small Portuguese town in Uruguay that we stayed for a couple nights, Colonia del Sacramento. 

Here are some highlights from the past two weeks:

• We had some sunny days! It is the monsoon season, so after 10 days of rain we had 4 full days of sunshine and took advantage of it the best way we could. We even saw some epic sunsets!

• When we visited Panji, the state capital here in Goa, we happened upon a coffee shop open and it filled our souls. It was our first coffee shop in 6 months, since Melbourne, Australia. We only spent but an hour, but the hot coffee and the light music was all we needed after having instant coffee for the past 6 months.

• We made friends with several of the stray dogs in the neighborhood.

Vlogs.

Here are all the vlogs we’ve released since our last Sunday Summary:

• Americans Exploring Indian Trains | Agra to Jaipur AC First Class Train

• Exploring Jaipur Forts before LOCKDOWN | Nahargarh Fort, Jaigarh Fort, Amer Fort

• Exploring the Pink City and traveling to Jodhpur during COVID | AC 2nd Class Train

• How we got LOCKDOWN in INDIA | Our Coronavirus Story

• Living in INDIA during LOCKDOWN // Our DAILY ROUTINE

• Our Unexpected Morning FOOD TOUR with our Neighborhood Walking Club // Jodhpur, India

If you haven’t already, we would love for you to subscribe to our channel or share our videos with your friends and family to spread the love.

This Week.

For the next two weeks that we have our AirBnB, we are trying to make the most of days without rain and responsibly explore Goa. We are trying to arrange tours with any businesses still open. 

We are currently doing a lot of planning for the next phase of our journey and are really excited. There’s nothing concrete we can share yet, but stay tuned!

Gratitudes.

We continue to be grateful for these opportunities that we have been presented with and are excited for the adventures that lie ahead. Sending you peace and well being from our space in the world to yours. Thank you for following our journey!

Namaste,Jenn + Elliot