varca beach

Finally got the router which is proving marginally more effective than the useless dongle! We also changed our toaster as life is too short to stand holding the knob down while the toast cooks every morning for the next 6 weeks. Great sense of accomplishment - we are so easily pleased !

Riding on the crest of our success we walked down to the beach which is about 5 minutes away, less if you take the short cut through the paddy field which has cows grazing on it at the moment. This blip is the scene that greets you - miles of firm, flat, clean sand and the Indian Ocean lapping your feet.

We just about made it to one of the beach shacks you may spot in the distance. Really grateful for our refreshing lime and soda - 'no salt, no sugar'. We had a leisurely Goan fish curry and biriyani lunch then walked all the way back, stopping briefly in the shade of a couple of fishing boats.

Then it was time to throw ourselves in the pool to cool off. There was a huge contingent of Brits and their kids doing exactly the same thing - well by huge I mean 4 adults and loads of kids, two of them live on the Isle of Man and the other couple come from New Zealand, they are sisters I think. They go home in a couple of days and are winding down by the pool after a hectic touring holiday, there was no sign of the family we met yesterday, off out doing their own thing - maybe revisiting the girls favourite things, elephants and dolphins, before they too go home. There wasn't a single kid here last year and there probably wont be next week, strange how it changes, its going to be interesting finding out just how.