Living the Dream

The week began by Cat starting Yoga and continuing our breakfast routine at either Little Ganesha or Karma Cafe, followed by a walk and swim. By the time moving day came around we were so ready. After taking Flora to school, we packed up all our things, put them in a rickshaw, and then Pedro followed on our scooter. We dumped our things, marveling at how happy we were with our new home, and headed straight out to the supermarket (of sorts!), the vegetable shop, the shop that people here refer to as 'Waitrose', that basically sells loads of western food, and the booze shop. Then we did our unpacking and made the apartment homely.
Friday evening came around. We headed to the beach after school and met Jeff and Bex, Sarah and Andrew, and their children Roux, Bay and Lola. We had a few beers and cocktails (proper ones, nothing like the "mixed fruit juice" they call cocktails in

Thailand or the Philippines) at Nada Brahma and dinner at Jaali, which has both great food and a lovely setting. It was really nice to hang out with these new people, who are definitely amongst our favourite here.
On Sunday we joined the Friday night crew at Talpona beach. We took the scenic route to get there, following the river, and past the old site of River House. The beach was really quiet and beautiful, with great little waves to catch. Once the others arrived we had a delicious lunch in a shack and were joined by John, Melissa and their kids Crusoe, Eden and Fable...
As Monday came around again, Flora happily went off to school, enjoying her learning and being with her new friends. Cat continued with her Yoga classes and stopped off on the way home at a little boutique shop and eyed a few things she liked. We both returned later in the day to choose a couple of rugs and some cushion covers. Over the rest of

the week we had Mark, Zoe and their kids Tiggy, Atti and Paris over to swim in the pool and met other new friends like Robin, Jo and their little Arthur, daily on the beach. Pedro started getting back into his Maths and Cat began some online courses. We had dinner at the gorgeous Kala Bahia on Friday evening with Sarah, Andrew and Lola after a play on the beach and a cocktail. We then made our way to the circus, which Lola had been excited about for 2 weeks, to find we had got the wrong day! Cat returned the following evening with Flora. The circus was really well put together and well choreographed and it was a great evening until the end when Cat couldn't find Flora. She ran down to check the car park just in case, and when she came

back and couldn't find her inside the circus she became quite alarmed. Eventually someone said they had seen some girls leaving and going to a house. Cat followed the directions and found Flora in a nearby house. Relief and tears ensued!
We finally managed to make it to the farmers market on the Sunday. The lack of anything originating from a farm made us question the name of it, but other than that it was lovely, with organic food stalls, beautiful home made art, a band playing and a really nice vibe. Flora bumped into Isis, one of her schools friends, so we went to the beach together before heading to a restaurant for a Sunday roast.
Within two weeks of our Goan experience, we just knew we got it right when choosing Patnem to live. In comparison to Palolem, Patnem is prettier and much more chilled. The sand is whiter and fluffier and it just has a great vibe with lots of community activities going on. After being on the road for seven months, our main goal of finding little friends for Flora on a regular basis was a complete success. It also seems like we had found our own crew, as everybody is nice, friendly, interesting and sort of alternative. Playing with Roux, Bay, Lola, Crusoe, Eden, Fable, Antigone, Athena, Paris, Isis, Lexi, Arthur, Samira and Miney has been great for Flora and, funnily enough, made us question if we had been too conservative choosing our munchkin's name. Hilarious!!!
Having settled in to life in India, we were beginning to feel that it's hard to overstate how great it is in Patnem and around. The beautiful beaches, the serene cows wandering everywhere, the community feel to the place, the great restaurants, music nights.....
The morning routine of Pedro taking Flora to school on the scooter while Cat headed to Yoga, followed by walks along the beach, a dip in the ocean, enjoying being in our lovely apartment, and meeting up with new found friends. It would all pass so quickly and in no time at all, it would be time to head back down the winding road to collect Flora again. Pedro started to play football a couple of times a week, and Cat tried out a couple of different yoga styles; Yin - so slow, and Ashtanga - way too fast! As the weekend rolled around, Cat

was invited out with Jo and a few people while Pedro took Flora to hang out with her friends, Tiggy, Atti and Paris, while he had a few beers with their dad, Mark. Cat, not content to call it a night when the others did, headed off to La La Land to catch up with Andrew, Sarah, Jeff and Bex, where some old school UK house DJ's were playing a set. Over the following days we all ventured down to Galgibag beach which was quiet and lovely, and when Flora was at school we rode the scooter down a bumpy road and then walked half an hour through the forest to get to Butterfly Beach. The beach was lovely and it was overall a fun little jaunt. Flora tried out a new ballet class and Cat tried out a boxing class only to realise that the man she was boxing with gave her a lift home after La La Land on Friday night and didn't remember her. Somewhat concerning!