It was early morning when we rose to begin our walk to Aswern.
The beach was quiet, yet boats were already returning from their morning of fishing.
As we walked we were asked to help pull their boats back up the beach and willingly we obliged.
Shell collecting slowed our walking pace to a crawl.
Yoga watching slowed it even further as Katie noticed the strange yogic antics of a group of people close to the waters edge. A lot of rhythmic hand waving while jumping on the spot was followed by some serious screaming at the waves. This then changed to a sort of mooing noise, that reverted back to the spot jumping, hand-waving grunt calls! Having walked the beach for a week this was now a familiar sight to me but Katie was fascinated and walked backwards along the beach, watching as their calls faded from our hearing.
We cleared the first point as the girls noticed the 'star' shapes in the sand.
Lisa investigated further
and our walk came to a complete halt as the local sea life was captured, examined, photographed and released!
The sun was now well above the horizon and we had only reached the second point. Shell collecting was abandoned and we quickened our pace to try to reach Aswern within the hour.
We forged rivers and passed sand cliffs of gigantic size!
Lisa scaled them with great effort and we continued on our way.
Sharks lay washed up on the beach,
boats lay abandoned on the shore.
We marched and looked, we explored and paddled,
then we abandoned the whole thing and headed into the sea.
The march back was as brisk as the heat would allow.
We cooled again in the sea before showering and retiring to our balconies.
A Gecko fell from the roof and landed in the bush beside us stunned for a moment by the sudden change of location! While he stared at us staring at him, Lisa took his photograph before he made a full recovery and scampered away across the hot sand.
A spot of construction added yet another mobile to the collection as orange peal was cut and threaded,
bottles were emptied and carved and twirling hanging things created.
The Internet was checked as lunch was consumed and plans for the afternoon evolved. I had the Mobile Construction Class to teach at 2pm, after this we were free again.
The Fresh Water lakes were just around the corner. I had walked there the week before with Erica for a mud bath so it was decided that as soon as the Mobile class was over, we would walk around the North point to the lakes.
Class was great fun with children and adults all threading and knotting away to construct things to hang and twist. I left some of my pre-made creations to decorate the place as the balcony really was getting too full!
After class I delivered one of the larger mobiles to Karen, a wonderful lady that I had met during the past week in one of the huts opposite. She had admired the mobiles as they had appeared each day and as I was leaving soon it was time to start giving things away again! Karen was delighted and said that she would join us on our mission to visit the lakes adding that there was a huge Banyan tree at the end of the same valley she wanted to see.
In convoy we set off to negotiate our way through the shops that had sprung up along the point. En-route we were joined by one of the neutered dogs that roamed the beach and soon he was leading the way, waiting for us each time we stopped!!
The shade from the stalls was delightful, the colours and people charming, our new companion herded us through the narrow pathway and then purposefully strode across the beach, leading us straight to the pathway up the valley.
We passed huge termite mounds with their ingenious heating systems, our canine companion returning to look for us each time we paused for longer than he decided
We stopped by the mud pool and while Lisa took photos and Karen smoked a cigarette,
our canine guide checked out the pathway ahead and disappeared from view.
Katie and I covered ourselves in the yellow goo that is said to rejuvenate the skin and soul!!!??
When I had sat by these pools in 2001 there had been no one here. The yellow mud had been here then ,yet no one came and no one had thought about smearing it onto their bodies! Now it was 'The' thing to be done.
Suitably coated in our sulphate smelling yellow drying goo we continued our journey into the valley. I had never been up this far but Karen had explored the area the year before and sort of remembered the way!
We were eventually rewarded by a tree that was both fascinating and majestic.
Banyan trees have the most amazing root and branch structures. Long roots hang down from the heights searching for the ground and a new anchor point. Branches curl and interconnect until a mass of supported limbs form cave-like structures.
Sand and compacted earth had been spread beneath the main trunk, a fire pit smouldered in the middle while people sat around playing mouth harps, didgery-doos or just chanting. We joined them for a while absorbing the mood and sounds that surrounded us. Our eyes followed the shapes and contours of the tree until we became lost in the tangle.
Ten minutes later we noticed that the mosquitoes were also arriving despite our layers of protection, so it was deemed a good time to leave.
We picked up a new canine companion to guide us back to the beach, this one also came back to check on our locations when we paused and eventually decided that life was better at the rear where he could constantly see us and make sure he knew where we were at all times!
At the beach he left us. We called goodbye as we headed into the cooling waves to wash away our healing yellow goo that was now cracked and tight on our skin! The results were good. Our skin was in fact smooth and soft. I suppose rubbing away with any substance that was a granular as the yellow mud was would ex-foliate the skin to smoothness but it was nice to believe we had restored some of our former youth with our ritualistic rub and march through the Goan Jungle!!
We returned to our own bay.
The sunset was watched,
the jugglers and acrobats that performed on the beach admired, supper was consumed,
journals were written.
We retired to bed that evening with a sense of achievement. Not only had we walked 6k that morning, we had also met the wildlife, taken a mud bath, meditated beneath the branches of the Banyan, discovered the joys of canine guide dogs (that didn't overcharge!!) been shopping AND got up to date with our correspondence. Tomorrow we planned to go to the flee market in Anjuna. Karen had also decided to join us as the thought of Anjuna alone was simply too much for anyone and she had yet to visit this famous market place. With our rendezvous time agreed we all retired to our various huts with satisfied smiles upon our faces!
