TRAVELING FRIENDS

These are the Woods. They serve in Visak and are from Independence Missouri....but retired to Florida. He served as a Secret Service Agent and has also served as a Stake President. We've grown to love them as we enjoyed our missions together. They have 2 children. His son is now an agent. They go home in December.

Elder & Sister Nielson are from Paradise Utah. He photographs everything and she keeps us laughing. I love when she tells me how to pronounce someones Indian name. That's something I'll have to show you...I can't tell you on paper!!! They also serve in Visak and their go home date is in March. We look forward to future visits after the mission.

Elder Palla served with us in 4th branch. He is now a district leader in Goa and his companion is Elder Shaumberg. Elder Palla is from Visak and the Wood's met him before he left on his mission. We had a little reunion get together at the Mariott and ate dinner. It was so good to spend time with him again.

Here we are! Fine Dining in Goa....Not really. The food was OK. There are better places to eat in Hyderabad.

BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL GOA

Even the plane ride from Hyderabad to Goa was very interesting. The clouds fascinated me...
If you want to see more go to face book. I will put more pictures there.

This is the view outside our window at our hotel. We had a great beach and had lots of fun scavengering for seashells.

Beautiful trees all over Goa. Notice how the palm trees are perfectly lined up.

Green plush Goa

Beautiful green Goa...

Rumbles are speed bumps in India. Cute huh???

Pitched rooves in Goa where in Hyderabad everything is flat....and everywhere else we have been!!!

Beautiful coconut palm trees

Lots of interesting folage to look at. This scene is very typical here.

Raining or hot you always see umbrellas. When I was a little girl I loved an umbrella but rarely got to use one. There are plenty of opportunities here and we use them a lot. We carry them everywhere.

GOA SHOPPING

Shopping in the covered market was an experience. It was huge with many many shops inside. Big enough to get totally lost.

This was just inside the door of the market.

Flower shop.

Nut and dried fruit shop.

This market was in the middle of the city and everything imaginable is sold here. We couldn't stay there long because I got very claustrophobic. . It's typical for the salesman to sit in the middle of his wears....It's like he's part of what is for sale.

All 3 couples went their own seperate ways to shop but we kept running into the Wood's. If we had wanted to find them it would not have happened. The crowds of people were one of the reasons I couldn't stand being inside that long...This place was huges with aisles and aisles of businesses.

A street scene near the covered market.

Motorcycles lined up everywhere! You'd think we were in Sturgis in August!!!

This lady was intent on selling me some anklets and bracelets! "My First Business" she would say. I don't believe it anymore....they all say "My first business."

Just outside the covered shopping of Goa this is what you find. Busy, busy streets as far as the eye can see. I love it!!! Motorcycles, cars, people, cows and workers with baskets on their heads...Everyone just moves over and makes room for everyone else. No road rage here!!!

OK....this is a truck full of dead plucked chickens. He's throwing them out of the truck into baskets just about as fast as he can throw them....And look at the eggs!!! There are a lot of people in India to feed. One thing we noticed....there are no flies.

They have the vegetable vendors on the street also.

Shoe repair anyone????

I think I'll go for the nap. Afternoon this is a common site!!

BOURNE ULTIMATUM

This was the bridge that was in the movie Bourne Ultimatum. It was the bridge they went off after she had been shot.
WAHOO!!!! I know....It just looks like a bridge.l....What can I say!!!

GOA the Hawaii of India

This is our Goa Trip!! We went with the Wood's and Nielson's who are serving in Visak!! Great people. Great fun!! It was almost like a vacation. This is some of the grounds around the hotel. We stayed at the Mariatt. The water you see in all of these pictures is the Arabian Sea. Goa is the state. We actually stayed in the city of Punaji.

A better shot of the sea. The pool at the hotel was really long!!!

We visited a lot of old churches in Goa. This is the Bassilica of Born Jesus was built in the 16th century. The mortal remains of St Francis Xavier's are preserved inside this building.

Inside shots of the building

This one is the convent and church of St. Francis of Assisi 1521. Note the long ladder....

The Portugese occupied this area for quite some time and their presence still exists. The feeling of the city is different from most cities in India. This is a design of what the Portugese ships used to look like.

Shots inside the cathedral

We found this an interesting mural!!

One of the many tombs inside the cathedral. It's hard to see but there are stairs leading down to where the remains are stored.

A chapel inside the church.

SE Cathedral built in 1652 is the largest church in Asia and dedicated to St. Catherine. It has a vaulted interior and Golden Bell.

The stairs to this church were covered with moss and dirt. It was beautiful and I felt like I was in Rome, Italy....Or at least.....not in India....

The wind was blowing. You can see how tropical this place is. Everywhere you look lots of green. Those are 2 little churches sitting down in the valley.

Close up of the 2 little churches.

Another old church. Elder is knocking to see if anyone will let us in.......they didn't.

We loved this wall outside the above church. Another evidence of the beauty of Goa.

We loved the green behind Elder K. and especially loved the twisted tree.

This is an old church that was destroyed by the Portugese people when they came to this country. They wanted people to worship there way only.

What you see in these next few pictures are the ruins of that church.

It was very unique in its own way.

Elder Kasper is taking a peak over the wall. Lots and lots of little areas to explore.

Notice all the green growing on the fort. I loved how green was growing on the ruins...even up high!!

This is the Mandovi Hotel dining room. Very nice.