We’ve had a very quiet weekend.  Nothing out of the ordinary to blog about really.  Our normal Patnem rhythm: down to the beach about 0830.  Set up our loungers in front of Salida del Sol, then breakfast inside looking down to the sea.  Even our breakfasts have achieved a “norm”.  The shack boys know what we’re going to order in advance and start it up as soon as we appear.  Bob varies his breakfast more than me.  I’m pretty much a boiled eggs on toast with black tea sort of girl.  Bob alternates between South Indian, banana porridge or sometimes lemon pancakes.

We ate dinner at Salida on Saturday night too.  I had chicken tikka with salad.  Their food is good.  Our friend, Joseph, a New Yorker, always really rated their burger.  A note of achievement indeed.  Cocktails are good too, especially the margaritas.  Our budget of £20 per day for food and drink for both of us seems to be working out well.  Certainly no hardship to stick to it and you could get by on less if you removed alcohol.

Yesterday our friend, Gianna, arrived having had a bit of a tour around Tamil Nadu.  She had found it a bit full on, so is glad to get here for some relaxation.  She’s travelling with her friend, Claire, who lives in Fethiye in Turkey where Gianna herself used to live.  They will be here about a week, then moving to the far north of Goa.

Today, John, Susan, Nick and Jan head off on a 5 day visit to Udaipur, Rajasthan, a lovely place.  We were there 5 years ago on a big tour of the area.  Udaipur is the white, lakeside city of Rajasthan.  It was Bob’s favourite stop on our tour, so I hope they really enjoy it too.  We hope we may have a shortened version of our tour again next year and revisit.  Rajasthan is probably what most Europeans imagine when they think of India: exotic palaces and forts; colourful clothing and textiles; elephants and camels, lake palaces and the Taj Mahal.

Tonight we ate at Café Fiesta on the beach with Gianna and Claire.  Really delicious food and cocktails.  Bob had chicken chimichangas and I had crab masala.  Very rich and yummy, so much crab.  We put the world to rights and then came back to Eve’s where music night was on.  It was the usual chap playing his usual set.  We arrived just in time for “This is Reggae Music” which goes on a long time……. people were actually dancing this week which was quite nice to see.  The restaurant is certainly a runaway success and as it is all over by 10pm, its hardly a nuisance.  Gloria was there with Mark, Kate, and Lola, the lady whose birthday it was the other night.  We had a chat and then turned in.