Goa is small state on the southwest coast of India. It was a Portuguese colony until 1962, and still retains much of it’s western flavor. There are lots of Catholics here, and the older buildings in the look like Portuguese architecture. It is even halfway prosperous, no doubt at least partially due to the strong tourist business. The capital, Panaji (or Panjim, as it’s usually called here) is the smallest capital city in India, and isn’t half bad.
Above Panjim is North Goa, and south of it is South Goa. I spent a day in Panjim, then did what virtually everybody does, I hit the beach. There is just about whatever you want in a bech scene. There are basically secluded ones, moderately secluded ones, and various grades of party scene. I’m staying in Vagator, which has no real party scene. It just has a few hundred yards of beach, with rocky headlands on either side. Here are the obligatory sunset scenes.
Those shots are from a couple hundred yards from my very nice, and cheap, guesthouse. It’s down a dirt lane, surrounded by coconut palms and garden. Here’s the backyard dining area. I’ve been mellowing out there in the morning with breakfast and chai.
It’s a tough life, I gotta tell you. This is about the first place I’ve been in India where I think any casual trveller would feel comfortable. Many people really do speak good Engish; it’s set up for tourists; there’s a wide variety of any kind of food; the roads are good; the traffic is light; a good room like mine costs $6/night; the international beach scene can be to your liking; the vendors don’t hawk their good too aggressively; the electricity is on 98% of the time. There are sit down toilets all over the place, and you don’t even need that all the time because nobody is complaining of traveller’s diarrhea. If you wat basically a town of tourists, you can go to Calangute/Baga. If you want a midrange scene, you can go just south of here to Anjuna. I went there this morning. It has many beach bars and restaurants, but it’s not too overpopuated. It is the first beach village I’ve been to where you have to run a gauntlet of dope dealing Kashmiris. It’s gotten to the point where when I see a Kashmiri, I figure he’s dealing. Anyway, that kind of goes with the territory here, especially as the peak tourist season approaches. Anjuna Beach is a couple of kilometers long, with a rocky shore at the ends. Here is the view north, toward my village on Vagator, where the shoreline is mostly rocky.
Speaking of rocky, I went to a night bazaar and food and entertainment extravaganza called the Arpuna Saturday Night Bazaar. It is THE thing to do if you travel to Goa. At least a couple of thousand people from near and far were there, mostly having a good old time. Old hiippis never die; they go to Goa and sell stuff tourists will like, get loaded, hang out at the coffee shops in Calangute, and get involved with all kinds of drama. The old guard is a little inbred. I heard all about it from an Australian woman I originally met in Leh, then again in Srinigar, who lives in Goa six months out of the year. We hooked up a couple of times. I also hooked up with a couple of German women at the bazaar and drank with them till 5. Omygod.
That was after I took my rented motorbike up to a beach about 25 km north of Vagator, called Hamal, and walked along it for at least a couple of miles. It’s got white sand, is at least 50 meters wide, light surf and a gentle slope into the wter. There are two clusters of beach bars and a lot of nothing.
I took about 10 dips on the way, and got sunburned, not to bad. As you can see, there are not too many people there.
I don’t kow how long I’ll stay here, maybe a couple more days. Then I think I’ll go to South Goa. They say it’s slower down there. After that, I think I’ll bag the beach scene and go the the forests nd tea plantations of southern Karnataka, back up in the ghats. It should be cooler again up there. At any rate, my next entry will probably be from South Goa.
Be well, all of you.
