Anjuna was next on my Goa hitlist mainly because of a guesthouse I wanted to stay in that looked quite groovy (that I didn’t end up going to). It’s also home to a nice stretch of beach and I thought I deserved a few days of doing nothing, watching the tide slowly come in and then lazily out again.
Oh before I get to that; the previous night I decided to blitz the web and read emails, update the blog and upload photos. Having found a little net café with surprisingly good connection speed I settled down for an hour or two and did as much as I could. It had been a long day of walkabouts and I’d not eaten all that much so after the net café I went looking for some food only to find that everywhere was closed! Those who’ve seen me for extended periods of time without food will understand my sense of panic and for the next few minutes I ran through the streets looking for somewhere to get some grub. Of course I was too tired and weak to run so I more or less stumbled along like a zombie, groaning and lashing out at passers by, ‘FOOD??’.
I eventually found a place just closing up and the manager, seeing the state I was in, ushered me inside and told me to order quick. While doing all this the restaurant was a hive of activity; the floor was covered in water by hand, then pushed out by lads on their knees pushing huge cloths. All the tables were cleared out of their way… except mine. This caused confusion. I wanted to move out of their way, but every time I got up they’d clean the floor under me. So we danced for a while before the manager told me to sit down. The food came and I tried to eat it as fast as I could! Unfortunately it was very, very spicy so by the time I finished I was almost blind. They saved my life though, as I can’t sleep without a big feed inside me, and I tipped generously. That night was the best nights sleep I’ve had in a long time!
Check out the next morning was 09:00 and, wanting to get to Anjuna nice and early, I went straight to the bus terminus. I’d been there the day before but it’s just mental, there are buses everywhere and people screaming place names, ‘Miramar!!’, ‘Mapusa!!’, ‘Old Goa!!’. So since everyone else was doing it I joined in shouting for my destination, ‘Anjuna!!’, and in the distance I heard someone answering my call by repeating it! What followed was a crazy version of Marco – Polo but I eventually found my bus and after a change at Mapusa we made our way to Anjuna.
While on the bus I got chatting to two Swedish girls, Nikolina and Anika, and we decided to head off and find a place to stay in Anjuna. As we walked along we were invited to view many guesthouses and rooms by locals but they were all pretty terrible. Eventually we found a place that had been recommended to them so had a look. It wasn’t a lot better than the other guesthouses we saw but everyone was tired so we dropped anchor. It’s a very popular place, full of Irish, English, New Zealanders, Chileans etc and because of this there was only a triple room left, so myself and the two girls decided to share it.
Anjuna isn’t just famous because of its beach but also for its weekly Wednesday market. We strolled down and spent a while haggling for things which is something I’m getting quite good at. My technique:
Express interest
Offer ridiculously low offer
When they refuse, walk away
They will follow shouting lower and lower prices and eventually you’ll get to the actual price you want
Turn around and make the deal
After the market we had a few drinks with an English couple in a bar on the beach, overlooking the crashing waves and sunset. I could have stayed there forever so after a while we ordered food and I asked what the fresh fish of the day was. The waiter disappeared for a minute before bringing out a big tray of fresh fish and prawns. There was an instant spark between me and one of the red snappers on the tray so I asked for him and within 20minutes I was tucking into his belly. It was delicious.As the evening progressed we went back to the guesthouse, (there are no street lights here… actually there are no streets! Just huts and dirt tracks between the palm trees so walking at night is an adventure) sat down, got joined by an Irish couple and spent a few hours chatting, playing Yahtzee (a Swedish game with dice) and then cards (I’m not a card game kind of person, but at least my confusion and all round card-phobia entertained the others). All in all, my first day in Anjuna was probably my favourite day of the trip so far!
The rest of my time here will be spent on the beach reading and chilling out. It’s pretty empty around this time of the year as the first tourists don’t really arrive for a month or thereabouts so the beach is pretty idyllic! I can imagine that it gets very different here around Christmas as the area has a reputation as having a big trance scene and the drugs that go along with it. If you’re into that kind of thing then Anjuna might be for you but I spend most of my day telling people that I’m not interested!
(To see all my photos head to my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=126027&id=560910442&ref=nf)
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