Arambol

We went in search of a hotel with a German musician/artist/acrobat that we had met on the bus. We ended up finding a group of cheap huts near the beach. At sunset, we walked down to the water. There was already a large group of people gathered with drums, guitars and flutes. People were doing acrobatics, dancing, and relaxing as they watched the sunset. There were people from all over the world and people of all ages. Arambol was much more like the hippy, bohemian image of Goa that I had in my mind. Anjuna had great food and shopping, but the people were much older and usually it was their only stop in India.

For dinner, we went to a place with low tables and pillows on the beach. It was run by a man from London who had moved here a year ago to start his own restaurant. We ate with a Spanish girl who had been living in London for 10 years, and a man who was originally from North England but he had been travelling non-stop for the past 15 years so he had lost his native accent.

After dinner, we walked along the beach and stopped for drinks at a beachside bar.

The next day, we spent all of our time on the beach swimming and reading. In the evening we went to a restaurant owned by a Russian couple. There were a lot of Russians in Goa since India is fairly nearby and there are beautiful beaches and resorts in Goa. The menu of this restaurant was written in English and Russian. We ordered Tibetan momos and chicken biryani.

For our last day in Goa we decided to spend the morning at the beach, then had chicken curry sandwiches and lemon cheese pie for lunch. We left for Mapusa in the afternoon and caught an overnight bus to Hampi.