October 10 - Anjuna and Arambol

The plan: Settle down on the beach, relax and soak up the sun 

Today is finally the day where we get to head to Arambol, the beach where we decided to settle down and relax. Arambol is all the way up north; actually it’s the last beach on the northern tip of Goa! But of course, before then, we spent the beginning of our day bussing all over North Goa!! We absolutely wanted to visit Anjuna, one of the biggest touristic beaches in Goa that has a great stretch of sand and an even better flea market! So we took a bus from Panjim to Mapsa, the bus hub of Goa. From this city, you can take a bus to any beach in Goa, and unfortunately, it’s the ONLY place you can catch these buses from! So we bused there and arrived to the most incredible scene. Buses lining all sides of the stand with no indication of which bus is going where…but what you did find was people shouting destinations all over the place, buses honking, and people running to catch them, not to mention the multiple stands selling everything from fruits and veggies to jewellery…pure madness, and pure India! LOVE IT! So we asked around enough to finally figure out which bus was going to Anjuna, settled in and enjoyed the ride. On the way there, we met a curious guy from Transylvania who had moved to India 15 years and spoke perfect Hindi. He came here to meet his brother who had a tattoo shop in Anjuna. Once we got off the bus, he walked with us all the way to the beach and showed us the market area, but sadly announced to us that the market wasn’t currently going on, it actually started in November, when peak tourist season starts…thanks for the lack of info Lonely Planet!!

This guy was really awesome. He shared many stories of partying, drugging, and scamming in Goa and his overall look was a lot like what you’d imagine a Transylvanian in Goa to look like, check out the photo!

Anywho, we got to enjoy the sandy beach (and by enjoy she means take a stroll down the beach with our backpacks on, the true backpacker experience) and the beautiful views before heading back to the area where the buses left the beach from. There were a couple of stands on the sides and Yan decided that he wanted to look at them so I went to sit in the bus with our bags while he browsed…and then, 10 minutes later, the bus driver starts to drive away!! I managed to communicate with him that my friend was supposed to be on this bus with me and he stopped and gave me 5 minutes to find him! Luckily a local guy told me where he had headed, I found him and we headed back to the craziness that is Mapsa! From there, we finally caught the bus to Arambol. The bus was packed to the gills, but we still managed to get there in one piece! The bus dropped us off at the main road and so we decided to walk the 1.5 kilometres to the beach! On the way, shops and hotels packed the little streets and we were offered multiple places to stay, not to mention anything we wanted, either to smoke or to drink!!

We checked out a couple of places but not knowing exactly where the beach was, we decided to wait to see how far these places actually were from the beach! And once there, we were awe struck! The beach was so beautiful, the sun was shining, people were swimming…and hotels lined the sandy beach!! We then realized that refusing those previous hotels was the best thing to do! We found ourselves a nice little hut hotel on the beach, switched into our bathing suits and headed down to the beach to watch the last of the sun rays and enjoy a beautiful sunset!

That night, we enjoyed a nice fish curry at a beach side restaurant, eating by candle light and watching the ocean waves…nothing can ever be more relaxing than this! Don’t forget my Kingfisher beer. Basically at this point if we haven’t sold you on an exchange to India next year, you’re a tool.