I love you goa
There was a vacation in Goa, in Calangute for 10 days, the result was 8: Pegas Touristik screwed up with a ticket from NN and had to fly through Moscow, in one night on two planes it was too much, and even a day later. Nevertheless, they still flew to Goa.
Hotel. We arrived at Park Avenue. The hotel is normal for its stars. Pastel linen yes, it's something. Mold even grew there. Well, taking into account the fact that I had 4 sheets, the problem was solved (the room for one also has 2 beds). The room is large, the balcony overlooks the street, noise at night. It’s just accepted in Goa, everyone drives as they want, few people follow the rules, there are no footpaths, and people walk along the road, full of motorbikes with whole families of four people on them. In general, they signal to everyone: cars, bikers, pedestrians, dogs and cows, hence the incredible noise on the street. But the nights are still out of the nightclub. Although I think this is a minus of the current for the elderly, I do not care how it was. The room was on the 3rd floor, so the expected lizards and frogs apparently did not jump here. No TV and refrigerator, no reason for them. With a fan that was more than enough, no air conditioning needed. I didn’t rent a safe, I left everything in the room, I took the key with me or hid it when I was too lazy to carry it. At the reception I rented the current once to clean the room. There is no Internet in the hotel. Electricity was cut off once for 10 minutes. Breakfast is monotonous - juice, coffee (or tea) + 2 toasts with butter and jam, you can have more variety, but for a fee. There is a pool quite tolerable, I swam there only once, I prefer the sea.
As I sorted things out at the hotel, I went to look for an exchanger and a SIM card, all this turned out to be 100 meters from the hotel. Mobile communication is very cheap, while there is also unlimited Internet, but it does not always work, more at 9-10 pm or 4-5 am. It’s a problem with the Internet in Goa in general, it’s extremely difficult to find, and slow.
Next up was the beach. I asked at the reception how to get to it, they even showed me - gardens for about 5 minutes on foot, if on the way for about 10 minutes. Calangute has gathered, there is no free space at all. But if you walk literally 100 meters to the right or to the left, it’s already normal, and there are very few people. You can just sunbathe on the sand on a towel or something like that, but if you are a woman and even fair-haired, you will not be bored, they will ask you to take pictures all the time, get to know each other, start talking about life, etc. Therefore, it is better to go to the shake, there are sunbeds for free, if you buy something, such as water (you will really need it) and sunbathe there, they don’t stick there like that. The sea is dirty, but it is rather from the ebb and flow, very warm.
In the evening I wanted to eat, I decided to find a store, but there are no grocery stores, chips, etc. can buy. So you will have to eat current in restaurants, well, or what to buy on the street. I ate here and there, did not get poisoned, and even on the street they cook delicious food, the food is different, there is also a lot of Russian. After a useless search for a normal store, I decided to just buy chips. In the store I met a Russian woman Olya. It turned out that she has been living there for a long time and she has her own two restaurants, one in Calangute, another shake on Baga beach (either called Popeye or Popeye, there is a 9X sign next to it, it is clearly visible), there is definitely Russian cuisine, and the atmosphere good to just sit.
Excursions. Through the same Olya, I learned that an excursion to the waterfall and to the elephants is planned for tomorrow. There was already a company of 4 people, I was taken as the fifth. We just went by taxi, it’s much cheaper (920 rupees per person we got together with the entrance fee to the reserve + 30 rupees for photo permission and 20 for something else, I don’t remember). The driver turned out to be good, he is also a guide, if you know English, Olin is also familiar. We drove to the waterfall for an hour and a half, then we transferred to the local jeep and through the reserve to the very waterfall for about 40 minutes. The road there is terrible, there are several rivers, so you get tired quickly. The waterfall is full of monkeys, arrogant to the point of horror. You need to watch your bags carefully, otherwise they will drag them away. We took bananas and peanuts with us to feed the monkeys. It takes another 20 minutes to walk to the waterfall over the rocks and through the rivers, but it's worth it, it's very beautiful there, you can swim. After the reserve, we went to see the elephants, they live on the other side of the spice plantations. There are three of them: mom, dad and baby elephant. You can ride an elephant (700 rupees per person), we didn’t ride, we just took pictures with them, we were too tired. You can wash the elephants - this is dad or mom.
The second excursion was on the fourth day of my arrival to the statue of Shiva (the one that is 37 meters). Again, three people gathered through Olya. Go there 5 hours. The road to Goa is good, but when you enter Karnataka it's just a nightmare, worse than our "directions". We left at 5 am, at eleven we were there. The road is a continuous serpentine, and the drivers in India are crazy, many who get drunk get behind the wheel. You have to be very careful. There, in addition to the statue, there is also a temple and a tower of 18 floors, in the temple the history of the gods is presented. Our taxi driver also became a guide there, talking about the temple, about the gods, showing what to do there. He also became my personal photographer : ). We stayed there for an hour and a half, then we went to Paradise Beach, from the statue it is 3 and a half hours away. It is very beautiful there, palm trees on the coast, clear sea, clean beach incomparable with Calangute. Indeed, like heaven. You can go there overnight, rent a bungalow on the coast for the night. We went without an overnight stay. After swimming, sunbathing and eating there, on the beach, we drove back, another 2 hours. We got back to the hotel around 7pm. An interesting trip, but very long, but definitely worth a trip there. At a cost of 170 dollars a car turned out. For three, about 60 per person. From Pegasus this tour costs 140 per person
Then there was a lot of beach, shopping (on the last day of my vacation I decided to buy a sari, how could it be without it, it turned out that I still need to sew a blouse there, so if you buy it, then not on the last day, but 3-4 days, so that they had time to sew), trips to various restaurants, clubs, in general, rest in full. It doesn't matter which hotel, what matters is the mood, the environment. I am very grateful to Olya for the fact that through her I met many good people, that our taxi driver turned out to be a pro and there was not a single emergency (if anyone needs it, his name is Sandy Babush, tel +9.9822381525).
It was an unforgettable vacation, I do not want to return at all. Now I’m sitting on an airplane and writing all this, and I want to roar myself, how I want to go back to the sea, to palm trees, unbearable heat, to cows and dogs walking along the road, it seems, of the same breed, to that noise and din of Calangute and the silence of Baga Beach.
I love you Goa and I hope to return!
