What did you have tonight? Me? Just the hummus

Anjuna 19 - 24 October

Goa is famed for its beaches and parties.  I got a taste of both when heading down to Anjuna from Mumbai for a few days.

Unfortunately, catching the tail end of a month-delayed monsoon, a lot of my time in Goa was spent indoors watching tremendous amounts of water come down, and more than I liked, being outdoors when the heavens opened too.  Like any Joburger though, desperate to get onto the beach, I braved colder and winder than ideal days to explore the immediate and surrounding beaches.

My first glimpse of the beach, and a sign of the weather to come.
Anjuna beach, Goa

Still nice though.  Palm trees help.
Anjuna beach, Goa

I was based in Anjuna, the area in Goa known for being a hub for psychedelic trance parties and things of that sort.

The Anjuna beach though is less paradisey, and more rocky, dark, sandy.  Further, and rather unfortunately, the whole Goan coast hugs the warm, Arabian sea.  Swimming unfortunately is not refreshing, and feels more like a warm salty bath (nice if you looking for a salty bath, but), not ideal when you trying to cool off from the hot, humid Goan weather).

A 20 minute walk out of Anjuna however takes you to the quieter, more ‘beach-towny’ Vagator.  It has a far nicer stretch of beach, and softer sand (although still gross warm water).  I tried to venture even further north, to Morgim beach, which was by far the nicest of the three I visited in the area, and also apparently a famous nesting ground for turtles, but alas, no turtles, and most of that day it rained.

The entrance to Vagator beach.
Goa

Clearly not the only desperate city slicker on the beach.
Vagator beach, Goa

Now that's a beach.
Morjim beach, Goa

Oooh.  Sun.
Morjim beach, Goa

With Goa being so popular with tourists, both local and international, Anjuna is full of restaurants, bars, and stalls selling souvenirs and other wares.  Alcohol here is about third of the price (or less) of the rest of India, but altogether the place offers very little in the way of experiencing an Indian culture.  Anjuna could very well be in any other country, and you would not even know.

Churchy, McChurch (real name)

About the most cultural

thing in Goa

Anjuna market, Goa.

Don't book your plane ticket

just for this

So with beaches not offering much, nor anything particularly Goan to experience, I decided to try out the other aspect of Goa folklore: its parties.

I intentionally decided to visit at the beginning of the season, so to avoid the huge crowds November (and even more so December) bring.  I was told that the uncharacteristic rain and an uncharacteristically slow start to the season meant that Anjuna was uncharacteristically not as busy as was characteristic for this time of year.  There were though enough people in the hostel and about the town to fill up the few places that had already opened their doors.

I knew people were serious about partying here, but not so much so as to be prepared for the causal conversations about how hard they indulge in it.  One conversation in particular stands out of when a French guy was nonchalantly telling the new group of people he had just met how perturbed he was when he found out a few days ago that the person who was passing around a joint had also put heroin in it.  I’m paraphrasing here, but basically, a serious case of accidentally taking class A drugs was discussed like:

“Ah man, when he told me after I had smoked with him that there was some heroin, I knew I had to lie down.  I had such a bad sleep because of my heart arrythmia”

Response from some of the group “Oh no, that’s so uncool”

“I know.  And it was that cheap, rubbish heroin too.”

The group “Ah, that’s the worst”

…continue with conversation about rabbits or the new, latest cooking show or something.

Ok, maybe I was not as prepared for partying in this area of the world as I thought.

Anyway, my first attempt at going out was not ideal.  It started with the taxi driver taking advantage of us not knowing the party we were going to was about 1km from our hostel, resulting in us agreeing on a ridiculous price for what was less than a 2 minute journey (disclaimer: I was just tagging along, so had no role in the poor planning or negotiations).  Also, it rained the whole night, so as dancing took place in the open air area, all patrons were soaked head to toe.  Not normally the worst when dancing, but surely so when your new shirt’s colours run making everything else you are wearing a little yellow. 

Some were more ready than others to party

Anjuna in full swing

Damn dirty hippies

Although nothing too bad, and granted, some good music, the worst was the hangover the next day and patchy memories of how I got home.  I put this down (mostly due to age, but also) with my body not being used to sugary rum, cheap beer and the abuse I traditionally inflict on it back home, on account of India not really being a place known for its drinking culture (outside of Goa), and therefore my resulting largely lack of exposure to such sins for the previous six or so months.

Seems like they have the hangover breakfast sorted.
Probably not the first one to ask for it.
Anjuna, Goa

Recovered, wiser and more trained, I spent my last night in Goa at an (indoor) party with some new friends from the hostel.  My naivety with this scene, though shone through once again when one of the group asked what I had “had” on the night.  As I had just wolfed down dinner in the restaurant below, in preparation of the night’s drinking, I innocently told her “just the hummus (platter)”.

Indoor allows for greater decor

Not sure why everything is so UV
and psychedelic

Ohh, fishy, fishy, fishy

Her confused look made me realise I had misinterpreted her question, and quickly tried to recover by telling her that I was only drinking.  We laughed.  Well she laughed, I embarrassingly chuckled.  Overall though, it was a fun night, until we walked home and the heavens opened one more time, convincing me that it was time to move on to (literally) greener pastures.

Overall, I did not find Goa to be the paradise people fly from across the world to visit.  It was nice to be at a beach, and early morning yoga with the waves crashing in the foreground is nothing to be scoffed at (before being hassled by a stray dog posse).  Maybe it was the rain, and maybe it is better inside season, but in my experience there are better beaches elsewhere, and far better parties too.  However, the booze is cheap and I guess it is somewhere to go if you are looking to try "hummus".