VAGATOR, GOA, INDIA
Traveling up the coast yesterday, I hopped a bus to the town of Mapusa, where I transferred to another bus that brought me to the little beach hamlet of Vagator. It's supposed to be one of the nicest stretches of coastline in Goa, and I would have to agree that it is fairly dramatic, with high bluffs overlooking rocky points and yellow sand beaches, and lots of tall palm trees towering over everything.
Vagator is also supposed to be the center of Goa's party scene, but you wouldn't know it! It must be the off-season, because apart from the locals, there's hardly anyone here. It's a very sleepy little village with just a handful of Israeli and European slacker-types wandering about, some with their kids--seems there are more dogs, goats and pigs in the street than people! I think all the big rave action happens during the Christmas holidays, as that's when the room rates go sky-high.
Speaking of rooms, I'm staying at a little family-run guesthouse down a dirt road, with a nice tropical garden in back. It's a great place to sit and eat my morning French toast while I watch all the crazy butterflies and birds flap around. I wish I knew what some of them were--there are some really unique-looking little green birds, and some larger dark ones with crests that I haven't seen before. There are also a lot of run-of-the-mill crows, which are always making a racket.
As soon as I got here yesterday, I made my way down to the beach and took a dip in the Arabian Sea. It felt good to be in the water again, as I haven't been swimming since Vietnam. In the surf I met two really friendly Indian teens, Bhagwant (aka "Pinto") and Amit, who were eager to talk to me about job opportunities in the U. S. I'm afraid I didn't know a lot about that, but we had a great conversation about India and America nonetheless, and hung out for a couple of hours at the beach.
Later on I decided to do some exploring, as there's a ruined 500-year-old Portuguese fort on a hill overlooking the town, which I scrambled up to just at sunset. There's not much there except the crumbling fort walls and a few doorways, but it was a great place to sit for awhile and take in some amazing views of the ocean and miles of Goan coastline in either direction.
Traveling up the coast yesterday, I hopped a bus to the town of Mapusa, where I transferred to another bus that brought me to the little beach hamlet of Vagator. It's supposed to be one of the nicest stretches of coastline in Goa, and I would have to agree that it is fairly dramatic, with high bluffs overlooking rocky points and yellow sand beaches, and lots of tall palm trees towering over everything.
Vagator is also supposed to be the center of Goa's party scene, but you wouldn't know it! It must be the off-season, because apart from the locals, there's hardly anyone here. It's a very sleepy little village with just a handful of Israeli and European slacker-types wandering about, some with their kids--seems there are more dogs, goats and pigs in the street than people! I think all the big rave action happens during the Christmas holidays, as that's when the room rates go sky-high.
Speaking of rooms, I'm staying at a little family-run guesthouse down a dirt road, with a nice tropical garden in back. It's a great place to sit and eat my morning French toast while I watch all the crazy butterflies and birds flap around. I wish I knew what some of them were--there are some really unique-looking little green birds, and some larger dark ones with crests that I haven't seen before. There are also a lot of run-of-the-mill crows, which are always making a racket.
As soon as I got here yesterday, I made my way down to the beach and took a dip in the Arabian Sea. It felt good to be in the water again, as I haven't been swimming since Vietnam. In the surf I met two really friendly Indian teens, Bhagwant (aka "Pinto") and Amit, who were eager to talk to me about job opportunities in the U. S. I'm afraid I didn't know a lot about that, but we had a great conversation about India and America nonetheless, and hung out for a couple of hours at the beach.
Later on I decided to do some exploring, as there's a ruined 500-year-old Portuguese fort on a hill overlooking the town, which I scrambled up to just at sunset. There's not much there except the crumbling fort walls and a few doorways, but it was a great place to sit for awhile and take in some amazing views of the ocean and miles of Goan coastline in either direction.
posted by John Kuge at 9:43 PM
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