Chillin in Purgatory

---

My new friends Stephanie & Anton and I arrived in Anjuna yesterday. Anjuna pretty much sucks. Unfortunately we have been spoiled from being @ the Big Fish in Palolem. First of all, the lay out is not pleasant. The lodgings are on the side paths and are pretty ratty looking and there aren't any really good restaurants around. It's pretty quiet, the season has not started yet. The hassle factor is huge. Every souvinper stand has to call you in with the ubiquitous "Come see my shop". Yesterday I fell and broke the screen on my notebook. The good news is that all my stuff and pictures are still on it. I just have to plug in a monitor to use it. I'm sitting in a cliff side restaurant listening to the droning beat of techno. Europeans like it, me, not so much. They have wi-fi for their patrons, so we have been sitting here checking our email and catching up. Today we took a taxi to the next beach south of here, Baga. We were hoping for a nice beach to hang out on, but it was packed with Indian tourists. We found a little quieter spot to hang out, but my friends felt sorry for people and started giving money to the people who were hustling money by having their kids do tricks on the beach. Before long we had a small circus in front of us. They set up a tightrope and the kids danced on it. There were so many people hassling us for money that we had to beat a hasty retreat. So after a refreshing shower and a small afternoon nap, we are out and about. Last night I booked my return trip and my flight to Udaipur. The earliest I could ge. a decent flight out was thursday, which meant that I will be able to experience the infamous Anjuna flea market, which is tomorrow. Should be interesting. Even though Anjuna is such a let down, I'm still enjoying hanging out with my new friends, Anton and Stephanie. We are all pretty compatible and I can only marvel at my good fortune to make such wonderful connection twice on this trip. They are dutch and I've been loving hearing them talk and practicing my dutch a little. So hanging out with them has been fun and seeing another perspective of India is also good. I've decided that India is a beautiful rose with thorns.
So after Anjuna it's off to another phase of my journey, Rajastan. I changed my plans and am going to Udaipur rather than Jaipur, based on various other travelers' feedback. Udaipur get high marks. The weather in Rajastan is more temperate, so I'm looking at temps in the 70s , which will be a relief. I'm looking forward to a new experience.
My ability to post will depend on the continued availability of internet access, but I hope to post again by friday. Stay tuned....

---

Comments

[Joan]

Very interesting
All I have to say is "You Go Girl".