Colva Beach, Goa

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Hi Everyone!

I am now at the southern-most part of my trip, in Goa. Colva Beach is in South Goa and it is a small town of less than 10, 000. I arrived very early yesterday morning, about 5 am into the slightly larger town of Margao, and took a rickshaw here. I waited around near the beach for a bit more light before trying to find a place to stay. I tried two before finding room at Graciano Cottages. They aren't, as the name implies, cottages, but reasonable rooms with bathrooms.

I got a non-ac room on the second floor corner for 618 rupees ( $16) and promptly had a nap. The bus trip from Pune was better than my last trip, but I was at the back of the bus and it seemed like every single jolt woke me up!

After my nap and doing a little bit of laundry in the sink, I showered and headed for the beach. There are plenty of touristy shops along the five minute walk, but I think that the shopkeepers are smarter here - they don't say "buy something, buy something!!" like in the other towns I've been to. Instead they say "lovely dress, where did you get it? How are you? Where are you from?". In this way they engage you in conversation and draw you nearer and THEN they say "buy something!!!".

So I dodged a few of those, plus a Aruyvedic Massage centre, a place selling green coconuts, and a few people touting dolphin trips and finally reached the beach.

It's beautiful, with palm trees at the edges, and lovely sand and pretty big waves crashing onshore. I was just starting to enjoy it when.....
........."madame, buy a sarong!" ......"madame, ice cream!!!"

So, I pretended to be deaf and kept walking, though I did end up talking to one young pregnant woman who tried for over 15 minutes to sell me sarongs, jewelry and everything else in her hidden pockets. She was nice enough though, so we kept chatting for awhile.

After walking several minutes, I headed back in the other direction and stopped at a beach side cafe. I had a mango shake and some seafood, but the flies and mayo put me off so just relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Shaded by palm trees and safe from the sarong-sellers, I relaxed for several hours.

Once the heat became unbearable I headed back to my room for a siesta, and then headed back to the beach for sunset. Sunset happened quickly, the sun sliding unceremoniously below the sea around 6pm. I took a bit of a stroll and then headed back again.

I'm trying to make sure I don't walk around after dark unneccessarily, in low lit areas, as there are infrequent cases of attacks on women.

This morning I woke, sick again, around 8, and stayed in my room until the worst had past. I'm sure glad I only ate some of the food from that beachside cafe! I headed to a travel place, only to discover that my original great plan to take the train to Hyderabad won't work, and so I am stuck again on the bus. It leaves Margao tomorrow at 2pm, and I get into Hyderabad Monday at 8:30am. I'll try and get a train ticket for the train the next day or the day after heading to Calcuta.

So now I am eating icecream and writing this blog, and contemplating what to do for the rest of the day. I'll probably try one of these Dolphin tours, just because I really want to see some dolphins. I think I'll eat some more bananas, and try and keep some food in my tummy! Bananas are supposed to be good for that!

Best wishes,

Eileen

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Comments

[Lise Rief]

Wow what a trip!
Eileen What a great trip your having. Thank you for keeping us updated on what you see. It's really interesting. Take care of yourself! Lise

[Simon]

Wow
So far it seems amazing, but you have to stop eating the food! Try to get well.

[ISHITA]

colva beach
Colva Beach is a beautiful beach. Its provide so many types of entertaining chennels like water rafting, banana ride and parasute riding is so interesting. Banana ride is quite risky but i enjoyed that. Its site seen is lovely and unforgetable. Its looks like a haven and sun set seen is also amazing. I like goa and we trying to come goa every year for one time