We arrived a couple days ago to beautiful village called Benaulim....

We arrived a couple days ago to beautiful village called Benaulim. After two days of sightseeing we felt exhausted and too tired to continue. Benaulim turned out to be the perfect escape. White and empty beach just a few meters away from our coco hut made this very enjoyable place.

Ponda- place we went to before we arrived to Benaulim was another loud and busy place but only 2 km from it we found a spice plantation where we went for a tour on which we found out many interesting facts about spices and fruits growing there.

Center of Benaulim is quite far away from a beach but that didn’t discourage us to go there every day. It was a tiny place with only a few streets. Much quieter than Arambol and any other villages in Goa. The path to the center was surrounded by green fields with rice.

On of the many walks to the village we found a quiet cafe where we stop by to have a coffee and pancakes. The owner invited us to join him drinking his homemade alcohol fenny. We spent a nice evening listening to his plans about travelling.

Jirka and his biggest fan- Trilok

Our days could have been quiet without any noisy locals bothering us while sitting on the beach if we didn’t make friends with Trilok or more precisely if Jirka didn’t make a friend with him. This particular Indian was very special. He knew a few words: beach, hotel, bike, sun and he kept repeating it over and over again with some gestures just in case we didn’t know what is he talking about. Whenever Jirka was coming out of a hut Trilok was following him to have a conversation with him.

When we were leaving Benaulim,early in the morning, he run after us with tears in his eyes to walk us to the rickshaw. 

After the big disappointment that we met in Anjuna...

After the big disappointment that we met in Anjuna we are in Calangute. It’s our third and last day here.

Anjuna was tiny, messy and quite unfriendly village. There was no place to escape the heat and we couldn’t even hide anywhere since our temporary home was a tent on top of the roof.

Our roomate

After a sleepless night I woke up sick. Feeling nauseous I had to spend an hour in hot and bumpy bus to Calangute. While trying to find an accommodation we stop next to the hotel where I was resting and Jirka negotiating the price. It was too high and I was willing to keep going and then owner of the hotel showed up again. He saw me nearly dying in front of his property. He offered 600 RPS that we could accept that.I could rest in the spacious and chill room.One day and I was completely fine. 

The next day I had an energy to go for a day trip to Panaji where we got disappointed again, “the cutest city of India” as the guide book described turned out to be nothing more than ordinary. The pick of a day  was a visit to the Mahalaxim Temple. We are leaving Calangute tomorrow and we are going inland to Ponda.

Chilli prawns in our favorite dhaba in Calangute

 

Panaji

It has been a week in Arambol....

It has been a week in Arambol . I will miss that place and people we came across like Sona- our cook, waiter, housekeeper, receptionist. His laugh  made me smile every time. This tinny toothless man was one of the most warmhearted people I ever met. Seeing him every morning brought to our life a bit of sunshine.

Sona

But the queen of a laughter was Lina.  This 50 years old Norwegian rail worker from Bodo with a husky voice and crazy hair had many stories to tell and we loved to listen to her. Our friend accompanied us many times during our meals providing us entertainment.

Being a woman in this country is difficult....

Being a woman in this country is difficult. Men treats you like an object. If you have white skin you are an exotic creature and Indian men won't hesitate to take a picture, touch you or even kiss you. I have witnessed or experienced myself their way of being. Several times I found myself feeling rather uncomfortable or disgusted. I was always a tough independent woman but here I feel like a small girl that needs a protection. My respect for single girls that travelling a world has raised. Good that I have Jirka with me, without him I would probably need to sit inside of my hut to avoid situations like those I have described above. Evenings are especially challenging here, it's a time when men coming out to fish for girls that are on the beach without male company.

During nights I feel safe as I'm never left alone, even when Jirka is not around I have a guardian- ginger dog that  always comes every night to sit with us. He won't let anyone near us, barking at everybody who is passing by.