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I had always longed for a long term stay at a place without much of an agenda, just be where I am and live in the moment without calculating the next step or the next bus/flight that I have to take. It was indeed a blessing in disguise that we could plan a typical leisure cum work vacation in Goa amidst Covid lockdown.
We chose South Goa for our entire stay with three different properties. Quite fascinated with how it would be to live on the beach, all our properties were wooden cabins on the beach shack.
We had packed our bags with the bare essential clothing, for me it was a few vests and a couple pair of shorts with some shirts for occasional visit to a fancy place for our anniversary :). After taking multiple work related calls on a Tuesday afternoon, we rushed to the airport with two rucksacks and two handbags day dreaming about open beaches and hopefully to learn something out of this different sort of a trip.
We reached around evening 9ish and after inquiring about cabs from one of my friends, I got to know about "Goa Miles", a car hire app which is backed by Goa government. Our first destination was Benaulim - Blue corner beach huts. The cab was very comfortable and the driver was quite helpful esp. when we reached Benaulim and weren't able to locate our stay. Thankfully, we reached Benaulim and rested for the night. The next morning was indeed very serene. With just 2-3 huts occupied there were not many people around the area where we were staying. I took my book and sat outside our hut savoring hot coffee and the moment. Putting on my headphones I took a walk along the beach towards Colva. I had hardly used those headphones as the sound of the sea was melodious.
After having a not so satisfactory breakfast at our shack, we sat comfortably and opened the shutters of our laptop shop ;P. There were multiple calls to attend and too many things on my plate that day, however, just taking my eyes to the sea and the serene empty beach and feeling the warm breeze made everything so much better. Around 6 in the evening we came out of the shack to witness the sun. The calls could wait for half an hour. Witnessing the sun going down and the sound of the waves was calming to the nerve. It got darker and the shack was bringing in more crowd. It was time for us to pack it up for the day and chill on the beach.
Taking a stroll in the Benaulim market area, we came across small bakeries and eating joints and good that our own shack wasn't offering satisfactory food, we decided to explore these food joints. We had hired a two wheeler for the remaining days at 300 rupees a day so that we could go wherever we wanted whenever we wanted. Usually our first half was spent in our blue corner shack, but afternoons were spent hogging in cool and cozy cafes (a wifi facility was usually available) and we used to work till 7-8 in the same cafe ordering delicacies and coffees and what not.
Some nights we rode onto the empty streets of Colva in search of Baskin Robbins, other nights there was a search for grilled king prawns. One fine evening we decided to explore the Latin quarters of Panjim hoping to sit in a cafe there and do some creative work, but little did we know, it was some election time and cafes were being closed. Luckily an old man running some small cafe told us about a nearby co-working area - MeWo. Thankfully, that place had the warmest hosts, it was a Saturday so the cubicles weren't crowded at all and we had a fantastic four hours there. There cafe is one of the cutest and you get good food and coffee stuff there. It was dark when we decided to ride back to Benaulim, lot of traffic, lot of maintenance work on the way, but boy, that ride was therapeutic. Thanks to my wife for letting me ride :)) That night we had a sumptuous Indian dinner in a small Tibetan themed restaurant.
Point to note is that there was no fixed plan, there was no hurry. If something wasn't possible or wasn't available, we didn't even push it, we just relaxed, truly relaxed!
Our next destination was Palolem(Royal woods beach resort). I was excited to the core because I stayed in Palolem for a night during one of my beach hikes from Gokarna and I loved the vibe. The stay was a bit fancier than that of Benaulim and the area was totally commercial - lot of cafes, lot of shops, lots of beach shacks and hell lot of people on the beach. It was so crowded on that Sunday that there was hardly any space to explore the beach. However, our stay was quite cozy and we just relaxed there till evening. I remember almost every shop and every face in that market as we had spent a good amount of time in Palolem area.
"The practice of soulful travel is to discover the overlapping point between history and everyday life, the way to find the essence of every place, every day: In the markets, small chaplets, out-of-the-way parks, craft shops. Curiosity about the extraordinary in the ordinary moves the heart of the traveler intent on seeing behind the veil of tourism"- Phil Couseneau, The Art Of Pilgrimage.
My wife had also explored this cute little Macramé craft shop which almost looked like a place in some fairy tale and she took a course in macramé weaving, dream catchers and designs etc. Post finishing off our office related work, our evenings were usually spent in that macramé shop where she used to learn the craft and I was either on my headphones listening to podcasts or sketching.
Although we were sort of busy the entire day, we used to hop around local cafes and eateries that had wifi facility and used to finish off with our work there, but our evenings were lazy with just walking along the beach, some days we rented a kayak just to view the sunset from the mid of the sea and some days we just built castles on the beach in the evenings. One early morning, we both woke up to check out what was lying behind the rocky hill towards the end of Palolem beach and we kept on climbing rocks and hiking wonderlands till we reached a beautiful view point where we could witness the sea with an entirely different eye. Sitting on those rocks together and witnessing the sea waves hitting the bottom was meditative. We got lost while coming back and the locals helped us get back on the Palolem trail.
We had hired a two wheeler for couple of days which we used to ride in the dark - sometimes to have ice cream in the Canacona market and some day just to visit Agonda beach. The roads were fantastic and the ride was therapeutic, so much so that when we were staying in Agonda, we hired a vehicle for all the days.
The same weekend we visited Cabo De Rama fort in South Goa with our friend who stays in Goa. I was amazed at the fort and the views we saw, it was far better than the only Chapora fort we knew because of Dil Chahta Hai :)). We hiked a lot, clicked a lot and fooled around.
The same day we were heading towards Agonda beach.
"Agonda Sunset" - our stay for the last phase on our trip was also a beach hut sort of a stay. But the best part of it was the hosts were very welcoming and humble. On top of this, the food was very delicious, any delicacy, any variety and you are sure to get a more than satisfactory meal. Same as Palolem, we had included our breakfast in the cost of the stay as we were staying for a longer duration. In Palolem we had a limit of 300 rupees per person, here we didn't. We enjoyed breakfast in our shack as lazy as until 11-11:30 am before starting off with work. The work never stopped, but just being there in my vest and shorts bare footed and looking at the sea the entire day, it felt far-far better than just working from home.
Some days, whenever I could manage, once I rode towards Cola beach, which I felt is overhyped. It was quite small and was overcrowded. The best part was the bumpy trail that you have to ride on. It was a nightmare, yet fun. Coming back up was even more fun ;P and once we rode back towards Palolem just to have a feel of the empty and smooth roads and also to eat as there are not many joints in Agonda, although, we ate most of the time on our shack!
Best part of Agonda Sunset was the terrace from where you could sit and work in the evening while immersing in the setting sun and its colors. I loved every bit of it.
We knew that we had the sea, we had the water sports and we had the trails that we had to hike upon, but we never thought of them as barriers. Ideally, on a trip, we would calculate our options due to limitation of time and would get pressurized to cover as many places as we could which wasn't really bad and it has helped us experience more on less sleep and comfort. But this time it was different, we gave it a pass, we gave it a lot of time, we sat on things we intended. Mornings were usually spent running or exercising on the beach, afternoons in some cafe and evenings in the market. But, in the end, we did all we wanted. We worked like hell, we covered unknown trails and we took multiple dips in the beautiful ocean. Heck, our kayak even toppled on the last heavy wave which was exhilarating and we also tried our hands on the half surf board heaving on the end waves.
"To SLOW DOWN was the first big lesson that the road taught us. It’s the number one thing I’d say to myself if I could go back and start over. It’s the first recommendation I have for new travelers. Slow down. Over planning limits your travels in your own mind, if not in reality. Becoming married to your plan and your self imposed itinerary makes it hard to release the reins and just live in the moment you’re given" - Rolf Potts, Vagablogging.net
The one thing that we have learnt from this particular much needed trip is to "Slow Down". There is indeed no need to rush. Whatever you want to do, you will get time, you can sit on it, eat on it, sleep on it, but there will be time for every thig you intend to do. There could be trips where you couldn't do something, but then there could be another future trip where you did multiple stuff. We all run whilst at home, at our workplaces, in life in general. The only thing that could separate you from the usual crowd is to slow the fuck down and see what happens!
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