January 29, 2024

Trip to Goa

This weekend, a group of students and I found ourselves on a last minute trip to Goa. For breakfast the first day we went to a beachside restaurant a block from our hotel. We were happy to see eggs and bacon on the menu and all got a taste of home while looking at the tropical beach. After breakfast, we wandered down the beach and found some chairs to set up camp. With the sun on me and a cup of pineapple juice by my side, I was finally where I had been craving to be since I arrived in India. All was peaceful until some of us tried to approach the water. Upon arrival, swarms of men came up to us asking for photos. To avoid the chaos, me and Elena ran directly into the water to cool off. The water was not particularly clean, had a smell unlike any ocean I’ve ever been in and was full of too many Indian men staring at us to count. After less than a minute we were satisfied with our cool off and ran out of the water to escape the people who were swimming closer. This experience was unfortunate and uncomfortable, and we realized we may have underestimated how much we’d stand out. We went back to our chairs to read our books and try to zone out the chaos down the beach. In the afternoon, we grew restless from sitting in the hot sun, and the area we were sitting in wanted to turn over our chairs to a different group. We went back to the hotel for cold showers and shade. In the evening, we took a taxi to the Sinquerim Fort where we watched the sunset and some took a dip in the quiet water. We walked down the beach to dinner where we were treated with a fire performance, DJ and fireworks to celebrate Republic day. The next day we decided we wanted to see a different part of Goa for our last full day. We got great recommendations from the guys who ran our hotel and ended up at Arambol beach. Before settling in at the beach for the day, we headed for breakfast. We walked through the streets amazed by how quiet they were and all of the unique pieces being sold in the boutiques that lined the road. We arrived at Lamuella Bistro, a tranquil sunlit cafe in the back of a store. The cafe was quiet and full of quintessential European yogis. We got breakfast, drank juices and espresso and headed down to the beach. One group found chairs to start soaking up the sun while another tried to find a hike over the Arambol mountain. Instead they came across a beach hidden at the end of a line of shops and hotels built into the side of the mountain wall. At this beach, we played in the waves of fresh clean water and made friends with a group of 18 cousins in town from Gujarat. The time passed quickly and soon we realized our ride home was expecting us at the other end of Arambol. We begrudgingly packed up our stuff and made the walk back through vendors stalls and along the coast with the sun fully setting as we reached the car. The trip was a clear success as everyone fell asleep on the car ride home – a tell-tale sign of a good day in the sun and sea.

By Lucy