When I was planning my trip to India, I never thought that I was going to go to the beach. I know India has beaches, but I wasn’t planning on visiting one. I usually don’t like to go, but I wanted to go outside of Hyderabad and see a different region. A few other students and I decided to go to Palolem, which seems to be the happening spot for traveling Europeans. The people were nice, the beach was beautiful, and I enjoyed my time there.
We arrived Thursday night and found a place to stay at. We ended up choosing a place called Cressida which was a little neighborhood of huts. They were made out of bamboo, hay, and palm leaves. They only had the basic necessities and the only luxurious thing about them is that it had a western toilet instead of a squat and the bed had a mosquito net included. It was really close to the beach and had a cute porch included that also had a hammock. I wouldn’t have minded staying there a few extra nights.
The next morning, right when we stepped out on the beach, I heard reggaeton music playing. I wasn’t expecting to hear Spanish music in India so I was excited. We ate breakfast at a place called Cuba which had delicious food and tea but it takes them over an hour to bring out your food. We spent the next few days eating, shopping, and being lazy around the beach.
Almost every shopkeeper thought I was Indian. On our first night there, on yelled at me “Hey you’re Indian! Come here! What’s your name?!” but I just walked away. I was with a bunch of Americans and one Danish girl who was born in India. The people at the beach assumed I was Indian. A few of them asked if I was half Indian. When I told them that my family was from El Salvador, none of them had ever heard of the country. Only the guy sitting next to me on the plane said he had heard of it.
A large percent of the restaurants on the beach had names in Spanish or attempted to, like Cuba, Havana, Cafe Del Mar, and Ma-Rita just to name a few. In one Italian restaurant, they were actually playing bachata music! That really surprised me and I was glad too because they played an old Aventura song that I listened to alot during high school. I felt like I was in the Caribbean instead of India because of the Latin influence.
On Sunday morning, I tried kayaking for the first time. I don’t know how to swim so it was petrifying. I wanted to try something new, plus my roommate is really good at swimming so I knew I was in good hands. It was more exhausting than I had anticipated but it was fun. We tried going all the way to a little island but because of the time of the day, it was low tide and it would be too rocky to get there.
The time we spent away from the beach was spent in the shops at the nearby marketplace. I like to shop but it’s so hard to shop in India. The prices are way higher than they need to so you have to bargain all the time. I am a terrible bargainer but I’m getting better. On top of that, on the beach there are people who come up to you to sell items. They hassle you into seeing their merchandise, then they won’t stop bothering until you buy something. The first day at the beach was the worst because I couldn’t say ‘no’ and I ended up buying several unnecessary items. The next few days were better because I learned how to say ‘no’ and so I wasn’t hassled so much.
One of the ladies who hassled us into buying some items invited us to her house for tea. She was very nice and showed us around her neighborhood. She was only 21 and has been married since she was 18. She is originally from Gujarat but moved to Goa with her husband to work and save money to hopefully open up their own shop. She lived in a house that only had one room which was a bedroom, kitchen, and living room.
I enjoyed my trip to Goa. It’s a beautiful state and I wanted to see more of it. I wish I could have stayed longer, but I can’t neglect my studies. I hope to go again, later this semester, but probably not back to Palolem.
Ma-Rita was our favorite place to go eat because it was cheap and had loads of choices. The food didn’t taste as good as the pricier restaurants, but we were on a budget.
The country side of Goa was beautiful, the pictures really don’t express it well.
