Goa: Agonda Beach

I started the day with a dip in the warm Arabian Sea. The beach is wide and quiet (well, except for the cawing crows and the occasional insane outburst from packs of the ubiquitous mongrel dogs that roam the place). There seems to be older tourists around here; unlike further north, this isn’t a party beach, thank goodness.

After breakfast – I had a honey pancake, Carol had muesli – we went for a walk along the single narrow dirt road that is Agonda, lined with little shops and stalls, restaurants, places to stay and the occasional bar. I got some cash at an ATM, bought a new pair of cheap sunglasses, and Carol bought some shorts and pants from a stallholder (she always buys from the female stallholders and always wins them over with her kindness and smiles). It is very, very hot, and I’m feeling it more as I’m still not well. In fact when we got back to the villa I collapsed on the bed for the rest of the day. I have absolutely no energy and I’m still battling nausea.

So I listened to podcasts, read a bit, and slept a lot. Had a few mouthfuls of chicken biryani for dinner. Not the most romantic of Valentine’s Days, but then we don’t mark that day usually anyway!

15th February

This morning we walked along the beach after breakfast and I had a dip in the ocean. My stomach is still unhappy and I’m pretty weak. Carol spent quite some time organising a car to take us to Badami tomorrow – figures ranged from 6,000-24,000R! The online booking sites are very hard to use.

After relaxing for a while, and finally catching up in this diary over a lunch of bread and hummus, we headed out again in the cooler temperatures of the afternoon. I withdrew some more cash (10,000 R, about 200 NZD, seems to be the maximum I can withdraw at a time), Carol went off to buy a couple of things, and we met up at a cool little outdoor cafe called Zest and had a drink; both of us sweating buckets until we cooled down under the electric fans. My stomach didn’t rebel against a beer, which was good.

Another break at the villa, then just before sunset we strolled out to find a nearby restaurant called Treetops, which turned out to be the perfect place for our last night in Goa, built up one story among the trees and with no walls. I had another two beers and a Goan kingfish curry. I seem to be functioning normally again! The place was quietly playing 80s and 90s dance and pop tracks, but it was very laid back, relaxed and atmospheric.

Well, if I had to be sick, this was the perfect place to get over it. Tomorrow, a long car journey which neither of us are looking forward to, but the distances between places are always huge in India …