After the amazing experience in Saraya and the very difficult good byes, we were ready to explore the south of Goa... we wanted to go to Palolem but we heard that Patnem was cheaper, nicer and walking distance from Palolem so it became the destination... this time it was different.. it wouldn't be only the two of us.. Agata and Mateusz were going as well... we decided to meet in Patnem on Tuesday, 24th of November.
After two months and a half of travelling we decided to try something new... hitchhicking. We wrote two posters with the possible destinations, Margao (big city on the way to Palolem) and Palolem (from here we could walk and arrive in Patnem) and we put ourselves by the road with a smile on our faces waiting for some nice person to stop. A lot of people looked, some taxis stopped hopping to make some money and more or less 20 minutes later a small car with an Indian family inside stopped. They say they were on their way to Colva beach so they could leave us in Margao. We happily thanked and got into the car. It was a nice family, the guy was an architect that used to work for Target (American grocery store) from their offices in Bangalore and he lived in Minneapolis for two months in the winter so, obviously we had a lot to talk. In Margao we were half way to Palolem, we started to show our poster for hitchhicking, hopping that someone would stop but unfortunately they had dropped us on the other side of the town, not on the way to Palolem so after more or less 40 minutes we decided to get a local bus to Palolem/Patnem that was only 40 ruppies and it would allow us to look for a place to stay during the day.
In Patnem we followed the same strategy as in Arambol to look for a place, Kika waited at the beach with the backpacks and Pedro would look for a room. We found that Patnem was a bit expensive, the only place that we found for 350 in the beach didn't have light nor fan, we found one room inside the village for 400 and another huts for 500 or more some even 2000 ruppies. When Agata and Mateusz arrived we decided that our best solution would be to find a small house, we would be able to cook and save on meals. After a few conversations with locals we found the perfect spot, a small pretty house close to the beach for 1000 ruppies a day, 500 ruppies each. We were happy with the feeling that we had a home. Agata and Mateusz, that love to cook, immediately started to think about possibilities for dinner... we were really lucky!
The days in Patnem were really relaxed, Patnem is a small coastal village with not a lot to do except to enjoy the beach and the great views. The beach was absolutely beautiful, so far the best one in Goa...
On the first day we started with a tough yoga class and we walked from Patnem to Palolem and every few steps was another stunning view. Small huts... fishing boats... beautiful stones... amazing palm trees... little beaches... a big hill and... Palolem... we couldn't stop taking pictures... it was one of the most beautiful walks at least until that moment.
We enjoyed the beach but when the sun was in its full power we decided to stop for a small meal until the sun started to lose his strength and allowed us to continue to explore Palolem beach to reach the other side of the beach to see the sunset on the rocks.
We don't know which walk was better.. this time we had amazing rocks.. a small river... a rock with the shape of a shark and a crazy sunset... we were amazed... the day couldn't have gone better... at dinner, Agata and Mateusz prepared another amazing meal... we were in heaven... it was really nice to see how they cook together... we could see how much they love to cook and they do it as a team... we tried so many nice vegetarian dishes and we understood that cooking vegetarian is not that hard... they actually gave us inspiration to try it in the future.. we even took some notes for recipes...
On the other days we visited a natural park, where we were able to see monkeys and Pedro and Mateusz climbed to the top of a tree house (Agata and I decided not to go because the tree was really high and the views were not that great). One of the security guys said that if we were lucky we would be able to see a leopard... in my heart I was thinking we would be lucky if we didn't see it... and honestly I was only confortable carrying the GoPro stick with me just in case we were (un)lucky.
In addiction, we also visited Agonda beach to the north of Palolem. Agonda seemed much less touristic than Patnem and Palolem and obviously cheaper... we liked the environment very much so we checked for rooms and decided that we could stay there for a few days.
Agonda was the first beach that resembled what we imagined of Goa... long beach, warm water, no commerce at the beach and most of the people were actually travellers not tourists. We got nice rooms with a shared porch right by the beach where Agata was able to hang her hammock. Even without having a kitchen we were feeling really confortable... it was pure beach life, eat, drink, play in the water, catch some sun... luckyly we got really good and cheap restaurants... Pedro even tried to climb a palm tree in our garden... the manager of the property started being a very pleasant person but with time we started to see his lack of experience and became very very annoying. Crazy Nico met us for the last day/night it was nice to meet him again... the pace is faster when he is around. Agonda, in general is good for travellers on a budget and for people who don't like crowds.
The south of Goa is really different from the north.. it's cleaner and definitely more relaxed.. there are no parties except the Silent parties in Palolem where people use headphones with dancing music but we didn't try it. The north has more things happening... more markets, Indian tourists, street food, fireworks at the beach and obviously parties. We liked both.. we think it's important to experience the different parts of Goa...
On December 1st it was time to leave Goa... we had to follow the advice from other travelers: "don't get lazy in Goa", "don't stay in your confort zone in Goa"... we thought about heading to Gokarna but map wise it didn't make sense and we still have a lot of beach tourism ahead in Thailand, Vietnam, etc... so we decided to go to Hampi... and guess what?!?! Agata and Mateusz are also going with us... we are almost celebrating a month travelling together! Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to the great Nico... he is an excellent company and we hope we will see him again.. but with him, you never know what to expect so everything can happen! :)
By the time we were leaving Goa we felt sad but curious about the new adventures.. sometimes it's hard to move on but it's part of the experience...
Very nice. Enjoy and have fun!!!
ReplyDeleteMiss you 😘😘