After leaving Mumbai, we arrived in Goa by plane on December 9th, 2011. When booking our flight and our hotel, we didn't realize how far the airport was from the hotel and that we would have to take a bus to arrive at our destination. We landed at the Goa airport around 4 pm and arrived at our hotel around 11 pm. It was a very long and hot bus ride!

Goa has the reputation of being beach party central in India. It was a very popular destination for the " hippie" scene back on the 70s and has remained the way until today. Long before it became a party city, back in 1498, Goa was a Portuguese colony and remained occupied for almost 500 years, until1961. Proof of the colony is found on the many Christians Goans, the churches and a few Portuguese speaking locals.

Palolem is one of the beaches located the farthest South in Goa. Though we didn't visit the Northern and central beaches, we were told that Palolem is also one of the most quiet and one of the most beautiful beaches on the western coast. There are two main streets in Palolem and both are lined with tourist oriented shops. As you walk down one of the streets, you are guaranteed to be invited into countless stores to have " just a look". Once inside, the store keeper is an aggressive salesperson and it is difficult to walk away without upsetting them.
Most of the people in Palolem are tourists. The local people are either shopkeepers, fishermen, work in the restaurants, or work at hotels.

During our stay, we rented a room at the Om Sai Guest House, located not too far from the beach. The staff were incredibly friendly and helpful. One of the workers, an 18 year old boy named John, lived at the hotel and took care of everything the guests could possibly need. He quickly became a friend.

The rumors about the beauty of the beach did not disappoint. Fine sand and palm trees are everywhere and the fishermen sort through their daily catch on the beach. Restaurants line the back of the beach and offer long chairs for sun bathing to their customers. The water of the Arabian sea is warm and is shallow far out into the sea providing a large area for swimming.

Adjacent to our beach, separated by a large stream, was a smaller beach with tall rocks. When the tide was high, it was possible to cross the stream but the water reached as high as the waist. However, when the tide was low, the stream disappeared and the once isolated beach became an extension of the main beach.

Upon our arrival at our hotel, we met a Dutch man who was traveling the west coast of India, from Mumbai to Kochi, on his bicycle. We had supper with him on a few occasions and found out that he had also traveled through Thailand and he showed us a few pictures he had taken. We got a sneak peak of what we have to look forward to later on in our trip.

Our first few days were spent laying around the beach and enjoying the hot sand on our feet. The tranquility of the beach was also greatly appreciated after the chaos of Mumbai.

After a few days, we got to know some of the local restaurant owners. Most of these places were more like food stands than actual restaurants but the food was made fresh in front of us. On a few occasions, we ate omelette sandwiches at a stand near the beach. We joked wit the cook and always asked him to make them " half power" so they wouldn't be too spicy. He also made a good egg fried rice and delicious chai. We also met a Nepalese man who was cooking in Palolem for the tourist season. He made us some great crepes and some good Thai chicken noodles. Since everything is cooked in a wok, the food choices at the food stands are generally limited to omelets, fried rice, noodles, samosas or boom booms (same filling as samosas but the batter around it is thinner and made of chickpea flour). We did find one stall that served delicious chilly chicken. This was chicken sautéed with some vegetables in a sauce that resembles the taste of general tao sauce, and it was served with a generous portion of rice.

On the beach, the local fishermen are constantly offering boat tours to go see the two nearby beaches, Butterfly beach and Honeymoon beach, or to go have a look at the dolphins. After a few days of constantly hearing about these beaches, we decided that it would be less expensive to rent a kayak and go see the beaches ourselves. India is all about bargaining, so when the cost of the kayak was of 200 rupees an hour, we bargained and managed to reduce by half and ended up paying only 300 rupees for a 3 hour rental. We kayaked all the way up butterfly beach, which took us about an hour. It was very small and isolated but just like Palolem, it was beautiful. As for the dolphin sighting boat ride, while we were swimming one day, I spotted a dolphin about 15 meters away from us. We watched as he slowly swam our into the sea.

Our next adventure was renting a scooter to go to Agonda, a nearby beach that is protected from becoming a tourist destination because it is where turtles choose to lay their eggs. it was a little difficult to find but we eventually reached our destination. The beach was almost deserted except for a few sunbathers and restaurants. I walked for a long time along the beach and found many interesting seashells. We then had to go back to Palolem to return to scooter. It was an enjoyable day trip!

We stayed a total of 8 nights in Palolem, and as relaxing and enjoyable as it was, it was time for us to change cities and experience a bit more culture. Besides the beach, there is not much to do or see in Palolem.

We left on December 16th and took our very first sleeper bus to a nearby city called Hampi. The sleeper bus proved to be a very interesting experience!