Benaulim Beach

We've made it to our second stop, a place called Benaulim in South Goa. We've found a much more draconian web cafe with all sorts of access restrictions so we can't upload any photos sadly :(

This is where we are ish :
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=goa&sll=51.514997,-0.058707&sspn=171.363764,360&ie=UTF8&ll=15.251727,73.933525&spn=0.08877,0.142822&z=12&iwloc=A

The journey down here was a small mission, as it was the first bit we've done under our own steam with our packs on. Obviously we ignored pretty much all the advice and packed everything we'd ever need so things are a little heavy going in the baking heat. We made it as far as the bus terminal in Panajim (thats where we were before) and got ourselves on a bus to Margao (the Goan equivalent of Birmingham by all accounts.) This wasn't so bad, it was pretty fast going and we managed to get off at the right place.

The bus stations we've come across so far having been massive chaotic affairs, with people shouting destinations all the time and 10-20 buses charging around and another 20 or so parked up. People have been really helpful and always point you in the direction of the right bus. One pitfall is that places seem to have at least 2 names; the one the government would like people to call somewhere, and the name people actually do call it... sometimes its not entirely clear which one the guide book is using. Anyway, we managed to find the bus to Benaulim - only to find the driver asleep on the back seat.

Turns out the bus wasn't due to leave for a while so we sat in the baking hot sauna for 30 mins or so. The journey from Margao to Benaulim was a bit more hectic, lots of stops and traffic and shouting as we made it through the town. Once we hit the coast though everything seemed to calm down a lot.

The ride took about 30 minutes to get to the crossroads at the top of town, at which point we were back under our own steam with packs on our backs. We had a guesthouse place in mind nearer the beach, and set off - ignoring the usual shouts for taxis and autorickshaws. Silly silly move, within minutes I was soaked with sweat and Alex was cackling gleefully at my misfortune. The walk took about 20 minutes, I must have lost about 4 pints of water but we made it, and the place had air con!! Heaven.

The sun had come out completely by this point and it was baking hot, so the beach was the best place for us. Its still the off-season here, so there is hardly anyone around; we walked for miles down the beach and didn't see another soul. Because of the rains there are really bad undercurrents in the sea, so sadly no swimming for us.

Come the evening the few bars that are still open at the beach front came alive a bit. We sat looking out onto the sea and had a beer, played some cards (Jen - Alex has already started beating me at cribbage gah!) and then had the tastiest whole red snapper we'd ever eaten, all for about 3 quid each. Bargain. Looking forward to dinner again tonight thats for sure.

From there we moved onto another bar on the beach and drank 90p cocktails until we were a little tipsy(!) and then headed back. Thanks to the air con I managed to get a good nights sleep, but sods law it was actually too cold for Alex - typical!

Today we've been wandering around, its been cloudy but the humidity is a killer! We might rent some bikes tomorrow and explore a bit, but there really isn't that much to do here - there aren't any watersports or beach sun loungers as its the off season. So we may look to move on after that, either further south to another beach or start thinking of heading north towards Delhi.

Hopefully we'll find a better internet place soon and can put some more pictures up!