Welcome to Our Little House In Goa, India

Welcome to Our Life in Goa and Our Little House in Anjuna!

After months on the road, and months apart, Kevin and I are delighted to have somewhere to call home, even if it just for a while. We’ve lost count of how many sleeper buses and night trains we have endured and how many noisy hostels and cheap guest houses we’ve laid our head in, so for a couple of months at least, it’s nice to stay still and play house.

Don’t get me wrong, I am still as obsessed with travel as ever but I find that the more I travel, the slower I travel. Spending a few days ticking off the tourist sights in each place no longer fulfills me, I want to get under the skin of a place, have time to take in every little detail and to get to know the locals.

So, we’ve revisited a place that was special to us at the start of our indefinite journey 2 years ago, somewhere that pulled on my heart strings to come back – Goa.

Why we love Anjuna

We checked out Palolem but already the beautiful crescent beach is already too packed with beach huts, tourist shacks and holiday makers – I needed a different vibe.

Hippy Anjuna has long been a favourite with dread locked and tie died long stayers ever since the days of the Hippie Trail. Anjuna is famous for the Wednesday Flea Market and Goan trance music but thankfully the trance parties have calmed down now and it’s become a popular place for yoga.

Anjuna may be a little scruffy around the edges but it has character and charisma.  I like how Anjuna is spread out, it helps to retain a more local feel rather than shoulder to shoulder guest houses and touristy shops.

Sometimes a place just feels right and calls for you to unpack your bags and stay a while.

Finding a place to call home

After a few days of asking around we found the cutest little house to rent in a quiet street on the outskirts of Anjuna.

Our house is not big and its not luxurious but it has everything we need – A living room, a tiny bathroom and kitchen, with the luxury of hot water, and a bedroom with hard, Indian style beds but plenty of shelves and places to put everything.

It’s the little things that count – being able to fully unpack, finding a little place for everything, a little shelf for our books, a little nook to display our trinkets and a space to hang the art we’ve collected along the way.

The house is a little sparse but after we decorated with some sequined posters of Hindu gods, bought some fresh bed sheets, made candles from empty beer bottles (essential for the almost daily power cuts) and threw up various sarongs and saris as curtains, it started to feel like home.

 The laid back Goan lifestyle

Now I can relax, breathe, write, work knowing that I don’t have to up and move on in a couple of days. Just having the luxury of time and my own space, to sit, to soak it all in, just to be.  Taking things slowly allows the time to really get to know the area and people It gives me a much deeper connection to this place I love so much.

It’s almost too easy to relax in the laid back life style of Goa and the sunshine filled days pass alarmingly quickly.

I take great joy in little pleasures, I enjoy being able to make a cup of tea and a boiled egg in the morning just the way I like it and sit quietly on the porch watching the breeze rustling through the shady palm trees and listening to the birds. I find a quiet comfy place to sit with my laptop and just wait for the creativity and inspiration that seems to wash over me in this part of the world.

I sit out spending endless hours chatting on the steps outside to my neighbour, listening to the sound of Indian music wafting through the trees and watching ladies immaculately in colourful silk saris going to the temple or going shopping.

I’ve given all the street dogs names,and the cats and cows that live on the dusty path outside our little house. The dogs run up to me when I walk down the path, wagging to greet me and wanting to play or just sit out on our porch and fed them whatever scraps I have left from dinner .

Our tiny kitchen just has a mismatched array of basic utensils, a fridge and a single gas hob. Cooking here is a bit like cooking when camping but we can cook a couple of basic dishes, pasta and eggs, boil water for those all important cups on tea and keep drinks chilled. I’m also learning how to make Indian food and luckily, eating out is cheap.

Our little house is on the outskirts of Anjuna, a couple of kms from the beach but this means it has a more local feel and it is also quieter (the delicious sound of silence is a rare find in India!)

We’ve hired a motorbike for the month too to zip around the village, down to the beach and I love to just explore without really having to end up anywhere in particular.  The little junction just up the path from our house is dominated by a large white Portuguese style church and has everything we need, a couple of small shops, a popular expat super market, a roast chicken take away,  and best of all – an amazing real Italian gelato place.

Sitting here with a delicious ice cream and watching the world go by in a buzz of scooters is a way I treat myself when I’ve finished my writing for the day.

The luxury of time to pursue a passion

It’s a luxury to wake up each day and think “what will I do today?” a luxury to not be confined to a schedule. For the days when the inspiration to write doesn’t come I revive my senses by zipping through the Goan countryside, through green paddy fields and past colourful houses or to stroll along the beach, feeling the sand between my toes and the sea breeze in my hair or watching the sun set over the crashing Arabian sea. Nothing soothes my soul like the sunshine and the sea.

It’s not just me living this life in paradise, I’m surrounded by others who have come to Goa to have the time to pursue their passions – whether it’s yoga, writing, art or making boutique crafts. And the best part, living in paradise is much more affordable than you might think. I’ve broken down all our costs here in –  How to Live in Paradise for Less Than £10 a Day (about $16)- Or…. How to Rent a House in Goa. 

Do you Live to Travel, or Travel to Live?

   

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