We are living a simple beach life in South Goa.  It is “off-season” here and we enjoy all perks associated with this time of the year.  To tell the truth, I was completely unprepared for the life on the beach in the hut.   So I am adjusting slowly, but my husband fully enjoying every minute from day one.

We arrived to Goa’s airport and then went by car to the South Goa. We got the best price – Rs. 1,400 (approximately $25 US) for the car with the A/C. However, we learned that we need to pay extra Rs.300 if want the A/C on. Who knew! Discuss the price ahead of time if you want to use A/C in your car.

Following people’s advice, we did not book the room for the first night. We just walked into the first open resort and asked to show us the room.  Almost all accommodations are the small huts, cottages, or even tents, built on the sand.

Private bathrooms with the cold shower are attached to the hut, and some resorts have a hot water. All is so basic.  No A/C if you stay in the sea front hut, and, in most cases, no A/C at all. However, the prices are relatively high.  The simplest hut/bungalow without sea view – Rs. 1,500 (around $25 US) per night.  The sea view hut at the same resort – Rs. 2,500 ($41).  And in November/December, the price is doubled.

After visiting a few resorts and long negotiations, we settled at the sea view cabana/hut without A/C but with the hot water for the Rs.3,000/night ($50).  We feel that it is expensive.  We stayed in very nice hotels in India for far less, but what to do?  We did not want to compromise the quality of our life, so we choose to pay extra for the empty beach and nice view:

Room and open air shower

Sunset – a view from the room

Really nice empty beach with a few friendly local visitors:

There are nice hotels in the nearest beach towns, but they have crowded and sometimes dirty beaches, thousands of tourists, drinking, smoking, etc.

The food is relatively inexpensive here.  Freshly squeezed juice or shake is less than $2.  The average meal for two is around $6.  We are spending less than $30 per day for all the food, glossaries, and bottled water, that we use for everything, including washing the fruits.  Every day we are buying papaya, mango, oranges, watermelon, mini bananas, and other fruits and vegetables that are in season from the local vendors.

Local offerings for non-veg folks:

Morning walk…  Does this stone on the left look like God Ganesha taking the bath in the Arabian Sea?

Many people ask if we plan to retire in India.  We enjoy every minute here, but we do not plan to retire in India. We like this country and people, and use our time here to slow down and recuperate before we’ll move on to our next destination.