After our time in the desert we were SO excited to move on to the south! Between Nepal and Northern India we hadn't seen the ocean or been truly warm in 6 full weeks.. WAY too long for us!!! The beach was calling and we were ready to answer!!
We like doing some volunteer work on our trips to help us save money and to enjoy new experiences. We love volunteering for a couple reasons; first of all, after you’ve been on the road for a while, it’s really nice to lay your bags down for a while and feel a sense of family or community. It’s also really nice to stay somewhere for a little while as you get to see the area through the eyes of a local instead of someone just passing through. For the past few years we’ve been using a website called www.workaway.info. It’s an incredible platform for hosts and volunteers all over the world to find each other. The volunteer placements vary from farming and guest houses to NGO’s, orphanages and everything in between. We love it because the membership fee is cheap and the hosts/volunteers can rate and review their experiences together making it easier to know what to expect when you get there. It’s incredibly rewarding and we’ve not had a bad experience yet!! Usually we work for 3 to 7 hours a day and the host will provide accommodation and sometimes some or all of your meals.
We had organized 3 weeks at an animal rescue sanctuary in Arambol, one of the northernmost beaches of Goa, but first we had to get there from Jaisalmer!!! It took us 45 long, slow hours on 2 different busses. We’ve done our fair share of long bus rides all over the world and one thing they all have in common, is they’re guaranteed to test your patience LOL. One thing we love about the busses in India is if you pay a little extra, you can travel ‘sleeper-class’ which means you have a full double bed to stretch out on for the length of your journey so you can snooze away the hours, watch movies if you like or just stare out the window from the “comfort” of your bed. As you can imagine, the cleanliness and comfort can vary quite a bit from bus to bus, but this is India, and you take what you get LOL.
When we finally arrived in Arambol, we walked straight out to the beach to find a place to stay. The whole beach is lined with simple but nice little huts for rent. We chose Baltika Huts located towards the southern end of Arambol beach, 20 meters from the warm waters of the Indian Ocean.
Photo Credit: Baltika Beach Huts
The only thing standing between us and the sea was their lovely little restaurant. It turned out that it was located only 50 meters from our future volunteer work.. we had no idea then how much time we would spend there enjoying their cold Kingfisher beers and their comfy umbrellaed sun beds! The guys running the show there are super lovely, they came to feel like family in no time!
Photo Credit: Baltika Beach Huts
Photo Credit: Baltika Beach Huts
On our first day in town, we decided to pop in to the animal rescue camp to introduce ourselves to Rani, the lady who runs the camp. She was raised in Africa, she’s traveled the world for most of her life, living in many Asian countries. She’s been there in Arambol at the I Love Goa Dogs rescue camp for 8 years now, opting to stay for the last 3 monsoons to carry on the much-needed work of feeding, sterilizing and caring for injured and abused animals. People often arrive with intentions of staying a short while and are so moved by the work that they stay on much, MUCH longer.
When we arrived in town, she had too many volunteers so she asked us to hang out for a few days and start a little later, which was kind of perfect because we wanted a little time to unwind from our journey and we were pretty excited to beach bum it for a while. For 4 days we ate, drank and went swimming all day long.
The food in Goa is very different from the north of India with less heat and it’s slightly sweet. The curries are SO GOOD!!! We got fairly addicted to the paneer butter masala and the malai kofta. They’re absolutely mind blowing and every restaurant puts their own little spin on it.. they’re all fucking amazing!!!!
Photo Credit: Baltika Beach Huts
After gorging ourselves on curry and Kingfisher beers for a few days, we were ready to do something productive for a while! Next time we'll tell you all about our move to the I Love Goa Dogs animal rescue camp.. be prepared for puppy and kitten cuteness overload!!!!