Arriving at Arambol

Cashew fruit with the nut hanging off the bottom

I arrive at Arambol after allowing myself the luxury of a taxi from Baga, on the way the driver points out, well actually no, stops, reverses back 100 yards back the main road and then points out the cashew tree growing by the side of the road. He remarks on the hard work endured, mainly by women, to get theses nuts onto our tables, although its not just the nuts they use, the local liqueur, cashew feni, is also a by product amongst other things (as to the feni's taste I wasn't to experience that till later on). I was greeted by Martin, who was to be my host for what turned out to be the next week staying in one of his sixty rooms at the aptly named Ivon's (a slight spelling mistake he admitted to me later on but it attracted the Russians nonetheless). The room was...well colourful. Each wall was painted a different colour, although I have to admit it was particularly good at showing up the mossies, ten of which I managed to dispatch before I went to bed. The compound itself was just a minutes stroll to the beach over some sand dunes, these dunes were host to a variety of wildlife, mainly the cows and the beach dogs but also to three large pigs who seemed to live in a den at the side of the hotel, they grazed happily on the numerous rubbish tips that frequented the dunes (it appears, so far anyway, that nowhere is sacred when it comes to the odd bit of fly tipping, although take some solace in the fact that every other night someone will come along and burn it at sunset to keep the mosquitoes at bay). Ivons was a pretty sociable place, on my landing I share a balcony with a German and a Swiss and we soon braved Arambols Russian/hippy contingency together.

Ivon's, my room was the bottom left

Arambols beach is much less crowded than that of Baga and Calangute's and the scene is completely different, at its north end is a headland and the south tails of down into Mandrem beach (a bit of an exclusive hot spot, also where the local turtles beach to lay there eggs). There are still the obligatory beach shacks but they are much more sparse and some dedicated solely to soul food, focussing on fresh fruit lassi's and ayuvedic meals. On first impressions the move from Baga seemed to have been a good one, however, I have yet to experience another bit of local wildlife that was soon to come knocking at my door.