From Calangute Beach, the busiest beach in Goa, we headed north to Ajuna, which is famous for a Wednesday Flea Market. The beach was less impressive and had a lot of red rock formations that where concealed just under the surf at high tide, which made swimming a little more risky if you didn't know where to go. The tourist population seemed to be made up of old hippies re-living the glory days of the Goa party days of old. Only a few years ago, Ajuna was home to all night rave parties, but due to new law regulating late night noise the parties have died out or moved on to other beaches.
We came up for the Wednesday Flea Market but had a day to explore as well, and during the first morning we were warned about Holi. We heard several versions of why the holiday is celebrated. One was that it was either Ganash's or Shiva's birthday a week earlier and they were celebrating the full moon after his birthday. The second was a celabration tied to a story about Shiva, in which the other two primary gods, Bramah and Vishnue where argueing about which god was greatest when Shiva appeared in a Lingum, or shaft of light, that Brama and Vishnue could not see the top or bottom of, and therefore, Shiva was greatest. But, the most consistent story was that Holi is a celebration of the end of winter. And in the south, it is not celebrated as much due to the lack of a winter, so this may also be why the people in Goa, have less understanding as to why they are celebrating... but they aren't going to turn down an opportunity either.
So, what happens on Holi? People get brightly colored rice powder and throw it at, or smear it on, anything that moves. Again, in the north it is suppose to be more intense but it was crazy enough for me in Goa. Our guide actually told us they tell westerners not to even go outside in places like Varanasi, because locals get a little to crazy and have even torn clothes off of people on the streets. Another guy we met, that has been coming to India often, said a friend of his was knocked off of a bike at 40 KM/H when he was hit in the face with an entire bag of Holi flour. And Lonely Planet said there have been limited cases of acid being mixed with the coloring in sprays leaving permanent scars... of course we learned about all this after our day of Holi.
For Ross and I, our Holi day began at the beach before breakfast, where some kids asked first and then smeared our cheeks and foreheads with different colors. After breakfast, we rented scooters and hit the road, where we found ourselves in Holi hell. After leaving the main road, we began to run into Holi road blocks, manned by a collection of kids and some adults, that covered us with more color and told us to pay a toll to pass. We made it about 500 meters and hit about seven road blocks before our toll funds and patients began to run out. We were then caught between two road blocks and both were demanding tolls, to either move forward or retreat back the way we came. We parked our bikes and waited them out for few minute until they finally accepted 5 rupees to pass and head back the way we had come. (According to the locals giving money or small gifts is common on Holi and often people asked for 'boxes' when they Holied us, which they translated to Rupees for us.) Fortunately for us, we were able to pass through all our previous road blocks with little to no hassle and returned to the beaches where it was 'safer.'
We stopped in Arambol, one of the northern most beaches, for lunch and to scout out possible new place to stay. During and after lunch, we watched a Holi ambush develop, which painted everyone that entered or exited the beach. Arambol was a nice stretch of beach and had a pretty good sized western tourist population, which was a mix of old hippies, Russians, and others. We checked out a few hill side bungalows before heading back to Ajuna for the Flea Market. By this time, we were fully Holi and received many compliments on our 'nice Holi.'
It was a wild experience, but one we only want to live through once. The following days we learned that various villages celebrate on different days and we were hesitant to venture out for fear of a second dose of Holi. We did see others with splashes of color but managed to avoid any further doses of Holi ourselves. Our clothes are still stained, and it took about three days to wash the Holi out of our Hair and skin. In the Lonely Planet it recommends wearing an old shirt from grandma that you never where and wouldn't mind turning from bland to psychedelic, which is sound advice.
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