We’ve definitely lost all track of time and what day it is. Everything’s blended into a hot lazy blur of Goan sun, sand and spicy food, all washed down with a steady even flow of icy cold Kingfishers. The other night we swam down at the beach until sunset – a perfect orange glow – followed by prawn biryani, chicken coconut masala and pan fried prawns (rawa). It would be a sin not to focus on fresh seafood in this part of the world. Jit is in love with the chef’s signature dish, fresh tandoori snapper, now a staple of the day for us! Yesterday we made our way to Agonda to check out the markets – a long road parallel to the beach and dotted with little shops and roadside open-air bars and cafes. We parked up at @indah_desa where a young guy made us the perfect gin, cucumber, mint and elderflower cocktails, super sweet, ice cold and very generous with the Hendricks, we just couldn’t fault his supernatural mixologist abilities. There are lots of Russians at Agonda beach! And a lot of Kashmir influence – I picked up a cheap pashmina and antique padlock for next to nothing but gorgeous treasures.

Palolem is about 15 minutes by taxi from Agonda, and we stopped off on our way back to Cabo De Rama to have a look around. The fruit and vegetable market was something to behold. Huge piles of herbs and leaves, fresh, fresh tropical fruit, and colourful aromatic spices. I loved looking at all the dried chilis, and it was funny to see older gents who’d given up for the day, snoozing behind their stalls flat on their backs on a spongy bed of banana leaves. Mayhem broke out temporarily when a rogue cow (sacred) sneakily made his way in to the narrow maze-like lanes, then panicked when he realised he wasn’t going to be allowed to dine on any fresh produce after all.

We got our taxi driver to drop us a couple of kilometres from where we’re staying so we could amble along the side of the road in the sticky hot sun and take more of the true village life in. We stopped at a dusty General Store for a couple of Kingfishers (of course – the king of good times!) and watched as random young-couples-in-love appeared out of nowhere by bike and headed up to one of the small private rooms for rent, presumably to be alone and away from the communal (and very public) family home and papa’s scolding! It was a bit like a scene from an old Clint Eastwood goodie – complete with older guy ‘just passing through’ who’d nodded off at one of the tables after too many whiskey shots, and an elderly woman with lots of colourful bangles and a limp, staring to where the long straight road meets the horizon. I wonder what she made of all the young love.

The last stop at what seems like an intersection in the middle of nowhere was where we had a plateful of salty spicy vegetable pakoras and tandoori prawns next to a table of thirty-somethings. They had been on a ‘business expedition’ at a place up the road and were now starting their journey back to Mumbai. One of the guys in the group was goaded by his compadres to tell everyone about his broken heart, his love for a married woman with three children which will never be. And this I think sums up Goa for me. Epic, pristine, intoxicatingly beautiful beaches fringed with little touches of sadness. It’s just too good to be true and so very impossible to make it last forever, no matter how hard we blink and wish it could.