Clandestine Gatherings

After my last few days in Goa, I decided it deserves a little more credit than I gave it during the previous post - the missing parties after 10:00pm turn out to flourish incognito. As is true with many things in life, you just have to meet the right people. I decided to post a primer on how to find late night parties in Goa.

1. Get out of the touristy areas: Whether you're in Baga or Calangut, however enticing the nightspots are for staying open late, you need to get out of there. The real party's elsewhere, and those partiers *hate* everything having to do with these two developed beach towns . . .
2. At around 8:00pm, hop on your motorscooter, friend in tow, and drive around secluded and dusty Anjuna and Vagator aimlessly (these are areas where the long term foreign population staying from anywhere between 3 month and 30 years reside, often in remote ramshackle guest stays that rent barely in excess of $1 a day): When you hear the music blaring over the hilltops, stop the bike and wander on foot till you find the clearing where the rave is taking place.
3. Meet as many people as you can: Not everybody knows where the post-10pm party is, and this way you're more likely to meet the owner or organizer of the next rave that night. It helps if you've dressed like you're going to Burning Man - it breaks the ice a lot more easily. No, I will not post action shots.

The first outcome of following this primer found my friend and me in an abandoned church converted to a home stay / club venue. I felt fortunate that the guests were only 50% Russian instead of the typical 90%, so I could converse much more easily.
Consequently the last few days (read nights) in Goa were much more entertaining, and it wasn't with just a little fast-onset nostalgia that I boarded the Kingfisher jet to India's mini-Silicon Valley.