The Flea Market at Anjuna

Getting to the Wednesday flea market at Anjuna can be half the fun; you can take a bus or a motorcycle taxi, or a fisherman's boat from Baga, which is quicker (15 min by boat, 30 min by road). Although you will still find hippies there, it really isn't their market anymore. Now dominated by Lambani nomads in their striking clothes and jewelry, and craftspeople from elsewhere in India, the market is a splash of red and orange in a flat clearing above the rocky beach. Bead and white metal bangles, necklaces and earrings, silver toe rings, embroidered shoulder bags, silk and cotton sarongs, and ethnic footwear are among the more ordinary products on sale. If you look carefully, there are all sorts of other things here as well, from used motorbikes of uncertain age to do-it-yourself mehendi henna-tattoo kits. Buy a crochet bikini, tops and skirts embroidered with tiny mirrors top, or a tie-dye bandana to enhance your wardrobe for those really formal occasions, or just sit back at the market bar and down a ridiculously cheap beer while someone braids your hair deftly or offers to tattoo, pierce, or otherwise mutilate various parts of your anatomy. When your day's bargains have been struck (and getting things for a third or less of the quoted price is not uncommon), join the rest of Anjuna down at the shore. Be careful not to bargain unfairly, because you run the risk of a sarcastic "take it for free?" from one of the tribal women. The market only appears during the tourist season; during the monsoon there's a smaller market in Anjuna just above the main town beach.