Adventures in Goa, India

*Getting picked up from the airport in Goa by a personal driver (he had a sign with my name on it! I felt so special) and taken to a VERY nice house… For some reason I didn't fully connect that Aduth and Anju are wealthy, I mean they own a 5 star resort so I should have known but, I didn't think about it. Their house is beautiful! It is three stories, has all marble floors, is very spacious and clean. The room Tara and I shared looked like a very nice hotel room with a bed, our own tv, an amazing view and a bathroom. They even had white sheets… That is unheard of in India! We were welcomed warmly by Aduth who was just eating dessert when we arrived. He fed us "Naturals" ice-cream that is made with fresh in season fruit, sitaful (custard apple) and coconut.

* They have servants. So when we got up in the morning the first thing we would be asked was "Chai?" by Omesh (my favorite, very sweet servant) then after Chai we would be served breakfast. The first morning we got Goan style scrabbled eggs (eggs with lots of tomatoes, capsicum, onions, and spices in then) and endless toast. Then Anju asked if we would like South Indian breakfast, yes was the obvious answer. We enjoyed idly with sambar and chutney, and dose with aloo masala for the rest of our breakfasts. SO GOOD!

*I totally enjoyed Aduth and Anju. They are lovely! Very welcoming, easy to talk to, and enjoyable to be around. Over the dinners we had with them we talked about our families, learned some history about Goa, and I got to hear more about what Rapid City was like when Aduth lived there. Anju took us with her to Cida de Goa (their resort) several times so we could take advantage of the swimming pool and lawn chairs there. It was so much fun to get to know them a little bit.

*They took us to their grandkids birthday party, which was a showing of "Bugs Life" on one of the lawns of Cida de Goa, where they had chat for dinner, a ton of sweets, popcorn and lots of drinks (milkshakes and juice for the kids, beer for the adults.) We got to meet two of Aduth and Anju's sons and their wives plus lots of friends and kids. It was very fun! Bugs LIfe will now forever be associated with a bit screen in the lawn by the ocean. Can't top that.

*We went on a tour of Goa which included Dona Paulo Point (a great view of the whole cost line), Miramar beach (where there are a few look out towers from the Portuguese), a Shiva Temple, The St. Francis Xavier Basilica (I'm not sure how I feel about that), and the St. Francis cathedral (big with a lot of gold decorations.) Old Goa has a very strong Portuguese influence and it was fun to get to wander around.

*I have already written about out lovely little room. It was a great place for us for the four weeks of Tara's training. The yoga shalla was just one house across from us and the beach was a 5 minuet walk away. The shalla was an open air building with a compact dirt floor. It was so cool to be able to hear the world around you (and occasionally get a visiting animal) while doing yoga. I got to join in the morning asana classes and it was a perfect way to start my days. Then I would spend the day on the beach and Tara would come join me in between classes.

*We met so many wonderful people. Everyone was nice, fun to be around, and welcomed me ion the group with open arms. It was so awesome to have everyone be so nice and I came away with lots of new friends (and invites to go visit them. Explicitly that Tara and I need to go to Oktoberfest in German) (most of my new friends are German)

*I love the beach. We played in the waves, layed in the sun, found sand crab, muscles, and sea stars. It was awesome. AND, contrary to what any of the Indians say, I have a tan!

*I went to see the fruit man every other day… Fruit for breakfast everyday is awesome! Apples, oranges, wonderfully sweet pineapples, the best papaya ever, passion fruit, mud apples, and (my new favorite) sitaful. Best breakfast ever. Then the bread guy would come by at 5 to sell me fresh rolls for 3 rs and the supermarket sold all natural peanut butter. I love peanut butter, we went through 4 (medium) jars in a month… and a jar of sunflower seed butter… and a tiny jar of cashew butter. Hey I just switched to being vegetarian and snacks with protein aren't that easy to find.

*I have found a love for yoga. I am more flexible and a tiny bit stronger after 4 weeks. I found some really tight muscles in my hips and can, finally, do a head stand. Tara is leaving Goa with a teaching certificate, I am leaving Goa knowing how much I enjoy yoga and lots of knowledge just from being around during the training (and reading through Tara's yoga anatomy book. Man it is cool to see all the muscles that you use in yoga.) Tara has promised to continue to teach me as long as I will give her fed back so she can practice teaching. That is a super sweet deal from my side! She is getting to be a very good teacher already and I am going to do every pose perfect with a private teacher who wants to be sure she practices/remembers all the adjustments.

*Booking our train tickets was easy. Way to easy for India… Tara and I left the travel agency with a lurking feeling that something had to go wrong because that was way to smooth… Nothing went wrong! I'm still shocked. Where were you guys when we were trying to get out of delhi?

*Our bus ride to Hyderabad was… ummmmm… well the Night Bus from Harry Potter comes to mind. It was a sleeper bus so Tara and I had a bunk to ourselves with curtains so it was actually semi private and we had room to stretch out and sit however we wanted. The roads in India are rather curvy and bumpy and you can tell that doubly so in a bus. Also the accepted way to drive involves lots of slamming on the breaks (because traffic will randomly stop and people cut you off) followed by flooring it. from our bunk it was a bit like a carnival ride. Thankfully neither Tara nor I ever get car sick, but if you did this bus would not have been good for you! It stopped a couple of times (I think when we were crossing state borders) and police men came onto the bus and checked all the beds. No idea what they were looking for, they would just smile at us and close the curtain again. Tara and I would giggle as the bus would take a big corner and we would grab onto what even was nearest so as not to fall off the bunk. When we tried to sleep you had to have plant your self rather solidly into the bed so you didn't roll all over the place. We took some cat naps and tried not to fall out of bed.


Tomorrow I will tell you about Hyderabad. I love the family we are staying with and have had so much fun with them so far.

Ruminations of a beach bum

This is a little window into my mind this morning as I sit at Pete's Beach Shack drinking my chai contemplating my life:

*The only time the actual hour is important to me is in the morning. I have to be up and at yoga by 8:15… ish. Other than that my day slips by only timed by events… and Tara. Such as: Tara going back to class after breakfast means it's about 11:30; Tara coming down to the beach means its about 1:30; Tara going back to class means I should probably go home because it is around 3; around 5 the bread man comes (a very important event in my day) which means Tara will be done soon then we will change, eat some bread, and head down to the beach for sun set. I have no need for a watch, I have Tara. 

*Sunbathing is a delicate art, involving complex knowledge of exactly how my skin feels when it is on the edge of being just slightly, will fade to tan tomorrow, pink and when it is a real sunburn. Its an art people!

*Living right by a beach showering has become increasingly hard to time. Showering in the morning is a total waste of water because, seriously, you are about to go do 2 hours of yoga then go swim in salt water and lay in the sun. Nothing on that list gives any reason to be clean. Right after lunch where Tara and I (normally) return home is also an inopportune time for a real shower (now is the perfect time for rinsing the salt off your skin) because it takes up time and Tara returns to sweat a bit more and I wander around, which also normally ends with a good amount of sweat, canceling out the good of a real shower. Then there is the gap between the bread guy and the sunset, but walking down the beach in flip flops with lotion on equals needing to rinse off again when you get home. So that leaves right before bed to squeeze in two showers. Sigh such a problem. 

*Our little house (well more apartment) has one room, a tiny kitchen space and an indian bathroom (when I say indian style its only because I haven't seen this lay out anywhere else.) You walk through the front door and our, rather hard, bed is to your left and the table, that is our dresser, is right in front of you. Then there are two plastic chairs, one with laundry on it and one with Tara's backpack (the table/dresser is rather small) and a red plastic stool, that is used both as a breakfast table and a table to put the electronics on when you are trying to charge them. Then you walk through to our tiny kitchen area with the counter and kitchen sink on the wall right in front of you, the fridge and bathroom sink on two other walls. Then into the bathroom where there is a western toilet and the shower, which has no tub or curtain so the whole room gets soaking wet whenever someone showers. Nice and cozy. 

*We're just not going to talk about the plumbing in our house. After a while you just get used to jiggling the faucets to get them to turn off and cold showers are often very refreshing. But if the toilet would learn how to properly flush that would be great, it would probably help if it wasn't cracked. 

*Electricity is… well… Indian. The gezzer (thingy that turns on the little hot water we have) makes the two bare lightbulbs in the kitchen dim by a noticeable amount. The power will probably go out. It's just going to happen. The ceiling fan is the best thing about this whole place. It runs 24/7 (unless the power is out) to try and keep it cool and mosquito free in our house. The light in the main room is a tube florescent and will give you seizers. We don't turn that on in the mornings. You need to get a plug at exactly the right angle to the outlet, which sometimes requires a few books or a tube of bug repellant, then don't breath and give the stool a wide berth.

*The amount of dirt (we live off of dirt paths) and sand on our floor is amazing. It is an unspoken rule that you wash your feet before putting them on the bed. And we seem to need to sweep all the time. 

*I have a million bug bites. I wish I was kidding. I use odomos (Indian bug repellent) like lotion and wear a bug patch at all time. WHY DO THEY STILL BITE ME?

*Cows wandering around the beach, or road, is perfectly normal. The dogs also have free roam and like to make friends with random people.

*The definition of "I almost got hit by a car" now means that the car was within 6 inches of your body and going over 20mph. 

*It is perfectly safe to cross the street if there is a one car gap in traffic. Even less if it is only motor scooters coming at you. They will honk but don't worry, claim that right of way! 

*Speaking of honking, it is an acceptable practice to wait to blow your horn until you are RIGHT NEXT TO me as I walk down the sidewalk. Scares the daylight out of me, but thanks for letting me know your flying by! 

* Dear man on the motor scooter, keep trying. Your creepy smile and unbroken eye contact, as you drive your scooter by me and it drifts closer to the sidewalk, will win me over yet!

There are plenty of other things in my head, but now the ocean calls so y'all are going to have to wait!