Goa

6/11

I know, I know. I haven’t posted in a while and am sorry. I have been in the midst of my sisters wedding, visiting Fort Lauderdale, interviewing in Panama City, more job hunting, prepping for the GRE, and getting caught up with friends. Still, I wanted to finish up on India so I sat down and typed up five pages. After my mother said I was crazy it is now divided up into a few posts that will be posted over the next few days or so. 

In some of these places I took a lot of pictures, in others I took none. I will provide a lot of the good ones when applicable though so I hope you enjoy.

After my trip to Gokarna I was recharged and ready to get on with some exploring. Since the train station was a bit of a trip to get to from the middle of town I decided to take the bus as the station was practically across the street from my hotel. Now this isn’t a nice AC bus. It isn’t a sleeper bus. It is what the rural Indians can afford, a bench row where they often try to squeeze an extra person on, with no AC, and a lot of stops which means no air movement to cool you down. So I get on my first bus and get off at the main bus station for the area. I then ask how to get to Goa, my next stop. Here I was told that I needed to go to the main street and catch it there. Well, I didn’t realize that they were telling me to get on a private bus and I started to freak out when I was told it doesn’t leave anytime except 8pm. As it was hardly 8am at this time I was not happy. After asking around a bit more though I found out, that with a few added stops, I could take a few busses to get to Goa on public transport and so I was off. During the longest leg of my trip that day I was sitting next to a rather interesting local who was more than happy to talk to me. I admit to being a bit unnerved when I noticed his hyper-alertness and the fact that he seemed to be having rather animated conversations with himself, but, in general, he seemed to be a cool guy. At the lunch stop I met another guy closer to my age who was very nice and explained that it would be easier to get to Goa if I went one stop past where I had planned to get off and it would knock off some time on my travels. I was quite happy when I realized that we were actually traveling through a popular, large national park and couldn’t stop staring out the windows as the natural beauty all around me. Finally though I reached Goa proper and had to make my way to the hostel which only meant one more bus ride. But that route took us through back roads and alleys until I was so discombobulated that I was soon lost and would never have found the hostel had it not been for my GPS. Honestly, I don’t know if I would have survived India at all without it.

                Now in Goa I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I had heard it name dropped a few times but only as a popular tourist destination. Online there were a few markets and temples recommended but not as much as I would have expected from somewhere that was so popular. But, after only about thirty minutes of being in town I realized what the draw to Goa is. Booze! I can’t remember if I have mentioned this before so I will review. It is hard to get alcohol in most of India. I am not kidding, like you have to find a secret bar in a dark alley or one or two places in town you can buy bottled liquors and take it home. But it isn’t easy to get. In Goa this is not true. It is like the US where every restaurant offers alcohol, there were tall boys, and liquor drinks, and even some imports. It was AWESOME! I didn’t take any pictures in Goa really, I spent a day walking around and finding out only after I visited them that the markets in that town were not open every day, nor were they open the day I went. So most of my time was spent at the beach and in the awesome infinity pool at the hostel. There I met two British travelers and we immediately hit it off spending the days, and nights together and spending way too much on beer. Before I knew it though it was time to hit the road and head to Hampi, one of, if not my favorite stops.