Well, I know it's been a little while since I've posted, but with electricity problems (which I fixed with my Leatherman!), a significant lack of working wifi, and having far too much fun to bother posting anything at all about anything, I figure I should sum up my last week.
Today is my last day in Mumbai, and indeed, my last day in India, in Asia, my last day away from home. Arambol was a blast, and maybe once I'm settled at home I will do a detailed recount of my time there. For now, because I've just packed my bags for the flight tonight, and I'm sitting in an internet cafe (and who wants to spend their last day on the computer?) ...this will be brief.
Arambol was awesome. I met some really awesome people: Cal, the Australian from Melbourne, Trish, an American from Seattle (we sound the same!), Jono, a brilliant British bloke from Reading, of all places, and a few others along the way. Dave, a guy we visited one night with a broken foot. Vishnu, my younger-than-me massage instructor, and his whole workplace/people he lived with. I never learned any of their names, but the woman who owned the place cooked me breakfast twice, and they were all really great people. Calan (I mispelled it in my last post), Rashan (also mispelled in my last post), and Raphael, who all invariably disappeared without goodbyes, as is the way with traveling sometimes.
I ate a lot. We drank quite a bit - saw some live music one night, and spent the evening drinking illicit beers on the beach in the dark the next (in order for the po-po not to see us: it's election time in Goa, which means no drinking past 11PM) ...mid-afternoon port-from-a-bottle-for-60R. Lots of lounging in restaurants, on beaches, in cafes. A few catastrophes involving scooters, and Trish and I even went paragliding. Videos and pictures will get posted when I get home. PARAGLIDING. It was fantastic. I loved listening to her scream as she had to run off the cliff, with a small German man attached tandem to her.
The day of the paragliding, Trish and I went for a hike up to Sweet Lake, a freshwater lake right next to the beach, and we found a giant banyan tree with a baba (guru) sitting underneath it, and we sat underneath it also. It was peaceful, and when we departed, he gave us both huge hugs which lasted so long they had me giggling in mixed emotions. We found another tree also, which had two babas, and a circle of people playing chess, sharing melon, and sharing chillum (a particular pipe you smoke hasheesh from) ...it was definitely an experience.
Leaving Arambol was harder than I expected it would be, and I've had very little sleep lately. A sleeper bus is a terrible idea from Goa to Mumbai, apparently. It was like the road to Pai, but really cold due to constant AC, and laying down. The intermittent times I was awake, which was often, was peppered with the desire to fight oncoming nausea. It was almost impossible to sleep that night. When I got into Mumbai yesterday, I obtained a place in Colaba, and after going for an expensive brunch (I forgot how much food costs here in relation to the rest of India!) ...I spent the entire afternoon asleep.
I woke up in the evening, just in time to freshen up, get some tea, and go meet Heman for dinner. We had some pretty tasty Indian food, and we were going to go drinking, but yesterday was a dry day, and so no alcohol shops were open. Instead, we walked to the beach that I sat on when I first came to India, on my very first day, and at one point, Heman commented on how obvious it was that I was accustomed to crossing the roads in India.
Sitting on that beach, in the dark, was a surreal experience for me, and I exclaimed as much to Heman. It was strange to come full circle to the place where I was so overwhelmed by India that I was in tears, and how I carry myself in comparison to that first day. India continues to surprise me, but it continues to delight me also, and I know that I'll be coming back again, and again, and again.
Until then, I catch my flight home in about 10 hours, my bags are packed, and I'm just going to wander around and eat street food, and soak in the atmosphere, the chaos, that I've come to love so much.
See you all in a few days! ...and for those I've met along the way, see you all in another time, and another place. Namaste.
Today is my last day in Mumbai, and indeed, my last day in India, in Asia, my last day away from home. Arambol was a blast, and maybe once I'm settled at home I will do a detailed recount of my time there. For now, because I've just packed my bags for the flight tonight, and I'm sitting in an internet cafe (and who wants to spend their last day on the computer?) ...this will be brief.
Arambol was awesome. I met some really awesome people: Cal, the Australian from Melbourne, Trish, an American from Seattle (we sound the same!), Jono, a brilliant British bloke from Reading, of all places, and a few others along the way. Dave, a guy we visited one night with a broken foot. Vishnu, my younger-than-me massage instructor, and his whole workplace/people he lived with. I never learned any of their names, but the woman who owned the place cooked me breakfast twice, and they were all really great people. Calan (I mispelled it in my last post), Rashan (also mispelled in my last post), and Raphael, who all invariably disappeared without goodbyes, as is the way with traveling sometimes.
I ate a lot. We drank quite a bit - saw some live music one night, and spent the evening drinking illicit beers on the beach in the dark the next (in order for the po-po not to see us: it's election time in Goa, which means no drinking past 11PM) ...mid-afternoon port-from-a-bottle-for-60R. Lots of lounging in restaurants, on beaches, in cafes. A few catastrophes involving scooters, and Trish and I even went paragliding. Videos and pictures will get posted when I get home. PARAGLIDING. It was fantastic. I loved listening to her scream as she had to run off the cliff, with a small German man attached tandem to her.
The day of the paragliding, Trish and I went for a hike up to Sweet Lake, a freshwater lake right next to the beach, and we found a giant banyan tree with a baba (guru) sitting underneath it, and we sat underneath it also. It was peaceful, and when we departed, he gave us both huge hugs which lasted so long they had me giggling in mixed emotions. We found another tree also, which had two babas, and a circle of people playing chess, sharing melon, and sharing chillum (a particular pipe you smoke hasheesh from) ...it was definitely an experience.
Leaving Arambol was harder than I expected it would be, and I've had very little sleep lately. A sleeper bus is a terrible idea from Goa to Mumbai, apparently. It was like the road to Pai, but really cold due to constant AC, and laying down. The intermittent times I was awake, which was often, was peppered with the desire to fight oncoming nausea. It was almost impossible to sleep that night. When I got into Mumbai yesterday, I obtained a place in Colaba, and after going for an expensive brunch (I forgot how much food costs here in relation to the rest of India!) ...I spent the entire afternoon asleep.
I woke up in the evening, just in time to freshen up, get some tea, and go meet Heman for dinner. We had some pretty tasty Indian food, and we were going to go drinking, but yesterday was a dry day, and so no alcohol shops were open. Instead, we walked to the beach that I sat on when I first came to India, on my very first day, and at one point, Heman commented on how obvious it was that I was accustomed to crossing the roads in India.
Sitting on that beach, in the dark, was a surreal experience for me, and I exclaimed as much to Heman. It was strange to come full circle to the place where I was so overwhelmed by India that I was in tears, and how I carry myself in comparison to that first day. India continues to surprise me, but it continues to delight me also, and I know that I'll be coming back again, and again, and again.
Until then, I catch my flight home in about 10 hours, my bags are packed, and I'm just going to wander around and eat street food, and soak in the atmosphere, the chaos, that I've come to love so much.
See you all in a few days! ...and for those I've met along the way, see you all in another time, and another place. Namaste.
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