Goa...Yes!!!

So, our blog was acting up yesterday so we had to type out a post on a word document and send it to my hotmail account to publish today after another amazing overnight train ride. After we left the internet cafe yesterday in Mumbai, the monsoon had struck in full force. It is funny how it only takes a couple of weeks of monsoon weather to become a meteorologist yourself...we truly are officionados of the weather at this point. The wind picks up and the sky becomes completly white and then a downpour...not your typical type of drizzle or hard rain, but an absolute wash out. We were stuck in it and far far away from the hotel. We just had to brave it and ask random people along the way how to get back to the Colaba area so that we could quickly eat something, change and get to the train station to get our train to Goa. Along the way, despite the weather, I did ask a little old man taxi driver the price to the station and he quoted us 70 rupee, which we thought was such a deal so we arranged to meet himaroudn the corner from our hotel at 9pm. We spent a couple of hours in a random coffee shop around the corner from the meeting place and met 2 really nice Canadian sisters who were about to have a break down and wanted to leave India 4 days early. We basically just spent about 45 minutes talking a load of shit about India and the men and laughing when I decided to ask some other taxi drivers how much to the train station. Much to my horror, they quoted 50 rupee so even the little cute old man was trying to rip us off...well needless to say we took the cheaper option and found ourselves in a sleeper car with about 5 other white tourists (I think they put all the white people together on these trains, but when I said that outloud, an Indian man told me they wouldn't do that, as it was racist). Prior to getting onto the train, I wanted to check with the Information Desk just to confirm our tickets and that the monsoon had not interupted or delayed the train service so went to wait in the longest worst cue of all time. A lovely Indian man told me that women did not have to wait in line and could push in front (I suppose I should have known that, as I did observe a transvestite, also known as the 'hijras' or 3rd gender, push to the front of the line. Needless to say, I did push my way forward and got the confirmation I needed. Yes, I did get bit by a spider or something while on the train, but this is common place now and I am used to it. I have a benedryl bite stick adn that helps...and a positive attitude of course. We met two more interesting Canadians on the train and they too told us of some of thier Indian horror stories, but they had just travelled Africa so these paled in comparison to our piddily little Indian stories. The first thing you notice when stepping off the train is how clean everything is and how it smells of earth and nature and not urine and feces. It is truly a magical place and our hour long taxi ride (which is all regualted by the government so no scams) was so pleasant. We drove through what felt like a rain forest or greenery and lovliness to a small beach town called Palolem where we foudn a quaint little place to stay with a balcony and a television where we will stay for the next 6 days. We walked along the beach and had some pizza and beer and made friends with all of the local wild dogs until the monsoon starting acting up again so we tucked into an internet cafe. We did observe a Goa Animal Rescue Van driving up the main road towards the beach and recognized the name from the Lonely Planet book. Wendy, you would love these women...they are 2 women who started up this Goa animal rescue and they feed and care for all of the wild dogs and animals in general around the Goa area. We are going to go chat with them and get to know what they do and basically just spend the rest of the time resting and relaxing and exploring south Goa...what a treat...We LOVE Goa! Go Goa! One quick further observation about the dress code of India...they love a tee-shirt with a random and mostly inappropriate enlish sentence or saying on the front...some examples..."Easy, easy. easy...shut up," "You may not be able to see me because I am a girl, but you know I'm there because you can hear me," "I only love to talk about myself," and many more...we will make sure to keep you up to date with more tee-shirt quotes as the trip progresses...