GOA.......

Did you click to the right on "Ain't Goin to Goa"? Is it playin'?

Many people told us it was a bit of a waste to go to Goa...go to India to go to the beach? What?...did we want to go party? If we wanted beach, why not go to Mexico or something and parties are almost constant in San Francisco, no need to go to India for that.
Their points were all well taken, but we also wanted a vacation on top cultural experiences and wanted to ease into India. My hardcore on-the-road traveler days are a bit over. Besides we were canceling Kerala which was the main place we had planned to go, so Goa was a compromise, killing many birds with one stone. Plus as artists sculptors, I thought Hampi would be a great place for us to visit and Goa was one of the jumping off points for getting there.
In the end...well.....I cannot be one to ever attest to how uncool going to Goa is. All I can say is;
don't go to Goa then.
The following photos should convince anyone to not go there.


"How much? for your women? How much for the Karnataka women?"
They're the gypsy women and of very trippy dress.

Our neighbor and resident philosopher - Phillip





The village........ a southern secret
for maybe a minute longer.














Oh help....[yawn]...... help...... get me out of here.........

Our Goa wheels...a classic Royal Enfield.....

Craziest cat...Dereck, 12 year resident of Goa...at his house.

The sign says GOSLOW.
We thought it was a town called GOSLOW. Its Go Slow.
Holy Cow placing order.....


Medicine Man...

Satsong with Osho masta'


































Oh, help, ow, I can't take much more of Goa.....

Boogie boarding in Varanasi

Another reason to ease into India. Varanasi is coming and I want to have some India "legs" before we hit max Shiva energy.

I also had a weird dream in Goa about Varanasi. I wasn't asleep exactly...I was just nodding off like in an opiated dream and had this disturbing vision of boogie boarding (like from earlier in the day?)... but I was boogie boarding in Varanasi, in the sludge of the Ganges headed for the steps of a Ghat. Blahhh, amongst the bodies......ugh.

That had me a bit shaken..... I hadn't been to Varanasi to be able to see it so accurately...
And I didn't want any prophetic bullshit thoughts about this... I'd hate to think what that could mean.

Goa Overview

We had crossed off a bunch of the itinerary from Goa to not be completely insane. It was now down to Varanasi, Rishikesh and we would briefly hit Pushkar and Udaipur on the way back down. That is already too much.

I had hated bailing on Hampi that was so close to were we had been in Goa.
But Indians have a saying about Goa. Something like "Take it easy Goa man" It's actually a condescending phrase as people from Goa are considered lazy. I don't know if that's true but they for sure have a nicer life than most in the country and contrary to what I was told about the beaches being dirty and locals not using them for recreation...and to not eat anything that was not cooked etc...
I don't know what happened but we had more fresh salads and fruit then anywhere I've ever been and the Goans were doing a hell of a lot of swimming, boogie boarding and some surfing.
Where we were was perfect.

Goan man didn't take it easy, but we did...and we didn't want to move. We had our killer yoga teacher (and by this I mean he was almost killing us everyday), massages, a Royal Enfield or a scooter to drive, the quiet village of Agonda Beach and some cool friends we met hangin' out there.

We met a wild Irishman who had lived there 12 years and had built a really cool house. He had hilarious tales of the experience of an expat trying to shuffle through the bureaucracy of India and getting anything done. There's a book; Don't Stop the Carnival that everyone should read who is considering becoming an expat anywhere. He made the book seem tame. Coincidently, he was also doing sculpture and setting up a whole bronze casting thing.
We now have reasons to go back to Goa.

Is that song still playing?

TO VARANASI

We lost our reservation in Varanasi at Ganges View Guest House by staying so long in Goa. We re-booked at Shiva View Guest House which is perched just above the cremation ghat at the other end of the ghats.
Its actually a cool place to stay with great views....even with an occasion whiff from our balcony.
And it has very hot water.