Relaxing in Goa

---

Here I am again! Back in Goa! This place is addictive, and for a reason! Nice beach, great climate, nice places to stay, good restaurants, colorful markets, friendly people....

So after 2 nights sleeping in the train from Gujarat to Mumbai and then Mumbai to Goa, I came to Candolim, where I did yoga last year. It was great to drive back to a familiar area and recognize places and people. On my way to Candolim from the train station, my taxi driver said "shirt, shirt"... I said "no, I don't need a shirt". I thought he wanted to take me to a shirt shop somewhere where he would get commission and I really just wanted to find a place to stay and have a shower... But no, he meant he had to stop at his place ont he way to get an extra shirt, he was cold!!! Needless to say, I was sweating. I still have to adjust to the heat!!!

And I arrived in Goa, such a friendly place, so easy, so different from Gujarat. Gujarat was great, way more Indian, very friendly too but with a huge communication barrier. Here, everybody speaks English and they don't stare at you so much, they are used to Westerners. Both places are charming for their own reasons, and I am glad I can experience both and love both.

As I got off the taxi, and started walking towards the area I knew, I ran into a yoga student that I had met last year. It felt like I was coming home! He took me to his hotel where I got a huge room for one night, until I found a better (cheaper) place to stay for the next 2 months. After food and shower, I started the search. It wasn't that easy because we are getting closer to Christmas and most places are booked for the holiday. So to find a place for 2 full months is difficult. But I was lucky to find a few good options, and finally decided on a very clean appartment in a huge bright yellow and green house. I have a bedroom, a fully equiped kitchen, a yoga room and a bathroom, and a little patio in the front where I can sit while I am waiting for the bread man to show up!!! Hum, warm bread for 2.5 rupies, you can't beat it. And he comes many times a day, so you can always get fresh bread!

I live very close to the yoga shala, and very close to the beach. So life here is quite relaxed. Yoga in the morning, breakfast at home, shower, beach, and then time to read, relax, explore the area, go to the local markets, study hindi (well, I only spent 1 hour studying yet...), cook supper and then sit on the beach to watch the sunset. ANd sure enough there will always be other yoga people doing the same thing, so it doesn't take long before we make new friends around here. People from so many different countries.

Yesterday was great, it was market day in Mapusa, the most INdian city around. I love Mapusa. The market is so colorful, with fruits and veggies all over the street, blankets, jewellery, clothes, fabrics, flowers, spices, and everythig else you can think of. It was so much fun to go back to my "favorite" shops, and say hello to a few shopkeepers that I met over the past 2 winters. Kookoo, one girl who sells sheets and bed covers looked at me and said: "oh, you are so white now"!!!! WHen I met her last year I was just coming from months of trekking in the mountains, I was probably more tanned!!!

And now I have my own scooter so I have all the freedom to go anywhere I want whenever I feel like it. It is a lot of fun, although one always has to be careful... The traffic in Goa is not like in Whitehorse!

SO this is it, not many adventures to talk about, life is really easy these days, yoga being the main focus, I have 7 more weeks of this before I leave Goa to explore some other areas of India.

---