Out of Kerela and into Goa

Samir's article. We're in Goa now, which is a completely new state. We're at a hotel which isn't too far from the beach. The beach crowdedness is some where in between Varkala and Kannur, but the other beach is really crowded, so we stuck with the closer beach. The waves here are semi big so we rented two boogie boards. That was something new, which is good because I am literally sick of the beach. Tomorrow we're renting a motorcycle and an electric scooter, but since my dad is the only one who knows how to drive anything like that, we kids have to stay in the hotel while he teaches my mom how to drive the scooter. We're supposed to meet two relatives who are in India for a week, and are staying at five star hotels the whole way, at a parade today, but we decided not to. (Just for the record, we aren't staying at fancy hotels).

Back when we were at Costa Mallabari we took a taxi all the way up to Wayanad where there is an enormous reserve. We stayed at a place called Pachyaderm Palace, which is owned by the people who own Costa Mallabari. The day after our arrival we went on a jeep safari, went to a bird reserve and went on another safari. On the two safaris we saw monkeys, giant squirrels, water bison, way too many spotted deer and a giant elephant. The elephant was in the bushes for a while, and then it came out, walked along side our jeep for a bit and then crossed the path only a few feet behind us. When we left Wayanad, we had another elephant encounter, only this time there were three of them right by the road. Nothing much happened after that, but we saw some really small monkeys on the side of the road. (Which isn't much for India) We got back to Costa Mallabari ( which, by the way was the best place I've stayed at so far) and the next day we took two trains to Goa, and here we are. That's all for now folks! (always wanted to say that)

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