How We Found The Most Beautiful Beach
What good luck, we had most enjoyable flight to Mumbai.
What bad luck, I felt nauseous upon arrival because of the anti-malaria pills.
What good luck, in Mumbai, we went to the Mahesh Lunch Home for a fantastic, and extremely reasonable lunch of Indian food and beer before walking to the train station.
What bad luck, we wander through the hot and crowded train station looking fruitlessly for a way to buy a ticket.
What good luck, we found a friendly person to help us check the availability of the train we needed to Goa, a province along the South coast.
What bad luck, we learned that all the trains for the next week were full.
What good luck, we were able to buy overnight bus tickets for the next day, instead.
What bad luck, we endured the most awful night in recent memory trying to survive the 16 hour bus ride*.
What good luck, we met a couple on the bus from Holland (Nicole) and Italy (Stefano) with whom we were able to share a taxi from Margao, where we arrived, to Palolem, a most excellent beach. Double good luck, we spent many a lovely evening over food and drinks with our new friends.
What bad luck, by the time we arrived at Palolem, we had not eaten for 24hrs.
What good luck, we found the perfect hut right on the sand for the perfect price of ten dollars per night.
What good luck, the ocean is as warm as bath water, the restaurants are on the beachfront and the food is marvelous!
What good luck, the sunsets are exquisite.
* How To Prepare For An Overnight Bus Trip in India
- Locate a large touring bus outfitted with slim sleeping berths on each side and fill it with sweaty tourists; make sure the feet smell especially sweaty.
- Put the bus in an extremely hot and dusty environment, like, say, the pot-holed roads of rural Manitoba in the summertime.
- Seal all the windows in the bus and make sure the air conditioning is broken, the shocks are shot and that the engine is loud and runs hot, thereby adding to the heat inside the bus.
- Lay down in a lower berth at the back of the bus; nevermind the dirt and/or various insects, some of which may or may not be cockroaches.
- Ride the bus like this for sixteen straight hours, taking advantage of one of the two bathrooms stops, conveniently placed at a) 1hr. after leaving origin, or b) at your destination.
- Complain about the air conditioning, for which you paid extra, but resign yourself to the heat.
- Do not throw up.
- Try to get some sleep.