Goa, Tropical Bliss

 After Agra, we hopped onto our first train ride of the trip which was only a simple 33 hours down to tropical bliss Goa!  I was hesitant to book something for that long not even knowing what we were in for, but they ended up being not too bad.  Only negative thing was that the stinky bathroom was a hole in the ground… and when you're moving on an old shaky train, it's a bit challenging for us ladies. It only made the train experience more exciting and Indian. 

Goa was absolutely beautiful and was my first tropical place that I've ever been to.  Goa is known for their cashews and had cashew trees everywhere.  It was my first time seeing one in person, we would grab the little growing pods and open it to see a cashew inside. It was my 'first' for a lot of things, local buses, driving our own scooters with the crazy Indian traffic, and it was the longest we stayed in one place. It is more Christian based down south as well, so there were more women in americanized dresses and clothing.  There were tons of fresh, ripe fruit everywhere and their market in Margoa was my absolute favorite.  If I had to live somewhere it would be there, being able to walk to the market and pick up fresh fish for a few dollars would be a dream.  Southern Indian food was our favorite and we were like animals, always so excited to eat.  The seafood was so cheap and sooo good, makes me hungry just thinking about it.  Our first fish we had was Tandoori deep-fried with a cockroach in it, thankfully Landon didn't tell me about it and hid it well while we were eating;  that meal still sits at the top of the list for the best food in India.  Goa was also my first experience of Indian local buses.  By the end of our week there we were pros and knew every route to take, I loved the feeling of being so comfortable in such a foreign city.  

Our first time on the local bus, we took it to a random stop and decided to keep walking until we found somewhere to stay, unfortunately we didn't realize that there weren't as many hostels as we were used to up in Central India.  So we walked 3 miles of hilly roads with our two 20 lbs. bags in 80° weather more humid than I've ever experienced.  I was just so excited to be down south and didn't mind the extreme hike.  We were surrounded by coconut, banana, and cashew trees and felt like I landed in heaven.  


Ps. That last photo is to simply show how crazy the streets are there 24/7.  All of India's streets were a scrambled mess.  I would occasionally be bumped by a bike or motorcycle trying to find my way through the maze.