Having an injury in Goa turned out to be not so bad. Since we had so long there we slipped nicely into a wonderful routine. Roll out of bed around 8 or 9, have eggs on toast with the cute mangy puppy. - seriously this puppy was one of the cutest in the entire world. - Then find a nice spot in the shade to read and sleep for the morning. Around 1:30 or two when the sun woke you from your nap you go back up to the restaurant (about 10 feet) and have a nice cheap beer or fanta and delicious food. Then you go back to the beach and read and sleep for a few more hours. If you feel ansy you stroll into town for the internet or some ice-cream and get back in time to watch the sunset. Then clean up a bit and find somewhere to eat a delicious dinner. Then go back to the room to read and listen to music for awhile and maybe take a night time stroll along the beach. If you are not injured you might take a swim because most likely the water is warmer then the air and go back to the room to shower and read and sleep. Wake up and repeat. Glorious.
After ten days we were all ready to get back on a train and head to the city. Mumbai is fantastic. It is probably my most favorite big city in India. I didn't get a good feel before because we were in the suburbs and stayed mostly with the family. They were wonderful and fed us fantastic food - but we didn't get a sense of the city. This time we stayed sort of by the University. On the train we picked up a copy of Time out Mumbai which is a sort of art and culture magazine you can get for most major cities. I had no idea what an arts and cultural hub Mumbai is. There are so many art gallaries and openings and dance and music and theatre performances going on. Its so cool. OUr first day we dropped our bags in our hotel and right accross the street is this great modern art gallery center with maybe 5 or 6 different rooms showing different artists. It truly was invigorating. There was an article in Time Out about this show "sweatopia" by this artist who right now I can't remember his name, but it was fantastic. His pieces really affected me. This one was four different frames with two sets of writing - two stories going on but you could read one from one angle then move a few feet and you could read the other. One story was about how the country is revolutionizing communication by making calls accross the country only cost 1 ruppee and how so many people will be able to call who never could before (it used to cost 24 rs then 9 rs and now 1). The other story underneath was about a 12 year old girl who killed herself because her mom couldn't afford to give her 1 ruppee for school lunch. Crazy.
Also in Mumbai accross from our hotel they were shooting a movie which was pretty exciting. I didn't recognize any of the actors, but still cool.
After a long and freezing train ride we are back in Delhi for the final two days. The boys catch a midnight flight tomorrow and I'm on a 3 am flight the following day. Its very strange. We all feel kind of wierd about it. It feels right to go home now, we're all exhausted and out of money. But at the same time I feel like I haven't really seen anything and NEED MORE TIME!
Ah well. Can't wait to get back to the ol' friends and family and holiday spirit. I keep forgetting its the holidays!
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