Arambol is great

I left Mumbai in the early morning yesterday. I took the first train out to Goa and that meant getting up at 5am. I woke up a few times during the night because Ruth, the Spanish girl in the bunk below me, had a special visitor for the night. She is gorgeous and the little fucker she was with (a Canadian) was not. I don't know why that made me mad. I suppose it's because she's not living up to her full potential in my eyes. Life's not fair I suppose.

I walked out of the hostel and met a couple on the street that was also heading to the train station. They turned out von dem Vaterland. Luckily most backpackers travel on the cheap here and we ended up in the same 3rd class non AC train car. I got to practice mein Deutsch the whole way.

Once off the train we took a 20km cab ride down some country road and ended up at the beach. It's gorgeous here and lots of travelers buzz about the town on motorbikes. I think some of them even live here. I met several elderly European (mostly of the Germanic variety) who come to Goa every winter for a few months. The Goans are friendly and sooooo different from the big city folk. Very helpful in giving directions as to which dirt path will lead to the hotel we were trying to find. Alas, the Eva Maria guest house was full last night and I spent my first night in a place with a double bed. Almost got killed by falling coconuts on the way to there.

I checked my email and found out that Jess, the girl I met in the hostel in Mumbai, was staying at the Eva Maria. I bolted it over there in the morning and decided I would join her sleeping up on the roof for the next few nights. It costs 30 rupees and we are shaded for most of the day by the palm tree that grows right next to the building. There's even a coconut growing in it. Along with the two of us there are about ten or so other people sleeping up there. The German couple I met stayed at the other guest house with the room, the lock and the private bathroom.

Today was spent on the beach trying to get a bit of a tan going. I think my face burnt a little but not nearly as much as the last time I spent a day at the beach with Shannon in Belleville. The Arabian Sea is warm and hopefully shark free because I am going back there tomorrow. The thought of open water always makes me think I will be dramatically pulled down and eaten by a shark. Just like in the movies. :)

The biggest bummer of the day was discovering that my digital camera was busted. Nooooo! I have to get the thing fixed but there are really no places that look like they could fix anything that isn't a bikini around here. I tried posting pictures earlier but the connection here is very slow and the power goes out regularly. I had to wait to take a shower earlier in the evening because there was no light and trying to manoeuver around the bath stall in pitch black was not an adventure I wanted to have. One word: communal bathrooms. Surprisingly the cold showers don't bother me at all. I actually like them. The communal bathrooms bother me a bit but you can't have it all I suppose. Bumming on the beach is pretty good.