We left paradise--reluctantly- it was time to get gritty again. We had to meet the famed Jules (our friend from New York) in a little fishing village 12 hours south of Goa. She was visiting another friend of ours from New York(Beena) who has family in India. We said our good-bye's to Fawni who was heading back to Bombay to fly home. Teddy, Zaz and I hopped in a van cab to get to the train station. What a wild ride that was....in fact every ride we have been in besides the train has been absolutely insane. You really have to see it to believe it. Whether its because only %10 of police out there actually have the authority to write a ticket, or because Hindus are 
not afraid of death like we are. I was talking to this Indian in Goa and he was telling me that life and death are much different in India compared to the West. He said for one, they aren't afraid of death--they embrace it. Also, he said, Americans are never happy and Indians are always happy. I asked what he meant and he 
said that Americans are always trying to have more than what they have, be more succussful than they are, have more money than they currently have, and just generally wishing that they were better off than they are. He said Indians, on the other hand, are happy to be better of than the guy below them. They think that they're lives are pretty good as long as they can find someone else who has it worse. Its funny cause I just read a similiar explanation in a book I'm 
reading--so maybe its true. I couldn't help thinking about how I always think that exact same way. Then I was wondering if it was bad to always want something better--maybe that's why our country is so much better off in so many ways. Who's happier? good question...Anyway the ride to the train station was a series of windy hills where the driver was going way too fast and frequently passing buses/ cars / 18 wheelers in the oncoming lane with inches left to screech into our lane before hitting another bus head on coming the opposite direction. I can't say that I've gotten comfortable with this, but during that ride (a little over an hour of this the entire way) I noticed that it does have a rythym and people do follow a set of rules--even though they are death defying at moments. The people in the cars that you pass slow down, motorcycles move into the shoulder so two cars can fit on the two lane road, and everyone keeps everyone in check with horns. Horns are used here as bli
nkers, break lights, and caution.The train was awesome. We found out that there are many different classes and we could afford a little bit of a nicer class--so we booked one. This ride had real AC (not just fans--its screaming hot here right now), blankets, sheets, no crowds, and even a guy to freshen up the sheets and make sure we had everything we needed. Score. We got a room in Fort Cochin for 11 dollars to split between three. Sweet. This little town was packed with little cute shops and great seafood restaurants. We met Jules the next day at
a traditional Kerala dance performance that Beena's dad treated us to. We showed up early to watch them apply the make-up...the costumes and make-up were over the top....We had dinner with the whole crowd that night and Beena's dad was a trip. He was hilarious. He was ordering for everyone, making sure we had our money and passports tucked in the proper safe locations on the body, telling us what not to eat, and showing teddy how to wear this fancy sarong type thing that he just bought. They were all staying at the fanciest hotel in Kerala--"The Taj"($250 a night american $), so Jules had an entirely different experience with her old friends from New York that now knew how to shit in a hole and wipe with a handful of water.
We took another bouncy ride to a town where these house boats left from. I'll let zaz talk about the house boats....and where we are now.
Tonight we catch a train to a wild life preserve....on our way to Banglore--supposed to be a really modern city. Hope everyone is rockin out!
gg
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