North To Goa, India
I woke up around 6AM, packed up my bag, enjoyed a cup of coffee, and then my driver arrived to take me to the airport. Today I fly North to Goa! Although I am sad to be leaving this beautiful state and people behind, I know for certain I will be back for more love on another spiritual adventure soon. The drive to the airport took about two hours, and I was able to chat with my friend Axel while on the road. I shared with him all the beauty and blissfulness of my evening, and he listened with the same enthusiasm and eagerness that I felt last night.
When Axel and I saw each other in Byron Bay, I had asked him when he would be arriving back to Cabo, and it turns out we both are planning to be back around the same time. He happened to find a three bedroom apartment in San Jose, but hadn't found anyone to move in with him, and just like that, I found my future home and roommate! And then today, a friend of ours, Jimena, who happens to be traveling too at the moment, heard about our living situation thru a mutual friend and asked if she could rent the third room. Jimena is currently in Bali, where Axel just left, and she will be coming to India, where I'm currently at. The three of us are crossing paths all over the world and happen to be arriving back to Cabo around the same time. Talk about a natural occurrence; the universe always provides and guides, you just have to feel it and go with the flow. I am thrilled to create a beautiful home space with these two incredible individuals.
Anyways, boarded my flight after spending some time writing (side note: a lot of people I've met ask me how I find the time to write. It's simple, if you can find the time relax, then you can find the time to write. It is my own meditation). I slept the whole two hours to Mumbai Airport where I had my layover. In this airport, you must go thru security again even when flying domestic. The line was kind of long and there is a separation between females and males. The females only get checked by fellow females and there is a room that you go into with curtains to do so. The men do not have a room where they get checked. This is for privacy reasons and it shows a bit of the cultural ideas/norms and how they are different from other countries in my experience.
Once thru, I arrived at my gate, boarding began, I hopped on the bus and it drove us to our airplane. I tried to do some more writing but ended up falling asleep again on this hour flight (no surprise). We landed 15 minutes ahead of schedule, though my phone didn't have anymore data so I couldn't contact Dinseh, my driver and who I leased my apartment from. I walked out thru the doors of the airport, looked around, and one man noticed I was looking a bit lost. He offered to call Dinesh for me on his phone, and Dinesh came right over to where we were standing. That was so sweet of this man to help me, and I didn't feel unsafe as airport security was standing next to us (airport security are all dressed in military uniforms). Dinesh greeted me with a hug and then we headed to Patnem Beach here in Goa, about two hours away from the airport. Naturally, I slept most of the drive, but when I woke up, we were driving on a beautiful winding road with big palms, mountains, rice fields, and greenery all around us. It was absolutely stunning!
We arrived at the apartment, Dinesh showed me to my room, and I am so very happy with my little space I will be living in for the month. I FINALLY was able to unpack! I pulled everything out of my backpack, set aside my dirty clothes, hung my clean clothes, and settled into this space with a smile on my face and in my heart. Afterwards, I did some reading, writing, and relaxing before calling it a night around 9PM. I am doing a water cleanse for today and tomorrow so I am taking it easy and gaining lots of sleep before I take on my yoga teacher training for the next four weeks. YAY!
09/28/2019
I slept in until 9:30PM, I can't remember the last time I slept that late... Maybe a couple weeks or so. Anyways, it was a soft arising today, and the day continued that way. Dinesh greeted my this morning with a bear hug! He is such a warm soul. I gathered my laundry and dropped it to Dinesh for service (it's been almost 2 weeks since I was last able to wash my clothes, thus is the backpacker life sometimes). I did some paperwork for the apartment and purchased a case of water from Dinesh. A girl was checking in at the same time that I was with Dinesh. She is from the US! And she is here for a yoga training as well, though she will be doing her 200 hours and me my 300 hours. Her name is Catherine and it was so nice to see a friendly face. I was heading into town to go to the beach and Catherine happened to be leaving at the same time. The beach is a 5 minute walk from my apartment, how amazing! So we walked together, she stopped for a smoothie and later met me oceanside.
I arrived at the ocean and, as I always do, dove right into the sea. Although the water is quite murky and there is a lot of liter all around, the water was warm and it felt so good to be back in its depths. I spent some time playing in the waves before going back to lay in the warm sand. Once Catherine joined, we shared so much conversation about ashrams, meditation, fasting, yoga, traveling, homes, future ideas and so much more. It was a beautiful afternoon and I really enjoyed her company. After about three hours, my face felt a bit tight. Yes, I got too much sun. It is so strong out here even thru the clouds! So we left the beach and stopped by Kranti Yoga Studio where we will be doing our training. It is right on the beach, and because of that, it is under a bit of construction due to monsoon season. Everything in Patnem closes down for monsoon, so even a lot of the restaurants are under construction and renovation currently, which is why the town is a little quiet at the moment. We met Kranti himself, the creator of this space, and shared small chats with him before heading home. I was sweating in the humidity and also from my small sunburn, so I took a cold rinse in the shower and then laid down. I felt quite tired after being in the sun and also because this is day two with only consuming water, so I laid down and took a nap in my nice aircon room.
I spent the rest of the evening in my room, mentally preparing for my next four weeks and my training that is about to begin. I caught up with some friends on the phone and Dinesh's son, Nikel, got the Wifi to work, so I was able to watch a documentary on Youtube and do some chanting. I also did heaps of writing, both in my book and for my blog. This is my first internet connection since arriving to India, hence why I haven't been able to post. But fear not, for I always do my writing regardless! My evening was filled with loving messages, long rests, and heaps of water. It wasn't long before I fell asleep into a beautiful slumber for the night.
