The Indian State of Goa; formerly a Portugese colony, equipped with such past remininces mixed together with all the spice of today’s India. We stayed in the town of Calagunte, famous for its proximity to gold beaches, the Old Portugese Fort and chill hippy feel. We arrived in Calagunte via RedBUS, which took us a total of 20 hours from Bangalore. Upon our arrival, we searched for a cheap taxi to take us into town. After about 20 minutes of bargaining, we were off no better than we started at $8 for a 20 minute cab ride. We stayed in Calagunte for six days, mostly chilling around town, eating wonderful food and taking our mo-ped to all the beaches and small towns in the area, constantly getting caught in torential rain.

One day, I made an appointment at an Ayruvedic Clinic just outside of town. My appointment was from 11-12, so Rob came back to come pick me up at 12:00 sharp. On his ride to come in get me, the sky was clear, but literally 5 minutes into our ride home, nature starting spilling car-size droplets on our head. We could not see two feet in front of us, so we found a tree to which we thought would provide us with shelter until the rain lightened. But, the tree could not even help. There was nothing to do but laugh, dance in the rain and be so thankful for life. We waitied for around 25 minutes, just talking, shivering, dancing, and laughing (me doing most of that) and then the sun broke free of the rain’s chains and we quickly hopped back on the bike. Shortly after is when I snapped this picture above. I found it beautiful, just like Calagunte.

The sights of everyday life always brighten my soul and during our time in Calagunte, an “everyday” included Monsoon Season life. With fewer tourists around, life in Calagunte during Monsoon season is slow, lazy and free; women walking in fields after hard rains, men in bars at 10 am sipping on cold beers, couples plowing their field with their faithful ox, children running and splashing in flooded soccer fields. Simple and beautiful.