Well I finally said goodbye to Goa. Although I didn't know if it was going to happen. We called for a taxi to come only to find out there was a misunderstanding and one wasn't coming. No problem, there's tons of cabs in Anjuna so one came swiftly to the door. As we drove through the Goan countryside I noticed how beautiful and green everything is. The plants seem to over take anything in their path and so there's a very jungle like feel. Unfortunately the beautiful Portugese homes are run down and many vacant and falling apart. It creates a desolute, overrun look. It's beautiful just the same. And just as I'm thinking how I haven't quite explored enough of the area, the taxi gets a flat tire. Is this a sign? We eyed each other nervously whilst checking our watches. Another save, the driver changed the tire in less than 10 minutes, sweating profusely in the heat and everything. We finally arrive at the station. We sit to wait and talk about trying to get our seats all together. There's an announcement that comes on and informs us our train is 20 minutes late. OK. Then another 20 minutes later that we understood to say 25 minutes delayed. I went to ask the station manager who informed me it was 5 hours delayed. 5 hours! Meanwhile we're sitting on an outdoor platform on wooden benches. The only thing to eat is a small shop selling greasy food and chips. Denise doesn't believe them and we continue to wait. Sure enough, a short time later, an announcement is made that the train will be arriving at 10 pm. That's 4 hours late.... In actuality, just as I m ready to crawl out of my skin, the train arrives....it's about 11:45 pm. Over 5 and a half hours overdue! We jump on board and all head together to find our seats in the one coach are filled with sleeping bodies. We push our way to the other car where we have more seats, 5 coaches back, and find them empty. The ticket man comes and wants us to move but Morgane and Denise flat out refuse and we go to sleep. It's no problem because Indians sit wherever they like so no one is in their assigned seats. I don't know why they bother with tickets! Even though the train ends up being over 5 hours late, we make it to Kochi a mere 4.5 hours later than expected. It could have been so much worse. And I am so grateful to my travelling companions who found a way for us to share a double room in their guesthouse so that I'm not staying alone. Sleeper class on the Indian train was dirty, hot and it stunk but it wasn't nearly as scary as I was expecting. I can't believe they travel this way regularly! I wonder what they think when they visit Canada and our litter free streets and wide open spaces?
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