Getting to Goa

I can now say that I have successfully traveled by train and bus in India! On Wednesday the 6th of February I said goodbye to Mysore (for now) and headed out to see more of India and practice yoga with some more teachers.

To be honest, Wednesday was a somewhat traumatic morning. For a few days previous I hadn't been feeling my best (upset stomach and diarrhea to give you the gory details) So i hadn't eaten much. But I was feeling better and wanted it to be a good last practice, nice backbends and all. Not so! I felt suuuuper dizzy during the standing sequence, particularly in prasarita. Then along came ardha badha padmotanasana and the next thing I knew I woke up with my face on the carpet and one of the shala assistants touching me on the shoulder! I realized I had fainted. He was very kind and he told me "take rest, drink water." I stumbled off into the changing room feeling so shaky and freaked out, tears streaming down my face and with a little patch of rug burn on my nose from where I fell. I took a long savasana and tried to calm myself down. My friend Joanna gave me comforting words while i drained two coconuts and then another friend Doug brought me home on his scooter. Whew! I suppose it makes a good story but I definitely missed having my Olympia travel buddies to come home to.

On the brighter side of things, on Tuesday before leaving Jen and I went to pay our respects to Sharath. We brought him our favorite fruits! He was in a bit of a hurry but we loaded him up with a watermelon in one hand and a pineapple in the other. I held up the card I made for him and he looked very cute with no hands to take it with. So I stuck it in his shirt pocket and we all laughed: a very good moment.

So back to Wednesday...I calmed down, ate a good breakfast, finished the last bit of packing and tied up the loose ends at our apartment. Then I got a rickshaw with all my things, stopped by my friend Alejandra's place to get her and her things, and off we went to the train station.

I loved the train! We rode it for about 3 hours from Mysore to Bangalore for just 200 rupees, about 4 dollars. It was very old fashioned and picturesque, though not fancy. Hard blue seats, sun streaming in the screen-less windows, a woman stringing flowers across from me, people yelling "CHAI!" and "SAMOSAS!" up and down the aisles, young boys dangling their legs from the seats overhead and playing music from their cell phones. I sat, looked out the windows, read my book, and snapped photos. I loved every bit of it.

In Bangalore we got off, Alejandra and me with our big packs and yoga mats and all. And dang my stuff is heavy!! Carrying it for just a short time was strenuous and I feel like a lunatic for having so much with me. And this is after I sent a suitcase home. So perhaps I'll be sending home more.

We took another rickshaw to the place where a bus would come to pick us up. It was a big sleeper bus run by a private company which is apparently the way to go. Government busses are cheaper but very uncomfortable I hear. Inside were rows of bunks, doubles and singles with a bottom and top level. I climbed in to my little bed and while I won't say it was a restful night, I did get some sleep and it could've been much worse. In the morning we were in Goa!