arambol & mumbai again

with marta sick and both of us tired of hampi, we booked a taxi ride back to arambol. it was a young guy of 19 who drove us back. young though he was, he drove very well. he got lost a couple of times, and i had to direct him on the last long stretch from margoa . it was the first time he had been to goa, and first time he had seen the sea. we stopped by the side of the road to ‘sleep’ for a few hours. i had gotten another stomach bug and was happy when we finally got back to zilu’s. i went to fetch the local doctor we used last time for marta’s stomach infection to get a second opinion on her throat infection. he told her not to worry, just keep taking the prescribed pills and everything would be fine.

we had discovered our favourite place to have breakfast... the outback restaurant by the rocks on the way to sweetwater lake. set breakfast of tandoori rotis with fried eggs and hash brown potatoes, fresh juice and tea. we got the guys there to loan us the cd of the background music they always played and downloaded it onto the laptop.

we befriended the ‘coconut woman’ who was selling fresh fruits on the sweetwater lake beach. we had seen her and her husband walking the path over the cliffs from querem beach, balancing her heavy basket full of fruit on her hand and negotiating the tricky path with just sandals. since then, we always paid her more than she asked for the fruit. that day, we had walked over to querem beach and had the most amazing fruit salad under a beach shade made of folded palm leaves; such a contrast to the busy beach at arambol. that day, there was a film crew at one end of the beach shooting a commercial, or maybe a scene from a bollywood film - you know, all singing and dancing. 

when time came to leave our comfy abode at zilu’s guest house, we took a taxi to mapusa once more and waited yet another sleeper bus. paulo travel’s bus pulled up on the highway and we took our berth. around 1 in the morning, i heard someone running through the bus shouting ‘fire’ in hindi. the bus had stopped and it was dark, but i could smell the acrid smoke. marta was up and out very fast, and i collected as much of our stuff as i could quickly and also left the bus, shouting 'fire' as i went to wake up those passengers who were still half-asleep. the bus crew pulled everyone’s luggage out and also dumped the diesel.

they were no flames, but we took no chances and walked well away from the bus with our packs. a couple of mumbai-bound buses passed and stopped and took on a few passengers that they had room for. the rest of us were driven by a local guy to the petrol-station a kilometre up the road and there we discussed our options. in the end, we found out that there was a replacement bus coming and we had just to wait. i got out my mat and our sleeping bags and we tried our best to get some sleep.

we had to wait 5 hours in total before the all seater bus replacement bus pulled up. we were just happy that we would be getting to mumbai after all. we got dropped off at sion from where we haggled for a taxi ride to our pre-booked hotel. marta was not going to tolerate another ‘hotel oliver’ experience, and had booked a very nice, but more expensive, hotel not far from the airport. nice feeling to have a nice hotel room already booked and the porter carrying our bags there from the taxi... especially after the nightmare sleeper bus experience. it was a 3-star hotel; pricey but worth every rupee for the 2 nights i would be staying there.

we took a taxi to the airport. unfortunately, the security police and army guys wouldn’t allow me to accompany marta to check-in. “only passengers with tickets”. no way around this one. however, they got the airline staff to get a wheelchair for marta and to take her stuff. i stayed in the waiting area until i got her sms to say that she was on the plane, and then got the taxi back to hotel residency in andheri. i checked out in the morning... the bill was a bit of a shock!

after booking a train ticket at the tourist counter at cstm, i had one more night in mumbai. i made my way back to hotel oliver!! however, manager joe was not there. his temporary replacement told me that he had been suspended on grounds that he had been defrauding the guests over the cost of the rooms. whether this rumour was true or not, i wasn’t sure. anyway, i stayed the night there, and by getting the wifi from the internet place next door, i was able to skype with marta...  she had successfully negotiated the transit at munich and was already back at home in warsaw.

in the morning, i had to get to bandra terminus to take my train to marwar junction. there were no places left for some days for a direct connection to ajmer, but this meant that i needed only to spend one more expensive night in mumbai.