From Pushkar to Goa

We don't even know how to start this post... so many things have changed on our way to Goa... when we were in Manali we thought about the option of going to Goa by plane, it would be a bit expensive but we would be there very fast.. after thinking a little bit we decided that travelling is not about the destination but about the journey... as we wrote on the post before, our first stop was in Chandigarh and we had an amazing experience that would have never happen if we went by plane... after Chandigarh we took a train to Pushkar, a familiar place for us.. we stayed there for 2 nights, we were able to be with Mavi and Ravi and also visit our friends from the Nirvana cafe. It was nice to be back to Pushkar, we met other people as well... a couple from Spain, a lady from the Netherlands and a girl from Canada.. we shared experiences and got some good ideas for a possible business... who knows... when we arrived to Pushkar, Mavi recommended us to go by bus until Ahmedabad (11h) and from Ahmedabad we could take another bus till Mumbai (around 11h) or even Goa (23h).. we chose the bus straight to Goa.. we bought both tickets in Pushkar  and the journey starts.... the Bus from Pushkar to Ahmedabad was 1200 ruppies and the one from Ahmedabad to Goa was 4200.

The adventure started as soon as we left the hotel... On the day of the departure there was a big festival one the streets, a lot of people celebrating and dancing, fireworks, camels decorated with a lot of acessories and the typical confusion of India.. we walked fast trying not to get caught on the mess but a few steps ahead we noticed that we forgot the passports at the hotel.. Pedro had to run to get them back.. we had to catch a public bus to Ajmer and in Ajmer we would also have to get a tuk tuk to the bus station. As we arrived in Ajmer we notice that the traffic is chaotic because of the festival... starting to get late, we took a tuk-tuk and asked the guy to drive fast to the bus stop. The street was blocked, cars didn't move so the driver told us that we could take a faster option but for 50 ruppies more... at that moment it could have been 200 ruppies.. we needed to be at the bus stop at 7h30 or we would lose the bus...
After some stressing time on the tuk-tuk the driver stoped at 7h35 on a random street with some buses and said it was there.. we checked the buses but none of them had the plate number that we had on our ticket... no one spoke english but between gestures and some random words we were told that it was one of those buses our plate number was wrong..
The bus was a sleeper bus, it had seats and beds (individual and double) we were given a double bed, we arranged our bags and waited for the bus to start.. we waited, waited, waited and nothing... one hour later the driver says we need to change to another bus because that one was broken... we switched and went to another double bed in another bus... we waited, waited and the driver says we have to go on individual beds... we argued but nothing worked, at one point we just went to the individual beds.. we wanted the bus to start... people started to get in the bus we should be departing very soon.. an Indian lady pointed at us and to the beds and said "separate?!" And laugh... we tried to explain that the driver had told us to switch but she spoke no english at all... another guy helped translating and she said that our ticket was for a drive double bed and it was more expensive for that so we should at least ask for the difference of price... while Kika was talking to this lady, a group of Indian boys started to talk to Pedro and asking for pictures... the Indian lady was very upset with what the driver did by changing our beds and even called the agency asking for the refund... at the end, she talked to the father of the boys that were taking pictures with Pedro and they offered to switch the beds... they would go to our individual ones and we would go to the double one... we didn't want to accept because they were 4 and we were 2.. it was really unfair... the dad and the lady insisted and we ended up changing.. poor guys, 2 on an individual bed is probably not confortable at all.. at the end the lady also asked for a picture and the bus finally started... 2h after the scheduled time. The bus ride was probably the worst ride in India so far.. we were in the last bed of the bus and the roads were not that great so it felt like we were in a waching machine and the waching machine was on a trampolin. We slept a few hours but we were definitely not refreshed when we arrived in Ahmedabad at 7am. The bus from Ahmedabad to Goa was only at 1:30pm so we decided to walk to the bus stand..  that way we could stretch a bit, see the city and save some ruppies on the tuk-tuk.. we walked for almost 1h30 until we reached Paulo Travels, the bus company... super happy for being able to find the agency by foot, we walked in to ask if we could leave our backpacks in the agency but as soon as we got in the guy said...... "your bus to Goa was canceled..." we couldn't believe it.. that was the last thing we wanted to hear...

After some deep thoughts we decided that we wanted a refund so that we could keep going south via Pune. We asked for our money back but the travel agent said we couldn't give it to us, the maximum he could do was to refund online (since we booked with an agency, the money would go to the agency account) or give us an hotel night and we could take the bus the next day... we started a discussion and the guy was saying he couldn't give us the money in hands due to a technical issue... we could totally see he didn't want to give us the money so at the end and tired about the argument Pedro said he was going to call the police... Pedro picked up the phone and we stepped away.. a few steps later the man started to yell... we went back and he immediately gave us the money. Happy about our victory we went to the other travel agency to buy the tickets to Pune.. much cheaper compared to the ones to Goa but it was only half way.. we waited a few hours and we were back to our journey... the way to Pune was much better than the way to Ahmedabad, the bus was much more confortable, totally not like a washing machine on a trampoline ... we were able to sleep...

We arrived in Pune on the next morning around 7am, we went straight to the bus stand... as we arrived a guy immediately approached us asking if we were going to Goa, we said yes and he told us to follow him to an agency... the Bus would leave in half an hour... in the agency there was no bus to Goa but only to Kolhapur, a city 160 km away from Goa.. after considering the price we looked at each other and we both said that at least we would be closer... the Bus would arrive in Kolhapur in 4h and 160km away it would be very easy to reach goa... and so we went... instead of 4h, the bus took 5.5h but it was ok... this bus was confortable, had space and even screens on each seat so we could enjoy the journey... at one point, a guy that was on the seat next to us tried to communicate, he wanted to be our friend but his English was not very good... a few seconds later he started to show his mobile phone and he had wrote some words... we communicated via sms for a while, and he was really curious about us... he even said that next time we would go to Pune we were welcome to stay at his place.. he exchanged contacts, he showed us some family pictures and he left a few stops before us, hoping we could meet again...

In Kolhapur things were not as easy as we expected... we thought there would be much more buses to Goa but we only found one that would depart at 4pm and would arrive in Mapusa (Mapsa) around 10pm.. Mapusa was only 30km from Arambol (our final destination) but we didn't want to arrive at night because we wouldn't be able to negotiate the hotel prices nor take a bus to Arambol... we ended up going with the flow and took that bus, we survived this far so if we need to sleep one night watching the stars it wouldn't be a huge problem...

We arrived in Mapusa at 10:30pm, exhausted and with no clue where to sleep... we went to one hotel in front of the bus station but it was 2000 ruppies.. we were saving so much money when compared to the initial bus straight to Goa that we couldn't ruin the budget just for one night... we asked in that hotel if they knew of a cheaper hotel and they recommended the Hotel Atmaran but we would have to walk for a bit... we walked with our backpacks through the streets of Mapusa, sweating and not sure if we were in the right path to the hotel... we asked here and there and one guy ended up showing us the way on his motorcycle... the hotel looked very old and dirty but it was our only option at that time... we walked in and... FULL... we couldn't believe it... where would we find another hotel... we went back to the street and walked back to the direction of the bus stop... one guy saw us and asked if we needed any help.. we said we needed an hotel and he recommended Suhas Hotel. We walked to the streets that he had pointed and walked, walked, walked... but we couldn't find the hotel. It was close to midnight and shops were closing..  there was almost no one on the street... we found a shop and he pointed to the hotel, we could see the hotel signs but we couldn't see the entrance... we went around the building and heard some people singing.. we approached the window of a house and inside there were two Indian guys singing karaoke, around us we could see some rats.. we didn't want to interrupt but we needed help so we call them and asked for help.. the entrance was right next to us but we needed to go up the backdoor stairs to get in...this hotel was also very dirty and we couldn't stop thinking about the rats but we had no option and we stayed there for the night... we don't know how but we slept really well... and we were only 30km away from Arambol... 

Next morning we checked out and had a great shower  (yeah, I forgot to mention that we didn't shower for almost 3days...). We went straight to the bus stand and got a ticket to Arambol... only 30 ruppies and also 30 km... we were so close... it took 1h30 but the feeling of being so close was great... when the bus stopped we stepped out of the bus and we saw jungle.. pure jungle.. totally different from what we expected..  it looked like we were not in the Arambol Beach yet... we asked for some directions and walked through the jungle village with our backpacks.. we could feel the sun and the heat but the will to see the ocean didn't allow us to stop.. after some long steps through the palm trees, papaya trees, mango trees.. all trees...we reached a small dune.. we walked faster and there it was.. we had arrived to Arambol!!!

This was a looong journey, with ups and downs but at the end we consider it great... it is great to feel that we were able to reach where we wanted, even when things didn't go as we wanted.. it was nice to see us going through obstacles that would have made us stop one month and a half ago... and at the end the journey to Goa ended up being almost half the price... 2600 ruppies from Ahmedabad to Arambol compared to 4200 of the bus that was canceled that would drop us 60km away from Arambol... if we translate the amount to euros or to dollar it seems stupid... we are talking about $25 but when you want to live on a budget that makes all the difference... plus all the amazing experiences we had and the people we met...

...easier isn't always better...

:)