Christmas in Goa has been pleasant and understated for me, and I managed to miss out on the all night & day trance parties. I spent christmas eve having dinner with some friends and watching some live Indian classical music and then wandered home on the beach. Goa is really like taking a holiday away from India and although it's been great to meet some fellow travellers and bask in the sun, I have begun to miss the things taht make me love this country. I have spent a few days exploring Goa on my scooter, and when you get away from the beach you see the beauty of this state with it's quiet lanes and palm-shaded rivers, where the people seem entirely relaxed in the gentle rhythm of their lives.
I've been doing a yoga course here for the last week and have just started the second week. It means a 6am start every morning (including New Years Day) but with the many benefits I gained from the course I did in Rajpur it has been complementary and a return to the foundations, which is vital to keep doing I think. Every teacher has a different language and style and I find it fascinating to experience these subtle differences, but with the same basic spiritual and physical basis.
I'll be leaving Goa on Jan 3rd if all goes according to plan and continuing first to Hampi and then further south to Kerala. In February I will be returning to Uttranchal (in the Himalayan foothills) to take up a teaching position with a charity for 6 months in a small village.
Being away on my own has led me on a fascinating path and sometimes I feel isolated, although most of the time the Indian people have made me feel so welcome and embraced me into their company. Still, at christmas time you miss your friends and family the most and even though New Years Eve is usually a bit of an anti-climax I'll miss enjoying the anti-climax with the people I love ;)
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