by Smith, Skye
It looked insane, it looked like total madness, but each person had a purpose. Each person was taking the bee line needed to do their own purpose, which was why it looked like chaos. The sights, the sounds, the smells, all added to the chaos. Maya's eyes swam through the shimmering morning sun and she tried to keep up to Marique, who at least seemed to know where she was going.
The people were different here than up north. For one thing, they weren't all stopping to stare at her. For another thing a lot of them looked more Latino than Indian. Marique was asking the most Latino-looking ones for directions. That was also different. Marique never asked directions from Indians because you could never trust the information. Indians tended to tell you anything rather than admit they did not know.
While Marique was stopped and trying to read the place names on buses, Maya asked her about the Latinos. She was told that Goans were of Portuguese descent, and Catholic, and their favorite food was pig, so they were very different from other Indians. "Besides, fair young people have been passing through here in big numbers for fifty years."
Finally through the heat and the dust and the fumes and the constant bumping of other disoriented folks, they found the place where the Algibaga bus was supposed to stop. There didn't seem to be anyone waiting for the bus, and the only vehicle parked there was one of those mini jeeps that the Indian army uses.
A middle-aged ferengi man was bent under the open hood fiddling with something. They went over to ask him about the bus. "Algibaga? You've missed it," said the man straightening to his full height and looking at the two blondes while he wiped the oil from his hands with a rag. "The train was so late that it didn't wait. It'll be back with passengers for the next train in," he glanced at a diver's watch, "maybe three hours."
"Three hours," Maya said looking around. It was not a very friendly place to wait for three hours. There was no shade, and once the train pulled out all the hustlers would hunt them down.
"Maybe four," he added throwing the rag and some tools under the driver's seat. "There's taxis over there, but it's almost fifty klicks to Algibaga. It'll cost ya." His smile widened. "'Course I could offer you a ride if you'll pay the gas."
"How much is gas?" asked Marique suspiciously. "Merde," she suddenly said. The bloody Mormon couple was being led towards a big new car by some other clean-cut Americans. "The gods watch out for stupid people."
"Hey, no need to swear. It's not that much, love," When she didn't say anything, he followed her gaze and grimaced. He had a hereditary mistrust of missionaries. "Like I said, not much. This is one of the old Maruthi Gypsies, you know, with the little Suzuki four banger." The women sighed at him. "About three US each should do it."
"But the bus is less than one each," Marique complained.
"Hey, I'm not gouging. Gas is expensive in India, you know. If you think I'm gouging then take the bus."
"So, you are not in the business of driving?" asked Maya softly.
"Naw, I just came here to drop some friends at the station. I live in Algibaga. I offer rides to anyone who will help with the gas."
Maya reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out her money clip and gave him some rupees. "There, I will pay for the two of us. Is that enough?"
"Lots. Throw your bags in the back and jump in. One stop for gas and we are away."
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MAYA'S AURA - Goa to Nepal by Skye Smith
Chapter 2 - Getting to Algibaga Beach
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. - Mahatma Gandhi.
His name was Will, Will Scarlet. "My father's sense of humor," he explained. "He wasn't the one who had to wear it to high school."
"Why not use your middle name, then?"
"What, Dudley, after my grandfather? Yeah, right, like that wouldn't have gotten me pummeled on the playground."
Both women had their sunhats strapped down with the attached scarves, and he had his bush hat tied on tight because the tiny Gypsy was wide open to sun and wind. The highway was absolutely mad with trucks and buses and taxis weaving in and out of horse carts, ox carts, and cyclists. Occasionally, a motorcycle would whiz by with a local driver and a ferengi hanging on for dear life on the back.
About an hour later, they turned off the highway and bumped over some wooden bridges and joined a road that must have been the old highway at one time. "We're almost there. Where can I drop you?"
"In the beach bungalow district," Marique said.
The man started to laugh and then whooped. "Beach bungalow district. Where do you think you are? Some of the families rent rooms, but that is about it."
"But there is supposed to be a full moon party here in three days. Where do they all stay?"
"Yeah, I heard about that," he replied, "Some Belgian guy was trying to organize one. I think it was going to be a two day thing with a portable stage and tents. Is that why you came?" He sneezed from the dust and wiped his nose on his sleeve. "Not a chance, love. It's turtle season. The local Park Rangers put the run on him right quick."
"Merde, why didn't he email me if it wasn't going to happen? Now what do we do?"
"Well, the standard full moon party is up north of Panaji at the beach town of Anjuna, but it's just a big drunk now. A really ugly scene. Sometimes if you wait until the highest tides, you know, three days after full moon, there is a trance party. You know, once all the drunks have packed up, the dopers have their turn."
"Merde, merde, merde," was Marique's reply.
"I don't give a rat's ass," Maya spoke up from the back seat. "I'm on a tropical beach and look, there's no one on the beach except those fishermen. I'm staying here, at least for now. Could you drop us at one of the places that rents rooms?"
He turned around and smiled at Maya in the back. Marique screamed. He faced forward again and swerved around a water buffalo that was crossing the road, and then turned around and completed his smile. "I have a room to rent."
"Yeah right," said Marique. "And if we weren't pretty, would you offer?"
"Can you sing or play the guitar or paint or recite adventure stories or poetry?" he asked.
The women looked at each other. "No." "No." They both shrugged.
"Well then, I guess I will have to invite you just because you are pretty," he laughed. They were almost to the south end of the pine-tree edged beach. The road ended in a river. He swung into the driveway of a large two storey house, quite a gracious house. They had passed a dozen large houses in the past few blocks. He turned off the car key but the engine kept running and coughing, and then died with a sputter.
An old man limped down from the veranda waving and yelling hello, or rather herro. "Mr. Chow is my partner in my house and this car. Everything is in his name, so that we don't get hit up for extra taxes and bribes." He handed the keys to the old man, and the girls had just enough time to get their luggage out before he drove away. "He has a doctor's appointment. I promised to be back in time. We were a bit late because of the train."
He went into a shed and emerged carrying a small outboard boat motor. "So, last chance, are you staying with me or are you going to knock on doors around the neighborhood?"
"There's enough big houses. They're sort of out of place in such a backwater," observed Maya as she looked about.
"The main ferry across the river used to be at the end of this road. This village did well out of the ferry wait. This road used to be the main highway. Now the highway bypasses the village and crosses a new bridge upstream. It's sort of nice that has become so sleepy. That's why the turtles are coming back."
Marique looked at the big man. It was a risk. Any man was a risk when you were young and good-looking. "Maya, shake his hand, please." She watched as Maya took off her right glove and reached for the man's hand. She didn't stop smiling and she didn't swoon. "How much?"
"Twenty US for the room for the week."
"Okay, which is your house?"
"See over there on the point
. See the thatched roof. That's it. Let me get the motor on the boat and we'll head out. Bring those bags of groceries, okay?" He stopped in his tracks and turned. "What was the handshake all about?"
"Psycho test. Maya faints if she touches a psycho." replied Marique. Maya looked at her feet, all embarrassed.
"You're kidding, right? That must be about the worst curse for a young woman to have," he said and changed his voice to a falsetto, "Oh Mr. Psycho, so glad to meet you, let me faint into your arms so you can do what ever you want with me. Bummer." He gave her an easy smile and then lugged the motor to a strange looking local boat and started to attach it.
The girls hauled all the stuff down to the boat that had been offloaded from the Gypsy thingy. He was still messing with the motor, so Maya stripped off, threw all of her clothes into the boat and then skipped away and ran into the water.
"What does she think she's doing?" he asked Marique.
"She's from California. She likes the ocean."
"Well, keep an eye on her. There's a rip and a tow right here because of the river." He heaved at the boat and it started to move over log rollers slowly down the beach towards the water. Once it was moving he ran back and forth placing the used rollers in front of it. Eventually it was launched. Now, with the prop in the water, he tried to start the motor. It was an old-fashioned Seagull two-stroke with a pull rope start.
After pulling it twice to prime it, he gave it a real pull. The motor sputtered and almost started. He looked around. "I told you to keep an eye on her. She's in the standing wave caused by the rip. Jesus!" He whipped off his T-shirt and kicked off his shoes, and rummaged around in the boat for a lifejacket.
He zipped up the life jacket and pulled off his combat pants, the kind with a dozen heavy pockets. In just his undershorts and the lifejacket he began to run into the water. He looked up to see that Maya had duck dived under the standing wave, and was now beyond it in deep water. Thank god she had a little bit of sense in that pretty head.
He turned back and put his combat pants back on and then started the motor. "Get in, we'll pick her up on the way." he told Marique. Once she was in, he swung the boat around so it was bow into the waves and then jumped into the boat himself. He timed the swells and then gunned the motor. They were almost immediately into water deep enough that they didn't have to worry about grounding the boat as the waves sucked back.
He swung towards the river and went around the standing wave. "Keep your eye on her. Don't lose sight of her head in the waves." At that moment he watched the dot that was a head in the water. The girl was kicking out into a fast crawl. She caught a perfect body-surfing ride back into the beach.
"I told you. She's from California. They do things like that," shrugged Marique.
He swung the bow around and ran on the outside of the waves until they were closer to Maya. She was shallow enough to stand and she was pushing the wet hair out of her eyes. She waved, and then swam towards them, duck diving under waves three times before she reached them.
He told Marique to balance his weight on the other side of the boat and then he reached overboard into the sea and grabbed Maya's hand and hauled her out of the water. She rolled over the low gunnels and into the boat, slithering in and dripping water like a landed fish.
"I'd give you shit," he grumbled, "except you made it look so easy. People drown there every year, ya know." He couldn't have given her shit if he tried, anyhow, she looked so cute and nude and all.
"Yeah," replied Maya, sitting on the last empty seat and pulling her hair back and giving it a squeeze. "That rip's a bitch, and the river current gives it an under tow. You ever get surfers here?" She pulled a sarong out of her pack/case and wrapped it around her, to Will's disappointment.
"Some Aussies come for the monsoon storms. I rent my house to them. Monsoon season is too bloody grey for me. My skin rots and I get depressed so I head home to visit my folks. It all works. Monsoon season here is summer there."
It was a very short ride over the narrow river mouth and around the point. There was a small cove with about twenty feet of beach just around the point. He timed the waves and then gunned the motor and let the next wave deposit them well up the beach. He literally ran along the boat, leaped over the bow with the bow line and then ran up the beach and tied it off.
Just in time. If it hadn't been tied off, the suck back of the wave would have pulled them back out to sea. He waited for the next swell to lift the boat and then he shortened the line. With each wave the boat crept further up the beach.
"Okay," he said, "pass me all the gear." They handed him stuff and he took it up to the stone landing at the bottom of a path and piled it out of harm's way. Last out were the girls. With their help and some rolling logs, he hauled the boat right off the sand and into the shade of bushes. "Higher tides every day now. Can't be too careful."
"What do you do when you are alone? This boat is too heavy for one person to haul. Even you."
"I've got the winch off the jeep set up over there, but it drains my household batteries so I don't like using it," he replied. "I've got some stuff to close down on the boat, but you two can go ahead up to the house. It's up that path. " He watched the two beauties shoulder their stuff and start up the steep rock steps.
"Oh, wait a sec. I almost forgot," and put two fingers in his mouth and gave out a shrieking whistle. "There, you should be okay now. Just ignore the funny cats. They may hiss, but I've given them the all clear."
Halfway up the trail, Maya stopped because she heard a hissing in the low bushes beside her. Something scuttled, invisible, and pretty large. "Strange cats," she warned Marique and then pulled her pack over onto the other shoulder so she could clasp her hands and raise her aura. Animals tended to like her aura.
It worked. A large strange cat and a smaller one came out from the bushes and sat on the step about four ahead watching her sweat under her load.
"Strange cat," Marique said from behind her. "I'll say. Looks more like a weasil or a mink."
"I was thinking more of an otter with a cats face. They look wild so maybe we should keep our hands up and away from them." Their ankles got a good sniffing as they passed the strange cats. It tickled, but they studiously ignored it. All the way to the house the minky things played bush hopscotch with each other to keep up with them.
Marique was intrigued by the house. No one from Belgium would recognize the structure as a house. It was mainly just a big palm thatch roof built open beam over a large concrete pad set with floor tiles. It was as if someone had built a big balcony for the cliff. There was a waist height wall surrounding it, and nothing between wall and roof except open air. Eight posts and some beams were all that supported the palm thatch.
The views all around were fabulous and that was all that Maya saw. Marique saw something else. "There are no bedrooms, there are no rooms at all, only beds and that brick bunker at the back." She was right. It was just one big open space with various interior tiled concrete walls to serve as kitchen counters.
"That bed has no sheets on it, so it must be ours," said Maya.
Marique was angry. "Twenty a week for this. It is like camping. Our bedroom is a bed with a mosquito net."
Maya grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her around. "I think we are paying for the view, sweetie." From inside the house you had an unobscured view of the Indian Ocean's horizon. From the low wall that marked the perimeter of the reach of the roof you could look down on the mini beach where Will was still messing with the boat.
When Will came up, he carried the supplies through to the kitchen nonroom and unlocked a heavy duty padlock on a steel door to a cinder block room at the far back. He opened the door wide so they could see in. "Nice eh? Fridge and stove are butane. See those big bottles? I'll show you how to switch the fitting over later. The shower is heliotherme. See that water tank painted black up the hill there. Cold in the morning. Hot in the afternoon."
He ran back down the path and hauled the next load up. "That c
inder block room is my bodega where I lock up the valuables. Keep your suitcases and valuables in there at all times. I mean, it is basically a giant safe, you know, solid roof, barred window, steel door with a big padlock.
They followed him lugging their pack/cases. "It's not just my lockup, it's my typhoon shelter. I'll give you the spare key. If you keep everything in here, then we can lock the house up just by locking this one door."
"It's the only door in the whole house," Marique said. She pushed her suitcase inside and lifted it to set it down on top of a long trunk. Then she grabbed Maya's and put it there too. Other than the refrigerator, the room was all shelves of stuff, some big trunks, and an army cot. She sat on the cot to test it. "Had any typhoons lately?"
"Wrong season," he said. "So, do Belgians drink beer?"
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MAYA'S AURA - Goa to Nepal by Skye Smith
Chapter 3 - The Turtle Beach, Goa
It is the quality of our work which will please God and not the quantity. - Mahatma Gandhi.
The afternoon started with a beer, continued with coco locos, and ended with a sunset swim down on the micro beach. Supper was fish smoked over coconut husks. After supper there was English style tea, a small joint, and singing accompanied by his guitar. Maya was in paradise. Marique was already missing her city comforts.
Both queen-sized beds were suspended platforms hung from the roof beams by ropes, so there were no legs to touch the floor. Between that and the full tent of the mosquito nets, you could sleep without fearing crawly things. It took a while to get used to the swaying motion, but as the air chilled off the two women curled into each other and slept the sleep of angels.
Maya woke up before sunrise and tried to creep out of the bed without waking her friend. It was impossible. By the time she had navigated the bed, and the mosquito net, and the swaying, Marique was telling her to just get out and then stop the bed from swinging. The noise had woken Will.
