Don't hit the elephant.

I rented a motorscooter on impulse to zip around the jungle covered Goan roads...

The guy who sold it to me said if the cops pull me over just say that its a friends and I'm not paying for it...I assume its not licensed or set to explode at a certain hour or something..Thats the thing about India, people without much money don't seem to care about obeying the laws...Relatively speaking, thats a lot of the people here. The sturcture is kind of set up in a way thats sort of like a "fuck it" attitude towards policy..Corruption, scams, and manipulation and such...When you have a lot to lose you tend to stay in line and obey the people in charge but when you're pretty much in the dirt there isn't much motivation to listen to authority as they aren't helping you out anyway.

This is why America is such a controlled place. People have a lot and therefore a lot to lose. India is so damn wild because even the cops are in on the pay roll.

The cab drivers and bartenders sell a cocktail of drugs and it seems like every someone is smoking hashish at every restaurant I sit down in...People drink just about everywhere too...Its laid back though, it isn't loud and stupid--if that makes sense. A lot of freaks, which is visually entertaining from my point of view.

Anyway, back to my scooter...So the guy doesn't show me where the horn is or remind me to adjust the mirrors and some other practical stuff (I later realized as I became aware of that I needed my horn and didn't know where the hell it was)...He also says to me, "You aren't going far right? Just around the area?"

Yeaahh...surree, I tell him...Actually I'm going about 30 km round trip to the trance festival (and back) I don't entirely know how to get there..not to mention its already starting to get dark and I've never driven one of these things before...

Well, fortunately, driving in Goa isn't driving in India because Goa isn't India--its like a laid back vacation spot for westerns and Indians so thats mostly whose on the roads. Small windy roads in the jungle so its like all motorbikes and scooters. A few cars but not too many.

None the less, driving here is like driving in a video game. There really aren't any rules. No speed limit signs, no traffic lights, no road lines, people driving on both sides of the road, pot holes, cows, dogs, people walking and a hell of a lot of claustrophobic traffic in the town areas...

Its all about using your horn as much as you can and cutting the person in front of you off whenever possible I observed. This is sort of the rule of the road if you could call it that. The benefit of having a scooter or motorcycle is that you can zip up through the streams in the middle and sides of the road and go up onto the unpaved walking area.

As I'm making my way to the festival I zip around a car and come nearly within touching distance of a man riding a 10-12 foot elephant in the road...How often do you drive with elephants on the road? This was a first time for me. Its different when you are behind the wheel rather than being driven because you have to actually think to yourself, "Okay, be careful as you pass this car not to run into this giant elephant in the road..." without laughing and taking what your saying seriously...

Definitely a new one for me.

I managed to get to the festival without getting lost to my surprise. I discovered English people selling beef cheeseburgers on the grill. I've been craving a cheeseburger for two months and it was...awesome...

I realized though I was kind of burnt out of music and partying at this point and decided to head back after only a little bit. I left feeling like damn, I wish I hadn't bought that third day...kind of a waste of money...Then, before I could walk more than 100 meters out of the front gate a young Indian couple about my age asks if they can buy my bracelet to get in since the venue has stopped selling tickets. Sure, I say, what's a fair deal?

They say with a slight hesitation, 2,000 rupees? ...hell yes!..We make the transaction and I'm set. The whole 3 day concert cost 100 dollars and I just made 40 of those dollars back when there was only two hours left of the concert...Not a bad deal..Some Indian guy calls me over to the side of the road when I'm walking back to where my scooter is parked, wanting to buy my bracelet so he can re-sell it..I tell him I already sold it for 2,000 rupees and he looks at me like I'm the man and is like...head nod...smile..."very nice!"..laugh...

I make my way back to Arjuna and Vagator (two beaches where I'm staying) in the dark without getting lost. I'm impressed with myself. I even pick some Indian dude up along the way and hitchhike him to the beach. I've gotten several hitchhiked rides so I felt obligated to repay the favor.

I'm going to explore tomorrow now that I can get around freely and fast.