Welcome back to This is India! I always have funny/weird stories about India to share with friends or family when I talk to them. This is just meant to be an honest portrayal about my life in India through short anecdotes. I also share here what I’ve been up to online outside Hippie in Heels.
What I was up to other than here:
- I’m in Vegas! I came up early to spend time with my friend who’s getting married before her bachelorette party this week. I have lots to write about from my time here so far.
Now your story,
Monsoon in Goa isn’t AS crazy as it might sound. I’m from Ohio where it rains a lot in the Spring and the thunderstorms can be pretty strong. We also get tornadoes. When I saw my first monsoon I thought hmm this is just a lot of rain.. this won’t be so bad.
But that was the first week of June. By July you start to think Ok this is getting old…
It’s dark by 5 PM. It never stops raining it seems (although it does). The power is in and out. The satellite dish cuts out during your favorite show because palm branches are blocking it.
The rain is so powerful it can flood in 20 minutes. Our swimming pool next to our house gets emptied before monsoon and can fill completely in 6 hours of rain.
By August it’s rough.
September, you get a little stir crazy. No friends are left in Goa, no restaurants are open. You go to a bar hoping for even a little party but there is none.
Mid October you’re like Ok THIS will be the last rain. And is is, thank God.
By April the next year though it’s SO hot and dry you are dancing to the rain Gods begging for the rain to come back!
This would have been my fourth monsoon in Goa and although I’m in Goa for most of it, I am gone all of July and half of August so it’s a nice break. (Poor Ben is stuck there the whole month of July on his own! Of course he could have come to Ohio, and me and my family would have liked him to, but he only gets so much time from work and of course has his own family to visit.)
One thing that I always can’t get over is the driving in the monsoon. A lot of people in India can’t afford cars and drive scooters instead. They will put their whole family on a scooter (wife and two kids, sometimes 3).
In the rain, life doesn’t stop and scooters still power through. We’ve been on our scooter in the rain and it’s a bitch! lol I’ve been in some seriously torrential downpours and people zoom past me on a scooter.
The other funny thing is Goans in cars hate to drive into a puddle! HATE it. They will stop traffic to wait and dodge it or just come at you head on because there is a puddle on their side. It’ll be raining so hard that their car is covered in water and mud anyway- so it always drives us nuts.
We on the other hand LOVE driving in puddles.
This is India!
Did you enjoy this post? Let me know in the comments or by sharing it with the social media links! I’d love to keep giving you travel tricks & tips so feel free to subscribe by e-mail in the big purple box below. Don’t forget you can follow me on facebook, twitter, instagram & bloglovin‘.
Nice! Monsoon in Goa sounds much worse than Rajasthan. The monsoon has started here, but it does not rain everyday or for long. It has only rained substantial once and it was over night. Luckily, I did not loose power at my place. I do wish it would rain a little more, it cools everything off. It is hot up here in Rajasthan.
:) Enjoy Vegas!
I love when it rains overnight! The sound is so calming – when it rains in the day I Just want to lay on the couch and watch movies :)
I am little bit off in luck in dis thing as rain is on and off here in Chennai
Wish I could have Goa or Mumbai typo rains here
Wow that sounds crazy! I experienced rain at the end of monsoon season in Thailand and was blown away. The locals told me it wasn’t even the worst of it but I had never seen rain like that in my life and I’m from the New England coast where we get some nasty hurricanes!
It’s pretty nuts but so nice for the first few weeks! :)
Yes, Goa during monsoon sounds more like a taboo but backpackers or adventurous souls would definitely give it a go. Take short train trip ( from Vasco to Castlerock) traversing the verdant western ghats doted by numerous ponds by the track amid mist & drizzle is spellbinding- A hankering for the bliss!