Not in Kansas any more...

Greetings from sunny, beautiful, and hot Goa. More on this shortly.
First, let me say that while everyone who has been to India tells you not to be overwhelmed, as you can't be prepared for it (much like a new child), you can't help but be slightly overwhelmed and unprepared! We arrived in a cream soup-like fog (landed without knowing we were descending) only for the planes to park slightly off the runway to meet buses taking us into the terminal. Then the stereotypes start to appear everywhere. The smell of pollution in the air. Pushy and leary men trying to sell us taxi-rides (thankfully we had prebooked one through our hotel). We left from what is practically a parking lot, but really only in name. The no rhyme-nor-reason driving is absolutely insane: even in the five-foot visibility fog cars zig and zag at 70 km/h and pay no attention to lane markers or other cars. At best you get 10 inches on either side. Then our hotel (see Vee's post).
Thankfully, we are now in Goa. Stepping off the airplane into sunny and 32 then driving along the tropical coast lifted our spirits roughly 100%. Large bottles of beer on the beach are $1 each, so drinking 8 in a day seems reasonable. We're off to start doing so now...