This post is taken straight from an email I sent:

Yeah, I’m learning my way around. I know Goa already better than some
Goans…its the Geographer in me. I’ve been riding my motorcycle
everywhere. On Saturday I had an interesting experience. I was
trying to reach this rain forest preserve in the mountains and I
thought I’d take the back road instead of the main road. As soon as I
got on the back road there was a line of about 1000 dump trucks at a
complete standstill in the left lane (my lane). There was a fairly
steady stream of dumptrucks going the opposite direction, so it took
me a while to weave on the side of the trucks get to the problem which
was a one-lane bridge. After crossing the bridge, I weaved for
another hour in the midday sun sweating and getting covered in dust
while riding through the heart of the state’s iron ore mines (Goa’s #1
industry). It was quite a contrast to the Goa tourists typically see.