Month in Mexico: Part 2

So as much as day 1 and 2 sucked, I woke up all positive on Day 3 in Tulum cos my sister is awesome and sent me some very encouraging whatsapp messages. I start off the day with a visit to the famous ruins of Tulum. Imagine age old ruins set against mangrove forests and turquoise waters. It was breathtaking. I revisted the beach in the day and again I was the only person there. Which normally should be amazing, but somehow last night had left me kinda spooked so I didn’t linger long. Also, its been totally sucking to go to a beach as a solo traveller since I can't swim because I can’t leave my stuff on the water. And no beach has been close enough where I could just swim without getting any stuff. I guess even if I lived right on the beach, I would be risking my clothes and towel. I went back to the hostel for a shower and guess what? Somehow I missed all the signs that told me that the shower turns off automatically after 10 mins. I guess the previous night, the guy pooping made sure I didn't last ten mins. So I naturally am in the middle of shampooing my hair when the water shuts off. I really hope you can appreciate the panic at this point. However, I realized that each time I turn off the tap and wait 5 mins, there is a half-cup trickle of water. So yeah, hair in shampoo, half cup trickles, 5 mins wait. Do that math.  It was at this point that I decided I had it and hitched a ride on a “collectivo” or a public minivan to go live in the city in another hostel. I should however mention that the shtty hostel had an awesome breakfast. They had scrambled eggs cooked with bits of tortilla, just the right amount of salsa trickled onto it, with lettuce and tomato on the side and slices of melon (I added that bit for you, Ciaran the jerk).

Shitty hostel, awesome breakfast

The new hostel was brilliant!! It was clean and pretty and had air-conditioning! It was called Mama's Place.  I immediately met two Norwegian boys (Eric and Ruben),  two Scots ( Cat and Steph) and two Aussie siblings (Tony and Lizzie). I went walking about the city in the day, sampled some excellent grilled chicken and rice. Gosh the salsa with the food was sooooo crazy hot. My least favorite word in Spanish, "picante". And there was this dog who sat by me the entire meal, and I felt so guilty eating in front of him. I gave him a tortilla but he didn't eat it. The dog walked around the city with me the whole time! Adorable!  Then in the night, everyone at the hostel had an amazing barbecue. SO MUCH MEAT!! We grilled tons of beef and tons of chicken and in true fashion, I started off by insisting that I wasn't eating and then dug in. Lizzie also made some excellent guacamole and at the time, I didn't know how much guacamole I was gonna be eating on that trip. We all then headed off to a bar and gosh it was so great to have a fun gang to hang out with. It always amazes me how easy it is to cross barriers in conversation. Everyone was super easy to talk to. And these were probably the first Aussies (not the last you'll see) and first Scottish people I was ever talking to. I thought Lizzie was a hoot as she was totally up for dancing with me in a non-dancing bar. Steph was just overall goofy. Cat seemed less goofy cos she was budgeting better than us and not drinking that night. I still felt like I knew these guys for ages. I was also really excited about swings at the bar! By the end of the trip I realized, apparently that's a very common Mexico bar theme. Overall, it was an amazing night.

Ruins of Tulum

Tulum Beach

Yummmyy.. grilled chicken and rice and tortillas

Mama's Place

Inside of Mama's Place

The awesome hostel guy, Esteban. 

See the huge glass behind it. I drank that whole thing.

Sunburned and smiling

Lizzie making guac magic

First bar swing.. so exciting!

The next day in Tulum was even better!! Tony, Eric, Ruben and me took a day tour to a nearby “cenote”. This is a very popular attraction in the Yucatan peninsula. It’s basically underground cave systems that are partially covered with crystal clear turquoise waters. So we snorkeled through these caves with tiny fishes everywhere and insane formations in the water. Just unbelievable.I wish words could describe how beautiful this was. But since they clearly can't, I'm hoping Tony will oblige by providing me with the underwater pics he took that day. No pressure Tony ;)  We then went to Akumal beach which has access to the second largest coral reef in the world and we were supposed to snorkel at the reef and swim with sea turtles. Unfortunately, they didn’t allow us into the water due to bad climate L This was some fucking BS since the tour was pretty pricey by Mexican standards. But none of us wanted to bitch about it to our really nice Dutch divemaster. So we just sucked it up and went with the alternate plan. We then off-roaded some 30 mins  on a dirt path through the forest to reach another cenote which is completely cut off from civilization. We then snorkeled there through some very narrow cave structures and again saw some gorgeous formations. I was so terrified that I might hit my head on some stalactite and gracefully pass out in the water like Jack from Titanic. And even worse, that I might damage some thousand year old Stalactite in the process. Headed back after that and ate some “Mexican Chinese” food which tasted a lot like Indo-Chinese! It was basically noodles with chicken in a sauce but it was soooo yum. Much better than any of the American Chinese food I have eaten. Speaking of American Chinese food, don't you sometimes feel like eating Panda Express is like hooking up with a stranger. You don't know why you want it but you do, and the minute you have it, you feel the worst guilt ever and you promise yourself that this is something that will never happen again. And the walk back home is shame-ier than any other walk of shame. And yet the cycle repeats. I am obviously speaking of this purely from movies and no personal experience.

Anyway, end of this day, I decide to take the night bus from Tulum to Palenque. So after elaborate goodbyes at the hostel, I reach the bus station and they tell me that my assumption that I can show up and get tickets was pretty dumb. The bus was full and I was stranded in Tulum for another day. You would think that the worst part of this would be missing a day. But honestly all I could think of was showing up again at the hostel after all the sentimental goodbyes. That would be embarrassing as fuck. Also, it was a fucking bitch to walk with my luggage to the bus stop. So I did the next best thing. I insisted that I need to check the bus to make sure it's really full. I don't blame you if you can't believe it worked, because I can't believe it worked. It worked!!! So I was off towards Palenque through the windy mountains. I wanted to stop here on a very mystical note but I have to mention this French chick who sat next to me. She kept poking me in the back every time I leaned on her side and I never had the heart to do the same to her when she was all but leaning on my shoulder. Fucking French (I kid!)

Month in Mexico: Part 1

I have been back 12 hours and I have met a ton of people who ask, “Tell me everything about Mexico”. It’s hard to believe that a month or so ago, none of this had happened, because now it feels like such a big part of my life. I promised each of them that I would tell the story right. This is my attempt. It’s not gonna be short and it’s not gonna be too interesting unless you have deep love for me. Also, I’d like it to be acknowledged that with the “M” screaming at me, I didn’t use “Memoirs” in the title.  Yes, it was hard.

“Why Mexico?” is a common question. As much as I wanna give some romantic notion of Mexico beckoning me, the reasons I picked Mexico were more practical than anything else; Developing country prices, no visa, cheap tickets. In fact, the whole summer was mostly about California and Mexico was just injected as an afterthought when I realized that my budget can only sustain me for so long in Californian money. I was so excited about California that, I kid you not; I didn’t know ANYTHING about Mexico until I was already on my way to Cancun from San Francisco. Thanks to the Lonely Planet I was reading on the flight, I figured out how to get to the Downtown with the cheapest way and that was all the info in my head. Cancun airport is great because you have lines of kiosks where government appointment people help you shit tons with all the info you need. And they make it clear that they aren’t trying to sell you stuff so you actually feel very reassured. However, that guy asking me, “How many times have you been here? You know a lot already (Lonely Planet told me exactly how much the bus would cost, where it would drop me and exactly which sidewalk it would wait at)” gave me this false sense of confidence about the rest of my night. I also had a very false notion that my being brown would make all the difference in blending in. NOPE. The minute I left the airport, I realized that I clearly didn’t look as Mexican as I thought and in fact, with a complete lack of Indian tourists in Mexico, drew way more attention. My first few hours in Cancun were hell. I had way over packed from California and I walked around the city with everyone giving me contradicting directions. It didn’t help that the city was not stroller bag friendly at all and not a single soul spoke English. Also, it was dark and dusty and I was completely expecting the bus to drop me off at some gorgeous beach. After around an hour of walking around a city which looked like my least favorite parts of India, I finally just entered an internet café and told the owner to dial the hostel. I was nearly hysterical and thankfully he agreed to come and fetch me. The hostel itself was decent. The people were nice. I managed to get two weeks’ worth of clothes laundered for dirt cheap so I was pretty decently happy. I walked across the street and got a meal of chicken quesadillas, which after a month, still happen to be the best quesadillas I’ve ever had. Cilantro sauce, I love you. The hostel was nice but very quiet. Also it was FREAKING HOT. I didn’t sleep a wink all night because it was my first night in another country and I was also really uncomfortable because of the heat. I also have this habit to sleep with my laptop if I feel scared or lonely, so I was sleeping with my laptop and all night I had nightmares of it getting stolen. Finally, in true hostel fashion, the last people came in at 1, and the first people to leave were up at 5, so it was just a bad night overall.

Quesadillas at Cancun

First Night in Cancun

I woke up the next day at 8 and decided that I’m gonna make Mexico awesome no matter what it took me. So I headed to the kitchen with full gusto, in high spirits, to grab the free breakfast. After a month in Mexico, I realize that the breakfast they served was a freaking feast. But I had been spoiled by hostels in Indonesia with their proper cooked breakfasts with three or four options served buffet style. So my expectations were cosmos high. Here was a jar of Jam, some butter, a toast and a toaster. Also, some bananas. I was so bummed. I grudgingly ate a piece of toast and headed to the beach. Finding the beach and getting there was easy and cheap enough (8 pesos of a bus ride each way). It’s called Delphines beach and to get there it takes 20 mins of crossing the fanciest palatial resorts you’ll ever see. Delphines is a nice enough beach but they have all these beach lounge chairs right by the water with the umbrellas. The minute I fell asleep on the chair, this guy wakes me up and after 5 minutes of really frustrated hand gesturing and attempt at communicating, I realized that he wanted me to pay 200 pesos to use that stupid chair. So I had to get out of the cozy shade of the umbrella and lie in the sun. My mood wasn’t helped by the fact that I was carrying my Kindle so I couldn’t get into the water leaving my stuff on the sand. So I just sat there for a bit baking in the sun. It was still gorgeous no doubt, but it wasn’t feeling right yet. After a few hours on the beach, I knew I’d had my fill of Cancun and decided to move on to this place everyone couldn’t stop talking about: Tulum.



Between Cancun and Tulum is a city called Playa del Carmen. From everything I had heard, Playa was also a very touristy place like Cancun and I decided I’d had my fill of that. So I just took the next bus from Playa to Tulum without staying too long. I reached Tulum when it was slightly getting dark so I decided to just treat myself to nice cab ride directly to my hostel. I picked the hostel with the best breakfast and the highest ratings and I was so excited. I show up at the hostel (which was significantly outside the city) and it was shut! After seeing me trying to break in (I really wanted to stay there), the owner comes out and tells me they are renovating. I was far from the city, had just paid for the taxi ride to get there and I wasn’t getting the breakfast everyone was raving about. I was really getting tired of this. The owner recommended the place next door and it was the shittiest place in the world. I got a room (BLAZING HOT) and tried to make the best of it. I asked the owner where I could get some dinner and he said that there were NO food places nearby. I see a gas station across the street and eat a Cornetto for dinner. The hostel guy then gives me a 30 min speech which could have conveyed the same information in 5 mins. It was dark by then but he convinces me that it’s a great time to go to the beach. He gives me directions and basically said that I need to cut through Mangrove forests and then I’d see tons of restaurants, coffee shops and what not. Here I am imagining Waikiki in my head and imagine chilling in some beachside bar with a cocktail. I get a bike from the hostel and set off on the freeway. After two seconds I realized that the bike had no freaking brakes. Thankfully the realization came before I was trying to cross the interstate. I went back to the hostel guy who taught me that the brakes are on the pedals and not on the handlebars. He, for good measure, also acted like every moron should have that information. I set off again without realizing that retraining my mind on how to stop the bike was much harder than I thought. I reached the forest and that’s what it was, a freaking forest. There are guards at the beginning of the forest who casually wave me in, so I’m thinking it was a normal occurrence for people to cycle through the forest in the pitch black. I have directions and I keep biking through forests so dark that I can’t see my own hands. If freaking out was an option, trust me I would have screamed out my lungs after 10 minutes. But I was scared that me screaming would only attract animals so I just continued to bike, looking confident and determined, without letting the animals sense my fear. After struggling through a steep slope with no fucking brakes, I finally made it to the beach. It was white shining sand and fucking gorgeous. It was so quaint; White dunes of sand, coconut trees, fisherman’s boats and white tents. There were also no lights or bars or cocktails. I was the only one for as far as I could see on the beach and while it sounds magical now, I was terrified. I was walking around a bit (cos the alternative was to go back into the dense iguana infested jungle) and this guy comes and shines the torch in my face. I have imagined this scene a million times in my life. I am suddenly alarmed by a guy. I grab his arm, trip his leg, and with one swift movement he is flat on his back. Obviously, then he happens to be telling me that I dropped something and we fall in love. But I completely digress. The point being, the first time, I was finally alarmed by a guy for real, I pretty much froze and all my thoughts were based on the fact that my parents are gonna kill me if I die here. Thankfully, again after much much frustration, I figured out that he wanted to rent out one of the cabanas on the beach. Here is a somewhat, in retrospect, funny part. I kept telling him that I wanted to check out the inside of the cabana. So I kept miming, “you, me, cabana, walk, show”. I dunno if you can see how this can convey wrong information. But basically he finallyyyyy took me to show a cabana. Turned out it happened to be his and he thought that’s what I wanted. I can safely say that I have never pedaled faster through a Mangrove forest in the middle of the night before. I reached the hostel and yelled my lungs out at the hostel guy for recommending that. To give him credit, he insisted it would have been heavenly had I waited for the full moon to come out. My rest of day two in Mexico mainly consisted of boiling in the heat, all hostel mates speaking in Spanish, hearing a guy poop right next to me while I showered, and seeing a cockroach near my bed. 

Delphines Beach

Those damn umbrellas.

Trying to have an abstract pic.

Horrible Tulum Hostel

I'm REALLY traumatized that there was a guy pooping next to me while I showered. It didn't help that this was the sign on the door. 

Wants

I want a cat I want a dog

I want to stay thin how much ever I hog.

I want a huge self-making bed

I want Heath Ledger to be undead

I want to live in New York Town

I want my skin an even brown

I want a closet that choses clothes

I want the power to teleport

I want nutella in peanut-butter cups

I want to do twenty push-ups

I want F.R.I.E.N.D.S to have never ceased

And yes, don’t pout, I want world peace.

The problem though will always be

My grass I’ll never see as green

So all I’ll get, but want I’ll still

No such thing as wants fulfilled

So to get out of this vicious ball

I need the want that rules them all

I want one want (though it’s a bore)

I want to stop wanting for more.

Good things are happening too.

So everyone who knows me, knows that I can be very vocal about issues in India. Especially those related to bureaucracy and attitudes towards women. But something amazing happened on my trip to India that I forgot to share.

I bought two TVs on my trip to Singapore. (side note: Indians buying TVs in Singapore and taking it back to India is a thing! There was a separate aisle on the airport to stack the TVs. ). So, according to the website, the two TVs were within the allowed custom limit and I wouldn't have to pay the fees. But sooooo many people told me that if you have two TVs, the custom officers will make you pay a fee and there is no way to get around it. The logic being that someone who is buying two LCD TVs is rich enough to pay a hefty bribe.

My dad told me that the standard norm was to roll two Rs. 1000 notes in my hand and smoothly give it to the security guard and just walk out confidently. He warned me repeatedly not to get any funny ideas in my head about ideals. I think his parting words were pretty much, "don't fuck this up". I reach the airport and convert my last $40 into 2000 Indian rupees (at the worst exchange rate ever). As I am walking confidently into the "green channel", I realized that my dad completely missed the biggest loophole in the plan; I don't know how to give a bribe!! 

So I am walking by the all these custom officials and within seconds they are like, "Ma'am two TVs? Please go through the red channel". I am frantically looking for the supposed security guard (the one who I had to bribe) who was supposed to come rescue me. I didn't know who the heck I was supposed to give the money to! I then see him, and it was unmistakable. The sleazy sly grin. I am pushed towards the red channel by the other custom officer and I quickly circle around and come back determined to finish the task assigned to me. I approach the bribe-guard directly and he sees the money in my hand. So he knows it, and I know it. Now here is the problem, I am scared to cross the one foot distance between our hands to give it to him. The guard says in Hindi, " Poor little girl like you with two big TVs. Surely you need help and I can give it to you". The custom officer comes back, "Is there a reason this lady is wandering around lost? Ma'am, please go to the red channel". The guard goes, "Sir, let me help her. It seems like she needs help." The security guard comes and stand right next to me again and all I had to do was barely extend my hand and my ordeal would be over. I couldn't. 

I trudge back indignantly to the red channel hoping I can pay with my credit card and my dad will never have to know that I failed. The custom officer at the red channel was nothing like I expected. He was very polite, spoke crisp English, asked about my trip and promptly gave me the permission slip to pass by without paying anything. I couldn't believe it! Here I was "the weaker sex" flashing two LCD TVs in his face and he actually treated me with complete respect. He then asks me, "You're clearly within the allowed limit, then why did you keep going back and forth?" The honest answer was that in this situation, my country hadn't failed me, I had failed my country.

I remember once being super stressed about shit and bitching to my friend. He simply texted back.. "Chill.. good things are happening too." That line really struck a chord. Stayed with me. I feel like this is something I haven't been acknowledging when it comes to my country. So many things are changing for the better. Homosexuality was decriminalized just a few years ago. The people are making a stand against corruption.  Just yesterday, a normal guy from Mizoram wrote in his blog about how he felt bad that a Mumbai cop called him "Nepali", and within the day, the Mumbai police sent him a letter apologizing and invited him to join the investigation to find the offending cop. It's giving me a warm fuzzy feeling inside :)... kinda like when I marched triumphantly out of the airport, gave the crumpled money to my dad and said proudly, "Trust the system, dad. Good things are happening too". 

Rishikesh!!

A couchsurfer that I met in San Francisco told me that his favorite Indian city was Rishikesh. I had nothing to add to his comment because I have never given much thought to Rishikesh. It's a small holy town on the banks of the Ganges (or Ganga). The one time I had visited Rishikesh was when I was around 12 and the only thing I remember was that the water was freezing and the bathrooms were terrible. Thanks to the CSer's comment, I decided to tag along with my dad on his business trip there.

Rishikesh was a 5-6ish hour long drive from Delhi. The drive there was pretty unremarkable. Tons of dhabas (food stalls) on the way but I didn't eat there cos of my delicate digestion. At first sight, Rishikesh was everything that I expected from a small sized north-indian town. Traffic, dust, trucks everywhere. Our hotel was in a shitty part of town with nothing to offer. I was very ready to spend the next three days in the hotel with my book. However, since my parents hate to see me being lazy (read: comfortable), my mom dragged me out to explore the city.

Rishikesh was a revelation. Thankfully we were visting in the off season so the town was deserted for me to explore. The city lies on both sides of the river Ganges. The first shock to me was to see that the river was so clean! The water was completely clear and freezing cold. The town was sooooo clean too. There were cows everywhere (and cow droppings too) but I was shocked to see that the streets were litter free. The town was hilly ups and downs of quaint by-lanes and small stores. We started at this bridge called Ram-Jhula which is an awesome suspension bridge. This HUGE bridge was actually moving when I was jumping on it.. and it was filled with monkeys. I think I was exceptionally brave to walk across the narrow bridge without freaking out and the monkeys also co-operated by not attacking me.

The most amazing part of Rishikesh is so hard to describe. Imagine a city with ancient roots. It is filled with ashrams where people across the world come to meditate and to learn yoga. This is where yoga began. Everywhere in the city you see schools teachings different forms of dance, music and instruments. The air is thick with culture. This is what the city is all about. To top it off, it rests in the lap of Himalayas, surrounded by forests with the gorgeous Ganga gurgling by. The sidelines are dotted with the city's namesake, rishis (sages), who I bet have incredible experiences to share. I actually saw this Rishi put this hands under a urinating cow and wash his wound. We drove through the forests (called the Rajaji National Park) and while the roads along the mountain cliffs were terrifying, the drive was still delightful. Another real nice feature of Rishikesh was these adorable little cafes dotting the banks of the Ganga. Most of these very bohemian eclectic with varied cuisines on the menu and sporting breathtaking river views. I tried Yak cheese (it is as brave as I could get in the mostly vegetarian town of Rishikesh) and it tasted fresh and un-weird. The cafes were filled with friendly travelers from across the world. I identified some French, German, Russian and American English being spoken but no clue about the rest. I figured my parents wouldn't be comfortable with me socializing with strangers so I didn't really talk to them.

Rishikesh is also the hub for adventure sports. Tons of companies are offering rafting and camping trips along the banks of Ganga. I couldn't do this as I needed to stick with my dad but the camps are truly gorgeous. They also have Asia's highest bungee jump (or so they claim : 83 m) and something called flyingfox (no clue what that is). It's also filled with real spas and places claiming to be spas with Ananda Spa being one of the world's best spas (and accordingly priced at around $500 per night).