Sabarimala

All of this talk and thought about Meditation, and doing a quick write-up on the CDs i sent to Karen has made me recall many things about my time in India. The CDs come into play because one of them is mostly devotional songs for Lord Ayyappa – the patron saint of Sabarimala.

The historical/traditional story of Lord Ayyappa will come later (soon) as will the story of my pilgrimage there.  For now i will just say that it is a holy site and a pilgrimage destination for Hindus from all over the world.

On the Way to Sabarimala - August 24, 2007

 

It is in Northern Kerala in a mountainous/heavily forested region.  There are purification rituals that you undergo as far as 45 days before making your pilgrimage (no meat, booze, smokes, sex, impure thoughts, and so forth).  You have a special pooja ceremony with a specific priest in the morning before you leave for your trip.

Depending on which of the two paths up the mountain you choose, you may (as i did) bathe in the holy river Pamba before making your ascent.

Cracker in the Pamba - August 24, 2007

 

You climb this mountain barefoot.

There are many, many other pilgrims with you on the trip.  There would be anyway, but the site is only open to pilgrims a few specific times each year.

I am bringing this up because i do feel that it is time for me to begin writing and sharing more openly about my time in India and in the Mid East.  I think that the story of the pilgrimage to Sabarimala may be a good place to begin.

Cows in the road - Way Home - August 25, 2007

 

Also – there was a terrible accident there last night and over 100 people died in a stampede.

The cause and details are a little sketchy right now and probably the “true story” will never be known.

It seems that vehicles were probably involved (there are not supposed to be any vehicles in the area) as well as incredibly poor infrastructure and planning for a site that gets predictably huge crowds at specific times every year.

While the whole incident is tragic and i am sending out good thoughts for all involved, i also do not yet know if any of my people we there at the time.

I have sent some mails out to my partners, employees, and friends and have not yet had any replies.

One of the reports states that only 5 Keralites were killed, though there are 8 unidentified bodies.

I do not think my guys were there at this time, but this is a special time of year cosmologically to be at Sabarimala.

A few of my guys - Red Bananas, Pettah, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India - 11/21/07

 

Anyway, some carefully crafted invective about organized religion, greed, poor leadership, poor government, and poor planning are sure to follow, but for now i just want to send out good thoughts and reflect on the unknown and the transitory nature of existence.

If ever we needed another reminder to make each moment count and to live each day to the fullest and to follow our dreams – to do what we love – this is a good one.

Over 100 people died on a holy pilgrimage to an ancient and sacred site where they hoped to share their faith and get closer to the spirit of God.

 

 


Post Mexico fill-in Update #1

January 10, 2010

– – I do intend to finish the travel journal, and without too much delay.  There will be some other content mixed in, and hopefully I will be too busy with the job hunt and the work of my new job to spend much time on this each day.

I am trying to adjust to being back in the states, back in the cold, back at my parents’ house, and back at my parents’ house while my grandpa is here too.  When my grandpa is here, he gets the suite we (my grandpa, dad, and I) built in the basement and I “move into” the living room.  I am trying to channel the feelings i have about this situation into motivation for the job search instead of – other places.

There are good and bad elements of being “home”.  Being with my dog Lucas is nice.  Having a kitchen and creating good vegetarian food is nice. I made potato soup, stir fry, beans and rice with two uncommon red beans, a giant green salad, and a variety of lovely breakfasts.  Seeing my family again is also nice.  Having to drive again is not as nice.  I miss the Collectivo and may look into the bus schedules around here.

Being around a vast sea of Americans is not as nice, and I am back to spending 70-90% of my waking hours with the headphones on.  This actually started on the 5th in Tulum before I even left there for Cancun…

January 5th – Tulum

I woke up at 6, read for an hour, then packed and cleaned up my room.  I walked to the ruins and got there just as they opened at 8 AM.  It was nice to get to see them.  They are less visually impressive as buildings than some other sites, but if you take in the complex as a whole, the remaining jungle, the protected beaches, the view from the cliffs, and think back on what life would or could have been like here hundreds or thousands of years ago – it was pretty cool.

Iguana Worshiping the Sun

By the time I was done and getting ready to leave, the first buses had arrived and while most of these tourists were poorly behaved (I guess it is a form of mob mentality) the Americans were the worst of the bunch.  (We’re #1!)  At almost every temple site, tourists look casually around, then step over the ropes indicating where we are not supposed to go, then they go there.  They climb the steps and jump on the roofs.  They mount the sacred shrines as well.  Once the guards see them and ask them to stop, most people do, but a few groups of people argue with and then yell at the guards.  Who are these people?  In every case, my country-men and women – Americans.  “We were not the only ones doing it, why don’t you yell at them?”  “There are not even any signs!  How were we supposed to know?”  Of course there are signs.  There are signs everywhere.  The entrance path is about ¾ of a kilometer for the sole purpose of hoping that you will read all the signs (it is really just two signs repeated many times – in several languages).  And, in addition to all the signs and warnings, there is a very clear path one is supposed to walk on.  The boundary of this path is a suspended rope.  What nimrod that managed to successfully board a plane and make it through customs and immigration without getting shot does not understand what these frackin‘ ropes mean?!  Guess what genius?  You and your kind are the reason we cannot climb the steps to the top of Chichen Itza anymore.  Thanks a lot for that.

– So, I resorted back to headphones before leaving the ruins in an attempt to keep old-cantankerous-bitter-“Get off my lawn you damn kids”-Nick in dormancy at least until the end of my vacation.  Those people were much less annoying doing the tourist ballet to ‘Kind of Blue’.

I left the ruins by an alternate route and found Santa Fe Beach.  This is one of the Northern beaches that my new friend Yuri liked as well as the beach recommended by one of the great people from Mama’s House, Ilana.  I walked along the beach awhile and enjoyed listening to the surf and just digging the different vibe of being on more of a locals’ and backpackers’ beach instead of the packed tourist beach to the south.  When it looked like the beach was about to turn rocky, I headed back to the jungle road and made my way back to Mama’s House.  I got back about 10:30 and had plenty of time to shower and change.  Ilana let me put my bags in the house while i went to the bus station to investigate going to Cancun.

I got a first class bus (these have a bathroom!) to Cancun for about 90 pesos.  It takes almost three hours to get to the ADO stop in Centro, so I bought a ticket on the 2:30 bus, hoping that would leave me time to catch R1 to the Hotel Zone and get set-up before dark.

Traveling Equipment Part 2 –

Footwear – I wore my super light running shoes on the plane and carried my crocs in the suitcase.  Having both of these was awesome.  At the Barcelo Maya! I was not sure that I could have gotten in to all the various restaurants if crocs were my only footwear.  Outside of the Barcelo Maya! I had some seriously long walks that were much nicer in a more supportive shoe.

Velcro – I bought a pack of 5 or 6, 5 inch velcro strips from Wal-Mart for various uses in backpacking.  I brought two of these with me and used them to carry my crocs around.  It was simple and quick to lash the crocs to my shoulder bag, freeing my hands while walking barefoot on the beach/in the surf.  This also worked as a nice means of bringing my crocs along on all day missions to the beach/town several miles from the hotel.

Clothes – here I did well.  I travelled in jeans and brought one pair of Dockers (again for the restaurant/night-life options) and used both of these to great effect.  I had one pair of  zip-off hiking pants along and they too worked out well (though I only zipped the pant legs on one time).  I had two long-sleeved shirts: one walking shirt with roll-up sleeves and one standard blue button-up.  Both of these were good choices.  There were enough cool-cold nights that having more than one long-sleeved shirt was nice.  I did bring too many handkerchiefs and socks.  Two of each would have been fine instead of the 4 or 5 of each I had along.  The four quick-dry shirts I brought were fantastic.  The area that needed the most improvement was shorts.  I had one swimsuit/running shorts combo, one pair of golf shorts, the aforementioned hiking zip-offs, and one pair of cargo shorts along.  I found the swimsuit/running shorts for 12 bucks at the nike factory outlet near my house before I left.  I wish I had bought 3 pairs and left the other shorts at home.  The nike shorts are super light and dry very quickly.  That would have been a nice improvement.

Mexico Update #5

Tulum – January 3, 2011

December 31st – Playacar to Tulum

This was my third ride on the Collectivo, and the first time I had to wait for an extended period of time to catch one.  The stop was right across the highway from my hotel and it did take about 45 minutes before the right one came along.  Most of the vans that stopped were local traffic and did not go as far as Tulum.  Eventually a big bus pulled up.  I asked the driver if he went to Tulum and he said yes.  30 pesos.  Light air-conditioning.  Big nice soft seat.  It was a good ride.

I had a little more information about how to find my pension hotel than I had for the trek to Playacar.  I had a little map and some directions from both the bus station and the post office.  The bus I was on stopped at the main bus station so I thought this would be no problem.  30 minutes later, it was clear to me that my map was inaccurate.  I stopped for a cervaca and asked a guy how to find the post office.

This led me to the other side of the main highway and I walked for another 40 minutes or so.  I knew I was close.  I could feel it, but I could not find the place.  Also, once you leave the main road, there are no more street signs, so it is difficult to locate a particular intersection.  I also never found the post office.  I had just about given up.  I was heading back to the main road to catch a taxi – even though it would only be like a 4 or 5 block ride, I needed to find my new home and take a shower.

I decided to ask in a little corner store.  They had no english and my spanish is rather limited.  After asking about the location of the intersection got me nowhere – I mentioned the name of the hostel.  I thought it would do no good.  If they had no english, what would “Mama’s House” mean to them?  But they did know it – it was actually across the street.

From my room - that's the corner market!

The people at Mama’s House are fantastic – both the staff and the other travelers.  My room is perfect, breakfast has been super, drinking water and the internet are free, and they fixed a special evening meal to celebrate new year’s.  I told them I was vegetarian when I arrived and they have been great about that.  The first breakfast was toast and an apple.  Very fine, and more than I expected since the staff was still up partying when I went to bed at 3 AM.  The second day was soft tortillas filled with chocolate and bananas.  Today was eggs with onions and some kind of green bean, re-fried beans, toast and an apple.  For the celebration meal they made the rice plain and had a huge dish of sauteed veggies.

View of my simple but delightful room

I had gone out to eat before hand because I was hungry and I did not yet know how they would respond to the needs of a vegetarian.  But I wanted to be social and eat something since they had gone through the trouble.  All the guests were in the courtyard, as well as the staff and some family friends.  I sat in one of the few empty seats near the end of the line of tables that were pushed together for the occasion, and this was another fantastic accident in a long line of beautiful chance encounters that this trip has presented to me.  The people I sat with were super.  We had a really nice time talking together.

Near midnight, Mama, Ilana, brought out a tray with many cups filled with sparkling wine and 12 grapes each.  We turned on the tv for the countdown.  They ring the bell 12 times at midnight, and you are supposed to eat one grape each time the bell sounds, and then drink your wine when you finish the grapes.  This was not an easy task.  It would have been difficult anyway, but these were huge grapes and seeded.  I made it through three with the bells and then had to slow down.  A few people made it through all 12 “on time”.  There was lots of hugging and smiling and some nice salsa dancing.  It was a beautiful way to ring in the new year.  I do not know where the tradition comes from – some of the guests were European, some Greek, some Mexican, some from other South American locations – but many people formed a circle and poured shots of Rum into a plastic cup.  The game was to pick up the glass and take the shot without using your hands.  I sat that one out and just watched – but it was fun all the same.  It was like some reverse limbo game.

Around 6 of the guests were headed to the beach for late night party action.  My new friend Yuri was going with them and they strongly encouraged me to go as well.  I was actually amazed that I even saw midnight and opted out of that trip.  I know they had a great time (we did not see Yuri again for almost two days – so you know he had a good time hanging with the beach people).

I still have more exploring to do.  I have walked to the beach and for a long distance headed south.  People tell me that the beach to the north is different both ecologically and in terms of the sorts of crowds that choose to go there.  I have not explored the town much yet and I do intend to go look at the pottery today.

I have spent the evenings with Yuri’s family and had a fantastic time talking with them.  It is really amazing to me that this is the second time in one trip that I have met a collection of 5 other people and really liked them all together and individually.  That never happens to me.  But I have a new family (also 5 people) in North Carolina now through the Barcelo Maya!  I have two great Canadian friends also from the Barcelo Maya!  And now another new family in Washington State.

Maybe it is more “me” than even I suspect.  I have been pretty closed off for several years now.  Some of it was culture shock at being back in America after so much time abroad.  Some of it was my inability to really share or talk about my experiences overseas because I had not internally reconciled the difficulties I faced personally and in business.  But, I also just do not often meet many people that I feel that deep internal resonance with.  Hopefully you will recognize what I am attempting to describe.  When you connect with someone and your spirits seem to hum or harmonize together and you get so excited when you talk together that you can feel it like a chemical release in your brain and your blood and you get tingly, or sparkly.

I could count the number of people I have ever felt that way about on my hands and toes.  For the people that i still feel that way about, I do not need both feet.  And now, on one trip I have found that thing with at least 8 more people.  I have enjoyed everyone, but you do not get sparkly with every person.  And 8!  That is an amazing number to me.  8 in a lifetime would be fantastic.  8 in one trip – 8 in one 3 week trip – it is astounding.

Anyway, I am having a lovely time.  I will probably write some more today, but I thought it would be best to go ahead and get some updates out there.

Some Random Notes from Yesterday –

Traveling Equipment –

I did a pretty good job packing for this trip.  I have used everything that I brought with me, which is nice.  I do still wish that I had less stuff, but I am not sure what I would choose to leave behind.  For weight considerations, a transition to the iPad would have been a good move.  That would have cut down significantly by replacing my 15” MacBook Pro and 6 Mass Market paperbacks, one hardback, and a heavy Trade Paperback.

The Most Useful Items:

  1. Dictionario!  This should be one of the obvious, self explanatory items like ‘sunscreen’, but most of the people I have seen do not have one.
  2. The really thin plastic bags you put your veggies in at the grocery store – I brought 6 or 7 of those.  The main purpose is for paper back books.  I figured this one out many years ago.  If you put your books in a thin bag, it is much less likely the they will be damaged in your suitcase on the plane, or in your shoulder bag as you trek around town/beach.
  3. Quart sized Freezer bags!  I brought about 25 with me and they have been invaluable – keeping things organized in my shoulder bag, protecting items from sand, water, rain.
  4. 25 feet of really light hiking cord for a clothesline – great cord, easy to tie half hitches to quickly vary the tension and drop of the line.  Reflective!  I just brought the line with me and bought clothespins here for cheap.
  5. My new suitcase.  I got a Delsey hard-sided (though still flexible) case that qualifies as carry-on.  The zipper is good and “self-repairing” and the case seems water-proof.  The wheels and handle are quite sturdy and have definitely been put through the paces on this trip.  It did great on the 2 mile trek around Akumal over mixed pavement, stone, and dirt paths.  It did great on my strange 3 mile trek through Playa Del Carmen trying to get from the Collectivo dump point in Centro to my hotel in Playacar.  It has a built-in TSA approved lock which has been great.  I have not had a safe everywhere, and have not used them where available.  I do agree with the arguments for using the safes, but you still have to have faith in the staff.  Someone on staff knows how to open the safe and re-set the lock.  When I leave the room, I put my computer backpack inside the suitcase and lock that.  Sure, someone can take the whole suitcase, but that is more conspicuous and you can only spend so much time worrying about your gear.

Technical Side Note – I have been using Pages ® on this trip instead of Word ® and I like it.  It does all the stuff that I like in Word, but much less of the automated tasks and auto-formatting that I do not like in Word.  I imagine that I will still have to use Word for collaboration on work projects, but for my personal use, Pages wins.  The button to toggle into full screen mode is awesome!

Mexico Update #4

December 27

I just re-read yesterday’s writing and it is not as rough as I expected.  I was weeping by the end as I wrote it, but not so moved when I read it today.  But the way those passages came on me was so natural and visceral I was open to a cascade of emotion and guilt.  I think it is part of our natural defense to keep us from being constantly overwhelmed and incapacitated by exposure to suffering.  A switch goes off in your head and you get back to whatever it was you were doing before (unless the maids and guests and children are all yelling outside your paper thin door in the echo chamber that is your new hotel – Oh Compassionate Buddha – I miss the Barcelo Maya!).

I will come back to the global social/political tar-baby in a bit.  For now, on with the chronicles.  Back to December 25th

On my way back to the tourist section of Playa Del Carmen, I passed by Cristi Fer’s place just to see it and verify that it was where I thought it would be.  It was there.  I went back to 100% Natural and had a great experience.  The people were very nice, the atmosphere is very relaxing, and the food was pretty good.  I had some kind of fruity smoothie thing (The California if you also checked out the menu) and the Enchiladas Vegetarianas.  I was pleased when my guy brought out some appetizers – because I was ravenous.  Four thickly cut slices of multigrain bread, a green chile salsa and a yogurt with some mild spice in it, and marinated peppers, onions, and potatoes.  Very nice flavors and combinations of hot and cool.

I was a little bit underwhelmed by the enchiladas.  They were fine.  They were better than some of the food at the Barcelo Maya!  But it was a little bland and a whole lot of yogurt and no discernible beany-tofu-y sort of protein. I do not remember what it said on the menu, and I do not believe that they made it incorrectly.  In my head, I was prepared for Mexican style enchiladas without meat.  Anyway, it was good, and I could tell that there was no meat contamination.  I ended the meal by pouring the rest of the salsa and yogurt onto my plate and soaking it all up with the last of the bread.  Reasonably sized meal, trending to the larger side, and a very big (and excellent) fruit drink – about $140 pesos.  Not bad.  I had free breakfast at the hotel.  I snacked on Japones and bananas in my room for dinner.

After having a successful meal, solid knowledge of at least one safe place to eat, and a really long walk (about 8 miles) I headed back to the hotel and did many loads of sink laundry, with the local Tide® – Ace®.  My quick dry stuff goes on the lines I have set-up in the bathroom, and the iron and ironing board replace the dryer for heavier fabrics.  After the several minor trials and challenges of re-locating from the Barcelo Maya! to Playacar the day before, it felt great to have clean, dry (or soon to be) clothes and a full belly.

Soon to come, though doubtfully in this order:

  • some events from Barcelo Maya! And a note on comparisons between all-inclusive and pay-as-you-go (though not until after I get to Tulum – so, next year)
  • the transition from Barcelo Maya! to Playacar – highlights include my first (and second) trip in the real Collectivo, going to the wrong town first and walking a few miles there, getting dumped in the center of locals’ downtown Playa Del Carmen, finding an oasis of salvation at…Dominos Pizza.
  • Sunday in Playacar – I accidentally re-discover that caffeine is a drug, and I don’t like it.  Second trip to 100% Natural and, a neat little dive bar with some excellent and helpful staff.
  • The internet in Mexico and how to defeat some of the log-in systems (it is really easy)

Adios! I am off to meet Cristi Fer and learn some more from her about local vegetarian eating!

Browny McBrownerson

Browny McBrownerson

Mexico Update #3

December 26th

Skipping over the events of Barcelo Maya! and the travel to Playacar for now, i wanted to share a little bit about yesterday – Christmas in Mexico.  Fair Warning – this turns political, and emotional, and “preachy” would not be a far stretch, about halfway through.

It is about ¾ of a mile to the swanky downtown area of Playa Del Carmen from my hotel.  The walk is safe.  Very small Airport on one side and a row of gorgeous, though abandoned or not yet occupied buildings, on the other.

The swanky end of downtown has the nice free public restrooms – always good to know where those are.

I looked around and quickly learned that this too is pretty much like the touristy sections of Virginia Beach or Ocean City or Myrtle Beach – hawkers, overpriced stuff, and large crowds of slowly wandering tourists.  But it was interesting all the same.  I found one of the veggie places from Happy Cow100% Natural.  Sadly their site is poorly designed with images and flash instead of text so google translate does not work there.  I did download the menus and did some work con dictionario and learned enough about what was offered.  When i found the restaurant, it was near the beach on one of the main drags – 5th Avenue.  This is what it said on Happy Cow, but on their own website it is listed about 15 blocks away. It looked just like the picture and description from Happy Cow (waterfall!) and the menu was the same.  I did not have enough spanish to find out if there is more than one location, or if they moved – but i have 6 more days in Playacar to figure that out.  The location from the website is very near the natural food store I plan to visit anyway, so I can check those out at the same time.

After noting their location on the map i drew combining info from the phone book and the interwebs –

Highly Detailed Map

i told them i would be back and went off to locate another Happy Cow find – Playa RAW.  This is a vegan, raw only joint.  I have only been to one other restaurant of this style, but the food is better than it sounds.  Vegan Raw lasagna is awesome.  How do they do it?  I don’t know.  It is mind blowing to imagine lasagna prepared without heat, cheese, or dairy – but they do it and i like it.  I have never studied these folks or their methods, but I did learn a little.  They are Vegans plus (or minus).  Heat causes chemical change that decreases the amount/effectiveness of the nutrients in food.  Raw food has maximum effect.  They take the principles of vegetarian/vegan animal friendliness and extend them to the rest of the earth.  Everything needs energy to sustain itself.  We get ours from food.  Eat as low on the food-chain as you can and maximize the effect you get from eating so that you kill fewer things to sustain yourself.  All I know about their cooking methods: some use is made of non-electrical natural-convection-style and/or solar dehydrators.  I don’t know “the best” ones, but if you google it, there are tons of info sites and even DIY youtube videos.

I knew it was going to be a long walk, but i had not managed to get a sense of scale on the maps yet to know if it was 2 miles or 6 miles.  It is closer to 5 miles – one way.  A direct route may be only 4 miles or less, but i was not on a direct route.  I turned around at about 65th Street North.  Playa RAW is near 84th Street North.  Known location for good veggie food, 100% Natural, – about 10th Street North.  Known bathroom – 10th Street South.  I had already walked around 3 miles, and i was getting hungry, and would need a bathroom sooner than later, and you leave the tourist areas and enter the blocks where people live near 20th Street North.

I did not have the sensation of fear walking in these neighborhoods, but i was uncomfortable.  If i had more Spanish, i would have felt a little better, but as with other places where the poor live, it is hard not to feel like you are flaunting your wealth.  It was an odd place.  There was a mixture of absolute squalor – rivaling conditions i saw in the Indian slums around Delhi and the refugee areas (“camps” makes them sound better than they are) around Amman, Jordan – normal poor folk, and even lower middle class/upwardly mobile folks.  There were kids with radio control cars playing in the street and almost every late teen/early twenty year old had headphones on or was playing tunes on their phone in speaker mode.  But right next to these are the people digging through trash looking for anything useful, living in burned out buildings with maybe 3 walls and collapsing roofs, or in abandoned construction sites, or just under a tattered tarp.

I do not have the answers, but i do think it is important to learn to even ask the questions.  Back home i think of myself as poor – or at least economically lower class. Mostly i am just ‘thrifty’ (or cheap if you wish) and the ‘poor’ self-image encourages thrift.  It is a simple but effective tool – you spend less and learn how to do more with less if you tell yourself you have no money.  But there are options and resources available to me that these people do not have.  This is a gross oversimplification but i think it is a great example of the importance of the Big 3 – Economics, Infrastructure, Education.

Politically, you have to find a way to help those who need it – and it takes a lot of money. You have to get people with money to give it to you so you can get resources to the people with no money.  And you have to find ways to generate and retain more people who have more money – Economics.

It is hard to get a job, even a not-very-good job, if you smell bad all the time and have nothing but dirty clothes because you do not have water – Infrastructure.

It is hard to get a better job if you can’t read or write – Education.

I believe that we have been blinded by the pace of life today.  Everything must be said in a sound-bite and issues must be made sexy and fun.  The things that need the most attention and the people that need the most help do not fit into these categories.  It is hard to campaign for office or do fundraising on a platform of sewage, roads, and books – but those are the things that will do the most good – everywhere in the world.  It is embarrassing that we not only have not fixed these things – we are not even really trying to fix them.

These are not secrets.  It is not hard to reach these conclusions, or build a consensus on the veracity of these claims.  I have no special knowledge, skills, or de-coder ring – these facts are laying out in the open for all to see.   We choose to look away, back to our own lives.  Me too.  I have done charity work, built and repaired with Habitat for Humanity, volunteered in soup kitchens, given money and clothes, built websites and presentations, planned and led events, and designed fundraising strategies for other charity organizations.  But, i spend way more time on selfish pursuits.

We can’t all be “all give all the time”.  I get that.  But why can’t we get everyone some water and some rice, a road to the hospital, and a book?  Why aren’t we trying harder?

Mexico Update #2

December 24, 2010 (for now – it will pass midnight here while I write – Feliz Navidad!)

Back to the story near where I left off…December 15th.

I was excited to leave Cancun, go to my resort, and to try out the Collectivo.  I had done enough research before leaving the US to know that one of the main North/South Collectivo stops is across the street from the ADO bus station in Centro, which is right by the drop off for the local R1 bus.

I was a little fussed that the HSBC sign I saw near my hotel was for an ATM and not a bank as I needed to change some more money and wanted the best possible rates.  For Cancun, generally, it is said that the worst rates are inside the airport, then your hotel, then the moneychangers on the street, and the best are at the banks.  I did 60 dollars at the airport for around 10.9 pesos to the dollar.  Not great, but my plans required an indeterminate amount of cash.  I shopped around Cancun at the moneychangers on the street and did some more (maybe $40) at 11.8.  But I wanted the best rate for a larger transfer.

Knowing there were plenty of banks in Centro, I headed to the nearest stop for the R1 and was, of course, approached by a few taxi guys.  I liked one of them, Jesus, and remembered the utility of a taxi driver’s local knowledge if you find a nice one with decent English as had just happened.  We haggled a minute and I got a ride to Playa Del Carmen for 400 pesos (it is probably about 120-200 on the Collectivo).  Once in the car, after we had a little get-to-know-you chitchat, I asked him where to get the best rate and he took me to a bank where I got 11.9 and I changed the rest of my cash on hand.

Once I told him the name of my resort, he told me that was perhaps 20 minutes past Playa Del Carmen, but he would take me anyway for the same price.  I was not trying to take advantage of him – I just did not know the difference between Playa Del Carmen and my resort.  It is hard to tell from the maps.

We talked about Mexico and travel a good deal – focused on safety and best practices – through a healthy mix of Spanish and English.  He told me that he thought that Chichen Itza was not worth the cost anymore because of the number of tourists and the general state of things there.  He said that you cannot even climb the temple stairs anymore and they had to do this because the tourists took rocks and wrote graffiti.  He said the site at Tulum was much nicer.  He said that Cozumel has the second best diving in the world after The Great Barrier Reef in Australia, and he said that he and his family never dive – or snorkel in the Centoes, but they do go to swim with the dolphins sometimes.

I asked him about Wal-Mart – how long had it been there in Cancun and what the prices were like.  He said about 10 years and that the prices were probably similar to Wal-Mart in the US – so, cheap, but not as good as Mexico’s Wal-Mart, Chedraui.

He pointed to a bottle of water I bought at Oxxo in Cancun and said it would be half the price or less at Chedraui, and that Oxxo and Wal-Mart had about the same prices.  He pointed out a few Chedrauis along the way.

As he asked me some questions about travel and I told him about living in India, it came out that his girlfriend, before he met his wife, was from India.

We got to the hotel and it took us two tries to find the correct lobby (there are 3 lobbies and many, many buildings at the Barcelo Maya!).

I gave him 500 pesos because he did an excellent job, gave me great intel, took me to the bank, and went much further than we had agreed originally.  He gave me his card and I would call him in a second if I needed a guy, but I have the Collectivo system down now and that should suffice.

I may largely skip my time at Barcelo Maya in the chronicles for now.  With a few standout exceptions – each day was the same beautiful paradise, and creature of habit that I am, I did the same stuff almost every day.

Breakfast was my favorite meal.  The scrambled eggs at the buffet were good and it seemed that there was little chance or reason for any of the guests to mix meat utensils there the way it was set up.  They did have omelet stations – but you never know how good a bet those pans are (for meat purity).  I slapped some fantasic, though simple, salsa on top.  The salsa was fresh cut veggies with a little oil and lime juice (not a tomato paste/sauce based style)– mucho caliente!  I got a roll, some fresh cheese cubes of two varieties, some honeydew and cantaloupe, and a light yogurt.  That’s it.  I did that for 9 mornings and it was awesome.  I took 2 bananas with me when I left the buffet and I ate those for lunch.

I think that’s about it for now.  I have left Barcelo Maya!  I am safe in my new location.  The interwebs here is dependable and free.  I am about a mile from “downtown” and about half a mile from the beach – so I expect to be in my room a little more and will finish writing and posting updates a bit more regularly.

Have a great day with the families and the un-wrapping of gifts.

Leave the Old Testament alone today (and as often as you can – at least avoid Leviticus and Deuteronomy!)  Think less about what the church built and more about what Jesus said and did.  Taking a moment to recall that Jesus was not a Christian does not hurt either.

Read a few passages from another religion’s sacred books.  Check out the Eight-fold path, read about the Tao, the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and the Bhagavad Gita are all filled with great stories and insight.  The Bill of Rights is always worth another look…  (We have to live on this ball in space together.)  Them’s my thoughts for now.

Adios!

Mexico Update

View from my room in Cancun

December 18, 2010

The trip has been lovely so far and I imagine it shall remain so.

I drove through the snow to get to BWI on the 14th, and the coldest day here has been quite comfortable.  Even when the sky has been overcast, the clouds are lovely to watch, as well as their shadows on the water.


I can assure you that this will not be my last trip to Mexico.  One or two people suggested that I make my plane tickets changeable so I could come home early if I wanted to – another inquired what I would do for 23 days of vacation all alone.  I planned on and am accomplishing a gigantic amount of nothing.

I have walked on the beach, sat in the sun, and read two and a half books so far.  I only brought eight so I might have to slow down, though I did locate a fantastic bookstore to check out in Puerto Morelles before I left the US, and I will probably re-read a book I am editing, but I only have that digitally and I don’t care to take my laptop outside the room.  I have not used my phone (aside from some “I am safe” texts to the fam), watched tv, listened to music (that I brought with me I mean – the bands are good here), or had my headphones on since I left the plane.  That has been lovely for my ears as I usually have my headphones on constantly in America.  The internet was free at my hotel in Cancun, but it is 12 bucks a day on the Rivera Maya.  This is the first day I have turned it on and it is slow enough (and liberating to live without it – and to have no need for it) that I may only turn it on again one more time, the day before I leave for the next leg of my trip just to go over arrangements and maps and check back in with the family.

Since this is the first time I have even taken my computer out of the bag (3 days, my personal best in many years – I used to travel with my desktop tower system and at least a 15” crt back in the day), I have not done much writing.  I have made some notes to help me remember a few things, but my handwriting is so terrible and it gets worse all the time, that even I have trouble reading it.  This is my message to the kids – learn good penmanship when you are young, and develop an actual signature.  Somehow it was either never made clear to me, or it simply did not sink in that one’s signature is important.  I do think it is kind of unfair that we need to use (and are frequently judged by) something “vital” to self-identification and officialdom as adults that we come up with when we are wearing blankets as capes.

Before any more info about the trip, I am going to share with you one of the greatest things I have ever seen.  I have loved service workers in general and food service workers in particular for as long as I can remember.  Maybe it is the general default friendliness, maybe it is the relative sameness of the dining experience (not in the generic amercian bland food way, but in the mechanics of the experience) that provided unconscious comfort to a fellow who moved around a lot.  Whatever the cause, I love me some restaurant people.

I was finishing a meal in the buffet area on the 16th and I was watching the busboy do his thing and admiring the system the hotel set-up as well as this guy’s individual chops when he blew my mind.  He was changing a trash bag, something we all have done 5 million times.  He shook it out to fill it with air as the “particular” ones of us tend to do to try and ensure that the bag is actually open in the can, receptive to receiving items and flushed out into the corners.  Being a “particular” sort of fellow myself, I admired (though expected) that he did this.  Then it happened – and this busboy changed my world.

Visualize, if you will.  He shook the bag open semi-filling it with air, then he gave it a quick twist at the top!  Now he was able to very easily fit the bag into the can without having to put his hand down inside the trash-can.  It fit easily and opened all the way because it was full of air.  He quickly untwisted it and sealed it to the edges and was done.  Beautiful.  I almost clapped – but I was too stunned.  I have not seen any of the other guys do this move and I have been watching.  That, my friends, is innovation!

Some details: As I suspected, Cancun is not for me.  This is why I only have two days booked for Cancun total.  But, next time it will be only one, or maybe none.  My flight home is not until 2:30 in the afternoon, but I end my trip down in Tulum which is 2-4 hours from the airport, depending on your mode of transport.  So, the night before leaving, I do want to position myself much closer, but staying in Cancun the day I arrived was totally unnecessary.  I am not much into the discothèque side of life, and it does not seem to me that there is much else to do there in the Hotel Zone.  It was still pleasant to be on the adventure, to have my very own room to sleep in, and to walk on the beach.  Things are just really expensive and kinda fake there.  All the local people I dealt with and talked to were nice.  Most of them are trying a little too hard to get you to buy stuff, but that is to be expected and not really to be held against them.  I am sure it is different in Centro – downtown, and what I saw of Centro confirmed this.  But getting to know a city designed for locals and not tourists tends to take longer than a day.  I like cities, and it may be worthwhile to explore Centro, but I did not want to dedicate the time on this trip to learn the non-touristy sections of Cancun.

I have not jumped feet first into the cheapest local travel yet – the Collectivo, but that time is coming soon.  I had planned to take the ADO bus from the airport to Centro where you change to a local bus for the Hotel Zone.  I liked one of the last guys who talked to me about going in his car instead, and I took a kind of collectivo from the airport to downtown.   The ADO bus was not there yet and there was no sign of it, and we did not pass it leaving the airport either, so while that would have been cheaper, it would have been a longer wait.  He wanted to get me to pay more and let him take me to the Hotel Zone, but I was only willing to do half the compromise.  It was me and two Mexican ladies in the van to Centro, so I also felt good about that – both safety and not getting gouged for being a tourist.

At first I could not figure out the bus station.  I saw all the places to book passage to Rivera Maya and Tulum and elsewhere, but I cold not find what I needed, R1.  Less than an hour on Mexican soil and my brain was not fully into travel mode yet, much less Spanish mode.  I found a friendly looking lady and asked her, and she pointed out the corner to wait on and verified that I bought my ticket from the driver, which was what I was expecting.

I was the only person on the bus going to the Hotel Zone who did not work there, and somehow, it must have been near a shift change because it was totally full and I rode in the stairwell for the first 15 minutes.  If you recall, I set this trip up pretty fast and was largely relying on my traveling wits and a tiny bit of preparation to get around.  The Hotel Zone is a one-way loop, and I knew that my hotel was on the Ocean side and not the Lagoon side, and the trip starts on the lagoon side.  I was safe and fine on the bus, but a little uncomfortable (physically) and truthfully in the way for everyone else.  I remembered that my hotel was near the convention center so I just got off there and did not have to do the entire Hotel Zone loop standing in the way.  But, 8 pesos is a cheap ride.  I used my best guess from what I remembered of the not too highly detailed maps of the area and picked a direction and walked.  Two minutes later I could see the hotel.

The rest of Cancun was largely uneventful.  A little money changing, found a place to buy fruit and water, had a few cervezas, long walk on the beach, broke my brand new camera the exact same way I broke my last camera (there will not be as many pics on this trip as anyone – myself included – was expecting), and had an awesome sleep.  Since I got up at 4am, I think I was out by 9pm.  I enjoyed the wi-fi computing in bed the next morning, had a great walk and some more fruit and then the next part, the “real” vacation began.  But a few more notes on Cancun before that.

I guess everything is not actually super expensive in Cancun, but it is about the same price as things are in America.  At the bank in Cancun, you get 11.9 pesos for a buck.  Tecate and Sol (cheap Mexican beer) are 16 pesos a can at the store.  That is actually more than they cost in the US, though not by much.  An Applebee’s type restaurant (and they were all that type) was showing burgers for about 180-300 pesos depending on the specifics.  I have not bought a burger in a very long time, but I have sadly eaten at these types of places in the US and for a vegetarian, you are paying 15 bucks for not very good food, that probably has some meat contamination anyway.

I did not want to let breaking my camera ruin my trip, and I did not want to obsess about money either, but I am going into debt for 100% of this trip, I was in a bit of a poopy money related mood and I was not going to add to it by overpaying for food I did not even want in the first place – but I was desperately hungry.  Finding the bananas and apples was awesome.  They were probably cheaper than back home.  The bananas were fantastic.  The apples lacked charm or really character of any kind, but they were food.  And that broke the last cord of the foul mood, and the rest of the trip has been really fantastic.

That is it for now.  I will write and share some more after a break for some sun.

Buzzzz Buzzzz Buzzzz

I have been a busy little beaver, or i guess busy bee goes better with the title.

New resume is done, distributed to 8 senior leaders and several of them have already passed it on to their networks.  I updated the RAI site with this version of the resume, fixed a few things at RAI while i was there, and made a downloadable pdf version so i do not have to have a paper copy with me at all times.

Got my domestic references together and alerted to pending contact.

I have a few mails out to the international crowd to add some of those to the list as well – but at least i can roll with what i have right now.

One meeting is set for Thursday, and i hope to get at least 2 more this week, but the Thursday one is pretty cool.

A few more tasks to complete for MINDS tomorrow, and some shopping, research, and pre-packing.  It looks like i can leave Monday at the latest, but hopefully sooner.

 

 

Buenas Noches!

Hola Amigos!

Last night’s research on alternatives to the Singapore trip spilled over into this morning.  The original plan is now almost totally dead (put on hiatus – i still want to go) and the back-up plan is now the first string plan.

I was very excited to go and visit my friend in Singapore and then go further into SouthEast Asia, but it does not look like the schedules are going to work out.  My friend is getting delayed, and her two-week vacation for 2010 is valid until the end of January, so she has much more wiggle room than i do.  I really need to be able to be back in the US and either working or looking for work full-time at the dawn of the new year.   I had a great time researching for this trip and that information will not go to waste.

We have been talking about this Singapore/SouthEast Asia trip since 2005 or so, and we will get there one of these days.  I did learn that it is much easier for vegetarians to travel in Thailand and Vietnam than Cambodia – which was interesting and timely.  We actually discussed all three countries, so i do not think it will be a big deal to shift the plans for that trip around.  Eating in Phnom Penh is OK, but once you leave the capital, it gets more complicated, and we both wanted out-of-the-way beach time.  But that is good news.  It is cheap and easy to travel in the region so now i can think about a trip to Phnom Penh for a few of the temples and a sampling of Cambodia and beach time at either or both Vietnam and Thailand.

The present trip however is sunny and closer to home.  I am going to go to Mexico.  At first it was a little disheartening to have to change a long anticipated trip with a buddy in SouthEast Asia to a solo trip to Mexico, but i got over it quickly.  From two months ago up to 2 weeks ago, i could fly round trip to Singapore for about $1400.  Now the cheapest flights are about $2200, and climbing daily.  Round trip to Cancun – about $240.  I still have some more research to do, but i think i will fly into Cancun and go from there.

This is very exciting.  I dusted off my old spanish for travelers books.  I fired up some spanish podcasts, downloaded some free grammar and vocabulary apps, and began working my foreign language muscles. I have found several great sounding and inexpensive lodging options, explored some of the local things to do, and it just feels great in my brain to say it and think it – “i will be on the beach in Mexico in about 10 days!” That gives me a full work week to get through my most critical 3 meetings in DC, though hopefully i can arrange a few more, and a few days for last-minute planning and then i am out!  If i can get everything done in DC Monday or Tuesday – I could be in Mexico on Wednesday or Thursday!!!

I have some more research to do.  Whenever i leave, i want to stay through the new year and come back around the third.  So, i am going to work backwards from that and go for as long as i can afford to.  I expect that i should be able to handle three weeks without too much of a struggle financially.  I want to compare some package deals with the do-it-yourself options i have checked out already.  If i can do a combination of both, that might be good.  I am generally not a “package deal” guy, and these are not generally aimed at single vegetarians – but you never know.  Since i should have about 21 days to play with, i might mix it up. I am not opposed to spending the full time in one place relaxing, but i will probably travel around a little at first to get a better sense of some locations than i have now. Getting an in-country perspective and talking with locals and other travelers will help me flesh out from the general plans i have now. Cancun itself is an X factor.  From the little bit i know now, Cancun seems like a split personality place – romantic trippers/adventurers at some of the places and the rest a bit of an out of control frat party with fewer rules and oversight. I am not going on this trip to bar hop or go clubbing or any of that, so Cancun will probably see very little of my hard-earned credit that i am about to get a job to pay for!  But – you never know.  I do have a fairly specific (though extremely “un-programmed”) trip planned already, i just have some hesitancy about throwing it up on the web for all to see until i get back.

I do not have a lot of money, and with where my head is at right now, and since i am going alone, i am really looking forward to low-key experiences.  I want to walk/run on the beach, swim, read on the beach, unpack/blowout my head, and do some writing.  I am interested in snorkeling and diving and other adventurous things, but i think i will save those for a better funded trip with a companion of some kind.  Three weeks of little-to-no responsibility, agenda, deadlines, objectives, or obligations sounds awesome right now.  I can’t know exactly what my next job will entail, but i know quite a bit about the world i am about to re-enter and this may be my last chance for full relaxation for a little while.

I made great resume progress today and it is good enough to go now, but i have not seen Vance’s edits yet.  We talked for two hours tonight about timing our work tomorrow and talked through interview questions and remembered jobs we have done and crafted language.  I have to force myself to sleep tonight (the excitement is hugely distracting) so i can get up early and get to it.  Vance and i will finish workshopping the resume, and i will put in the final edits.  I have to write three specific business mails and send that out with the resume, then craft a form letter version for other colleagues, and a third version that is for a less personal audience.  I have a few tasks to finish for MINDS and a report to write for the BOD.  And there is loads of fun to be had with the research and the language study.

I am looking forward to something like this…

Christmas 2004 - Wakra, Qatar

…though it will be a little less hairy this time, followed by lots of this…

MILIPOL - Doha, 2004

…also with less hair – though i do fit in that suit again now!

 

Bits and Pieces

Another random mash-up today.

Future Work:

I got some excellent resume feedback from two non-local editors and went over that material with my local editor.  I did not get to incorporate all the changes yet, but should be on track with that tomorrow morning.  I shared more details of my plan with my dad and he is also confident that things will work out.

I may come back to some of this when more free time appears out of nowhere, but this is the general idea:

Finish resume and send out to certain sources tomorrow, and call a few interested parties for possible meeting times.  Do a little interview/job talk prep and practice Sunday.  Go to meetings in DC (hopefully) Mon, Tue, Wed – as needed. At a meeting on the 18th, my dad spread the word about my job search and several of our colleagues were interested and three requested that we meet after Thanksgiving and before Christmas, for specific projects to begin soon.

Finish travel planning and leave for Singapore as soon as possible – probably around the 12th (hopefully sooner).  About one week in Singapore, then off to Cambodia for about 2 weeks, back to Singapore for a few days, then back to the US.  Finish securing new job and move to location (in/near DC) convenient for new job.

The wild card in the travel plan is my friend in Singapore.  It is the end of the year and pre-vacation crunch time and they are in and out of time zones from London to Australia, so getting time to finalize things has been difficult.  I am brewing up secondary options in case the first trip concept falls through.  It will involve warm, beach, cheap, and probably not in USA – maybe Mexico/South America…

Webwork:

I did not finish the resume work for a few reasons, one of which is that i spent the better part of today updating and fixing lots of tiny issues on one of the sites i built and maintain.  The Board of Directors had a meeting this week and that usually results in some tasks for me, so i tend to schedule regular site maintenance around these times when i will need to look under the hood anyway.  It is not perfect, but this is one of my favorite sites that i have ever worked on.  It looks both professional and pretty. The navigation is reasonable.  And it remains fairly easy to change and expand.  I still have tasks on my short, mid, and long-term lists for this site, and i have some bigger overhaul/redesign concepts and tasks on deck as well, but those never go away no matter how well you design and build.

Geeky Tech talk Revisited:

In the last post i talked about google chrome.  I used Chrome most of the day today and i figured out some more of the personalizing to try to put it on par with Firefox.  Of all the extensions i installed that i have had time to play with, the Ad Blocker is the clear winner.  All the ad problems i referenced have disappeared. {And there was much rejoicing – (5 points…).} The other two key custom features i miss from Firefox are clocks and weather.  I did find semi-reasonable replacements.  The weather one is almost as good and easy. I can still glance at my browser – click nothing – and know the temp, which is useful before dog walking.  I have to train myself to look top right instead of bottom right, and there is less info available in that quick glance with the Chrome extension than there is in the Firefox add-on, but it is ok.

The difference maker may end up being the functionality of world clocks. In Firefox, i can glance at the bottom left of my browser and know what time it is in as many places as i like.  I don’t do quite as much varied international calling or business calling in the US as i used to, but it is really nice to glance down and see West Coast, Texas, London, Dubai, Doha, Delhi, and Singapore at once with no clicks.  The extension i settled on for now in Chrome lets you add as many clocks as you want, but you cannot move/re-order them.  So if your needs change, the list becomes disorganized or you have to delete your entries and add them back according to your chronological or geographic preferences.  And you have to click the icon to bring up the list.  The second fault, having to click instead of seeing them displayed on a bottom status bar, is not really a deal breaker (and i imagine Chrome will have to add something like this in the near future if they want to increase market share).  But the lack of reordering/editing capability is a killer.  I can’t be fussed to delete and rebuild these lists every time my needs change and if i have to talk regularly with someone in Germany or Australia for a few months, and then i need Israel – you get the idea.
(Though i imagine the developer might fix these as well…).

I love computers.  I used to build them (assemble really).  If i am not building them, i do custom order the parts of machines i buy.  Now that i have finally made it into macland (over a year!!), i still love hardware, the choices are just easier and simpler and require so much less research and support time from me.

Where the magic happens...