Well, I’m finally here. Por fin. It was a long trip, a bit tiring, but I’m here. The flight from Bombay to London was OK (too many Indians!), but the air-hostess allowed me to take the comfortable British Airways pillow (”Would you mind terribly if I were to take this pillow?” “You can do what you want, as long as you don?t tell me!”). Heathrow sucked - bad seating, everything too expensive.
I had my first taste of el español when the air-hostess as I was boarding gave me instructions in Spanish. From now on, for all appearances, I was Mexican, not Indian.
The flight from London to Mexico was uneventful, but it was really worth it having window seats on both my flights. I got to see all the London I needed to during the approach of my first flight, and got a breathtaking view of Mexico City as we were landing there. The flight to Mexico City arrived on time. I got through immigration without a hitch, though it took a hell of a long time, picked up my baggage and made my way out, where poor Guillermo Mendiz?bal was waiting. He?s a good friend of Gustavo, and was going to put me up for the night. He lives with his wife in Mexico City. I had my first glass of tequila with them, chasing it with a beer - really good and much cheaper than the trash that Mallya makes.
The next day, Guillermo and I went to the bus terminal in this cute green taxis - a lot of the taxis in Mexico city are these old VW Beetles. I was to travel in a bus from there to Oaxaca, where I’m to be staying. The bus was very comfortable, a Volvo, but with more leg space than any I’ve seen in India. We stopped somewher for lunch, where I ate tacos with chicken that a woman was selling from a bag by the roadside. The bus journey took exactly six hours - unbelievable. I walked out and started looking for the person who was going to be picking me up, Luiza Alvares. I bought a phone card and was about to call her up, when a tallish woman with long black hair came up to me, asking if I was who I was. Luiza! She shore is pretty! We went in her car to a house of one of their friends - Gustavo’s out till Tuesday, so I’ll be staying with friends of his till he returns.
It was someone’s birthday yesterday, so there was a party going on. Lots of mandolins, beer and singing. I slept in a hammock on their terrace for a while, and met a lot of people, none of whose names I remember now.
Well, that’s enough por ahora.