The concept of vacation for a kid growing up in India is as
foreign as the country he lands up in after years of studying and working hard
for engineering entrance examinations. Coming to the US has definitely been a
change of lifestyle, the least to say. I’ve been on internships to South Korea,
US and France but never really saw them as summer vacations because trust me
the pressure of doing well academically supersedes the idea of visiting a
foreign country. Especially when you really want those professors to write a
letter of recommendation for you while applying for graduate schools.
Basically, I’ve never been on a vacation since I joined IIT Guwahati.
When my friend Blake, at 12:40 am, inebriated by a couple of
Modelos and Long island asked me if I wanted to go to Mexico, I just thought he
wanted to get laid with a latina. However, the next day when I actually asked
him about the Mexico trip he was pretty damn serious. The seriousness was of
course reflected through the private facebook group he had created for the
trip, the irony.
The place we were supposed to visit in Mexico is called
Cabos San Lucas. Its on the southern most tip of Baja California and as soon as
google maps loaded to that location my heart skipped a beat. Blake was kind
enough to give me the freedom enough to ask my friends to come along too. Of
course the first name that popped into my head was John Oliver. I’m a great fan
;) John as expected considered the idea and was willing to join. My colleague
Adam also agreed. We booked our tickets on expedia with some really great deal.
Booking tickets is like getting engaged. You’re almost sure the plan is going
to succeed. That called for a celebration and I was ready for Cactus and super
excited for my Mexico trip.
The tickets were booked for July 1st through July
9th. It was wonderful for me because June 25th to 30th
was the DCC conference I was supposed to attend in Chicago and so the
continuity of it with a Mexico trip was just perfect. I had a wonderful
conference in Northwestern, Evanston. Also made some new friends.
Finally John arrived on the 30th of June and we
hung out with our friend Arthur. Went to a place that played Blues music and I
fell in love with it. It was a great night and I couldn’t wait for the next
month Aka July to begin.
We flew out through O’hare International Airport. Our
itinerary was pretty interesting. We flew from Chicago to Atlanta. We had a
5-hour stop there. We decided to visit Atlanta downtown and Johnny realized his
friend works there at the aquarium. We met him and I realized I have friends
too lol. So I hit up my friend Pratik. It was great catching up with him. It
had been 8 years since we had a proper conversation. Gosh time flies by. While
meeting him so many memories just came back to me. School, JEE, Pune and those
countless hours discussing about life and future. Atlanta didn’t impress me
much. There was nothing great to see downtown. I’m sure the party culture due
to Georgia Tech and other universities must be great but downtown in itself
failed to catch my attention.
We then flew to Mexico City from Atlanta. We had a 12 hour
layover and we landed on a Friday night at 11:30 pm in Mexico City. I was
finally out of USA after 2 years! It felt wonderful that I was on vacation with
nothing but fun to look forward to. My college senior interestingly works in
Mexico city. He was kind enough to show us the party scene in that crazy city.
We partied all night and damn Mexico felt just like India except with a lot
more booze and clubs. We were of course exhausted by 6 am. The look on Adams face
was priceless. I have never seen him this sucked out of energy before. He
looked like a red Indian Mango that had no juice to offer.
We reached San Jose airport and were waiting for the shuttle
to take us to our resort. We landed in Terminal 1. It was a barren terminal
with only Subway to save the day. Blake was also at the airport but apparently
he was at Terminal 2. Our shuttles were supposed to be from Terminal 2 so
Johnny, Adam and I walked there. It wasn’t that bad a walk as Blake put it. (
He’s a princess ) Terminal 2 on the other hand was full of tourists, Pina
Coladas and shuttle services. It was interesting to see how Mexico greeted
Mexicans on terminal 1 and internationals on terminal 2, just like India.
We had a 30 minute shuttle ride to Villa Del Arco in Cabos
San Lucas. The view was breathtaking. The watercolor was as soothing as the
waves that crashed on your feet while walking across the soft sand. We were
right by the famous arc in Cabos San Lucas. The arc wasn’t visible though.
Our room wasn’t ready yet and I was just so ready to take a
shower. So was Adam who had mentioned it a zillionth time by now. I wanted to
throw him in the pool and be like here’s your shower, but then my sympathies
were with him too. We all were exhausted.
The smell of the resort and the fragrance in the lobby made
me realize that the place was pretty fancy. It was of course a very white
dominated resort. It was interesting to see how the upper echelon of society
relaxes. There was a splendid swimming pool with all the resort rooms
surrounding it. The swimming pool was basically like a celebrity with the hotel
buildings being its paparazzi. There was a pirate ship like structure on one of
the pool corners, which was a restaurant. There was a taco bar on the side
too. The pool borders were strewn with
beach chairs that accommodated sunscreen loaded humans, mostly white families. I
felt I was the only Indian there who was mostly mistaken for a Mexican given
that a couple of people started speaking to me in Spanish.
It was 4 pm and the room was ready. We had met Blake by then
and I got introduced to Blakes friend, Tabitha. She was one of the most
beautiful women I have seen. Her eyes simply blended with the color of Los
Cabos waters. I just hoped she wasn’t a bitch, the probability was pretty high
:P
We went to the “room” 2701. I inserted the card key into the
door and opened the room. My heart just stopped. IT WAS A FUCKING PENTHOUSE. It
was nowhere close to what I had imagined. My whole desire of taking a shower
transformed into the desire of growing a pair of wings and gloating across the
sky, dipping myself in and out of Pina Coladas. The place was extravagant. It
hit me hard with the realization that I haven’t asked Blake for enough favors.
I should do that, damn! The door opened to a living room. There was a guest
restroom at the very beginning which just was enough to let me know how classy
this place was. As you walk through the door, the left side had three couches
surrounding a table and it displayed the view of the swimming pool and then the
beach that opens up to the bay waters.
The seventh story view made me feel like I was the owner of nature’s
most wonderful marvels. The right side of the living room was the kitchen and laundry area which
also opened up to a balcony with the view of the desert and downtown direction.
The hallway further down had the three bedrooms, one being
the master bedroom and the others were great themselves. There were two hot
tubs and Jacuzzis btw. One of the hot tubs was in the balcony of the living room that
opened up to the beach view. Everything was simply marvelous. I ran into
Blake’s master bedroom for a shower of course. The toiletries made me cry with
happiness. I was dying to take a shower!
We then decided to head to walmart to get the “essentials”
and “bare necessities”. Long story short, it was a fun walmart trip ;) It was
july 2nd and it was a Saturday. I had to head to the clubs. Rest of
the bitches were tired. I decided to head downtown. I went to this place called
El Squid Roe. I thought I would get squid there. It turned out to be a party
extravaganza. Anyone who knows about Cactus at Purdue should multiply its experience 20 times and you’ll
have El Squid Roe. That place was a riot. The fatigue of my body departed as
the music filled me up. I was ready to party. I came back at 4 am and I see
people chilling in the hot tub. It was one of the most wonderful sights to come
back to the room to. These were my friends! A bunch of awesome people and I was
happy to spend time with them.
Day 2…. I’ll update soon
