en Latvia durante un Huracan en PR.

El último mes ha sido uno de muchas preocupaciones para mí y mi familia y amigos alrededor del mundo. En el último mes muchos han presenciado Harvey, Irma y ahora María. La gente que vive en esos lugares se preparan y esperan que no pase nada. La espera causa mucha preocupación y estrés para las personas a las cuales va a afectar, ya que tienen que prepararse no tan solo antes del huracán, sino también para todo lo que pueda pasar después de el fenómemo. A cualquiera le da un bioco. 

También en el último mes he visito muchos mensajes y status updates en Facebook de mucha gente que viven lejos de la isla y lo preocupados que están por sus familiares, amigos y su islita. Al ver todos estos mensajes uno se sigue dando cuenta que aunque uno se haya ido de la isla por x, y o z, la isla sigue en ti. 

En mi experiencia el último mes he estado pendiente de toda noticia, status update de amigos, programas televisivos, CNN todo el dia!, actores boricuas que sigo por Instagram y hablando con mi familia acerca de sus preparativos para saber lo último acerca de el huracán x, y o z y con todo y eso la preocupación sigue ahi. Porque? Por estar tan lejos lo único que puedo hacer el tratar de consolar y darle aliento a mis familiares y amigos y pensar que quizas estos jodios huracanes no pasen por nuestra islita, en vez de poder estar allí para ayudarle. 

Así que mis amigos, espero estén preparados para este huracán y quiero que sepan que todos los que vivimos fuera de Puerto Rico estaremos pendiente de lo que ocurre y pendiente a cada uno de los nuestros. Yo estaré pegá a CNN International viendo todo lo que pase. En estos próximos días no dormiremos, nos comeremos la nevera como muchos de ustedes por la ansiedad que tendremos ya que los nuestros están en el paso de Maria. Escuchen las alertas del gobierno, de Ada Monzón, del Centro Nacional de Huracanes o de quien sea. Si no se sientes seguro en su casa, arranque para casa de alguien que le pueda dar albergue o vayase para un refugio. 

Espero que no pase nada malo y recuerden que como ustedes, nosotros los que estamos fuera de Puerto Rico nos preocupamos y estamos al tanto de lo que pasa en nuestra islita. Me imagino que tampoco dormiremos con la preocupación de que algo malo le vaya a pasar a toda nuestra gente y a nuestra isla hermosa. Recuerde que aunque pierdan sus posesiones, lo mas importante es que estamos vivo y lo demás se recupera de alguna manera. 

Lo quiero! 

Una Boricua en Latvia con el corazón en Puerto Rico. 

A Week in Toscana... Part 1

Hi all, it's been a while. Life has been buys here in India hence I haven't been writing as much, but we have been doing lots of fun stuff. James and I were invited by a friend to go to Florence at the end of October. Since we have never been and I've always wanted to go, we started to look at flights and when we found the perfect ones we decided to go. 

On the night of the 23rd we flew from Mumbai to Zurich and then took a short plane ride over the Alps to Milan. We decided to stay for 1 night in Milan before taking the train to Florence on Saturday.

Milan is a wonderful city filled with beautiful people, styles, restaurants, and sights and of course gelato! Once we made our way by bus (its a long story) to the center of Milan, we found our hotel (AC Milano by Marriot) and checked in. Since we had been flying all night, by the time we made it to Milan it was afternoon so we embark on a mission to find coffee and good food. We settled for a little coffee/pastry shop that also sold pizzas. On the way to the hotel we found a great gelato place and decided to indulge in the tradition. We went to the hotel so we could take a nap; since we flew all night and we hardly sleep in planes.

After our nap we decided to explore Milan so we set off on foot where the wind took us. When I was doing research on Milan I found that The Last Supper by Da Vinci is on display in Milan, so we went there first. To our surprise (not really) the tickets were sold out for the day, so we could not see it. We decided to walk down to Il Doumo in the main piazza, stopping in intricate stores along the way. Once we reached the Cathedral its beauty wowed us. This Gothic white marble structure took almost 6 centuries to build and it is the largest cathedral in all of Italy (Wikipedia). 

Once we exited the cathedral we decided to keep walking and we stumbled upon the "5 star" mall, filled with Prada, Versace and LV, of course. Since we were still in Mumbai time, we got hungry earlier than normal, so we decided to find a restaurant. We stumbled upon a great Mozzarella Bar called Obika. Here we indulged in the best caprese salad I've ever tasted and a delicious traditional pasta dish. After dinner we walked back to the hotel and decided to turn in early since we had been traveling for almost 10 hours and we were leaving Milan early the next morning. 

The next morning we took the train out of Milano Garibaldi Station, which was, located right across from our hotel. This was my second time on a train (the first being the train from London to Paris and vice versa) and I keep saying taking the train is the way to go. It took 2 hours to get to Florence, which wasn't bad. We arrived early afternoon, so we went to check in at the hotel and find a place to eat. After eating we just wanted to get acclimated to the city and its roads. It was quite easy to navigate. We went from Il Duomo, to Piazza the la Signora, Galleria Uffizi to Ponte Vecchio in no time, of course stopping along the way to take pictures and see the beautiful merchandise around the different markets. That day we decided not to go to any museums and just take it all in and start exploring the next day.

On Sunday we woke up early, because Rick Steves and all the other guides books told us to go early to the different museums. We bought the Firenze Card, which works like a fast pass at Disney. You just show up and got to the front of the line. Once we had the cards, we embarked on the mission to see the real David statue. We walked to La Accademia and waited about 2 minutes to get in, while others made the line. We entered the museum and they had frescos and such. We looked at the map and found where the David and the other Michelangelo sculptures where and set off that way. Once you enter that room you are transported to the Renaissance (at least I was). The David is a sculpture out of this world and magnificent (I never thought about it that way until I saw it). It commands attention, admiration and everything else. I was entrance (and not by his penis), but by the grandiosity of it (no pun intended). I never imagined this sculpture to be this big (17 feet tall) and so perfect (no picture can capture that). Aside from The David, there were several unfinished sculptures leading to the David that were almost as beautiful as the David. These statues are called The Prisoners and Michelangelo also sculpted them. La Accademia is small, so after you see the main events, you can go. 

After La Accademia we decided to walk to the Uffizi Gallery to see more frescos and the Botticelli's. Here we had to wait around 5 minutes to get in. Once inside we had to go up a couple of flights of stairs and once there the Gallery is set up similarly to The Louvre and Versailles. Since I wanted to see Fillipo Lippi's and Botticelli's paintings, we walked a little faster to avoid the crowds among the exhibitions we did not want to see. Both Lippi's and Botticelli's paintings were grandiose and amazing. Seeing the original Birth of Venus and Primavera in front of you is something extraordinary. I've always been an admirer of Botticelli since I read Anne Rice's Vittorio the Vampire and learn all about him, the Medici's and the Renaissance. So being able to see a painting that I have known about for 15 years is quite an accomplishment. Once we saw these wonderful pieces of art we just decided to take it easy and just walk around the Gallery. That afternoon after lunch James had the great idea to climb the Campanille near Il Duomo. I made it to the second tier, while he ran to the top like nothing. After taking amazing pictures of Florence from above, we went to our last museum of the day, The Palazzo Vecchio. Once again, James went and climbed up the tower and I just visited the museum. It is a nice palace with great history about The Medici. 

That night we decided to eat at McDonald's. Yes, I know what you are thinking. You are in Italy and you are EATING MCDONALDS!!!!!!!!!!! Remember that in India cows are sacred so eating real beef is few and far between occasion and expensive. 

The first few days in Italy were magical and adventurous. Stay tuned for Part 2 of this awesome vacation... There is a nice little surprise coming on the next post!

Until Then,

Nats

 The best Caprese Salad ever

 Perseus and Medusa

 Us at Ponte Vecchio

 The David

 The Birth of Venus

After almost dying from climbing the steps

 View from the Campanille

2 month Mumbai recap

Can you believe that we have been in Mumbai for the past 2 months? I don't even believe it. A lot can happen in 2 months and a lot has happened in 2 months. So here is a recap of the things we have done and learned in the last few months:

I have met several lovely ladies from inside and outside of the Consulate community and have developed nice friendships with them.

We won tickets through the Consulate for the Ganpati Immersion. This annual event takes place in Chowpatti Beach, which is south of where we live. James and I and 10-12 other people from the Consulate won tickets to be in the VIP area which was located right in the middle of the action and we were able to see the different Ganesha's as they made their way into the ocean. 

We have only eaten Indian food twice. Mumbai has a diverse cuisine, so it's great for us who are not used to Indian food.

We have paid an estimate of $10 a pint for ice cream, but it's been totally worth it.

Face time, Skype, Vonage and Facebook have been a great way to stay in touch with my awesome friends and family!

Hola (a VPN) has allowed me to keep watching some of my favorite TV shows. 

I do not miss driving, people here are crazy drivers and I'm not sad I am not driving. People here don't believe in blinkers, stop signs or traffic lights. Also, personal space between cars is almost non-existent.

Ubber is a great way to get around when your car or driver is not available.

Volunteering might be my new thing. 

The mall is a great escape from all the people and noises.

I will never honk my horn unecesarrily any more.

I love walking to the market at anytime of the day! 

You can get Pottery Barn, World Market furniture for a 1/3 of the price here. 

Indian People are one of the most kind people I have met.

Running on the streets is not an option here for me. I hate the dreamill. 

The Consulate loves to put on great parties and events for its employees! In the last 2 months we have been here, we have attended Our National Day Celebration (4th of July), Hail and Farewell Party, A Heritage Walk around the Taj Mahal Hotel, a tour around the old Consulate, a White Water Rafting Trip and have many more trips and tours to come.

Here in India there is a party for everything (I love that).

Every weekend there is something to do, whether it is with your friends, or around Mumbai. 

Driving distances are relative to the amount of traffic and not to the miles. If you want to go anywhere south (as in south Mumbai), be ready to be in traffic for at least 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Use that time to catch up on emails or reading.

Jewelry here is handmade and 1/2 the price of what it would cost back in the states. I bought a necklace with semi-precious stone for $80 and the jeweler says he sells it in the states for about $160. 

I haven't bought much clothing here, only a Saree. 

I may or may not have bought about 10+ elephants in the course of being here. 

Blue is IN in the Snoddy household.

There is no such thing as personal space!

We found BEEF and made meat sauce!

I still can't convert money for shit.

We attended a concert in which we were the only white people there. The music was great and the event was awesome! 

We have yet to meet a Bollywood Star (we need to get on it).

Cows here hang out on the sidewalks with no leash!

No Elephants yet! 

Here are some of my favorite pictures:

This is it for now! I'm pretty sure I will have other things to add later on. I'm trying to be as candid as possible without offending anyone.

Until Next Time,

Nats

Nepal, the land of the Himalayas, stole my heart

Labor Day Weekend, James, and some friends of ours sett off to a Kathmandu adventure. I don't remember the first time I desired to go for a visit to the Himalayan country, but, I can say that once we got the news that we were going to be posted in Mumbai, the thought of visiting Nepal started to cross my mind. So since monsoon season has been on full effect in India, going to the beach was not an option for this long weekend, so we decided to go an explore the neighboring country of Nepal.

We left on the 8am flight from the Mumbai airport and landed in Kathmandu at 11am, which is not a bad flight at all. Once we landed we had to get our visas to get into Nepal. Now that was an adventure in itself. You have to fill out a paper with the intention to get a visa, then, you go to a counter and pay for the visa, in which you can only pay with American dollars and then proceed to the visa counter to get your tourist visa. The whole process for us took a little more than 30 minutes. Once we got our visas, we hailed a taxi to take us to our hotel. The ride from the airport to the hotel took less than 30 minutes through dirt roads and the "country" side of Kathmandu.

We all stayed at the Yak and Yeti Hotel, which is a 5 star hotel on the main strip of Downtown Kathmandu. The hotel was beautiful. It has two wings and it is 6 stories high. It has a casino, about 4 restaurants and an awesome bar. James and I stayed on the 5th floor overlooking the pool and we had a king size bed. After we all settled into our rooms, we decided to meet downstairs at the bar and come up with a plan of attack. Two of our friends were waiting for a friend to arrive, so Ben, James and I set off on a Kathmandu adventure. We gathered our Lonely Planet and decided to do one of their walking tours that would take us directly to Durbar Square, where they have beautiful temples in once place.

Our first stop was Rani Pokari, which is a beautiful white temple in the middle of a pond. This temple only opens once a year. We continued along a market street in which had tons of brass shops, which everything you can imagined made in brass, to sari's, to knick knacks, jewelry, etc. Along the market street we saw different Hindu and Buddhist temples and from time to time we would find an alleyway that would take us to plaza looking like courtyards that had different stupas. We kept walking and ended up at Durbar Square in no time. As we were going to walk in, we were stopped by someone saying that we had to go in the area. James and Ben decided that they did not want to pay and we went on our way back to the hotel. We took a different route back and we found other cools shops where we stopped and bought some souvenirs. Once we made it back to the hotel the boy’s friend has arrived so we all met down at the bar for some delicious beverages. A friend of Kevin works at the Kathmandu Embassy and agreed to meet us and take us out for the night. We went to a mall almost across the street to an Italian Restaurant. Since there were 7 of us, they put us in the wine room, with the stipulation that we buy at least a bottle of wine. Here we dined to delicious food, along side delicious drinks. I ordered the pasta carbonara, which I've been craving and it was delish. James ordered a pizza and devoured it in minutes. After dinner, we headed in the darkness (power is both subsided by regular electricity and generators) to Thamel to a bar.

The next day, we all met for breakfast and Kevin, Justin and Corina decided to stay back at the hotel and James, Ben and I set off to the Swayambhunath or Monkey Temple located on the west side of the city. We took a little Suzuki car to the top of the mountain through dirt roads. Once we arrived we were taken aback with all the beauty. Something I can't explain, but noticed that it was the same feeling I had at Notre Dame last year in Paris. I decided to call it a religious experience. Why, you might ask? well this temple is among the most sacred Buddhist pilgrimage sites. Once on the top of the mountain, you have two choices, go left and see the Buddhist side of the temple, or go left, which is the Hindu side of the temple. We decided to go right. Once on the Hindu side, my religious experience started to take place. Up on the side were people lighting candles and ringing bells. I just admired the beauty and peace of the place. In the middle of this courtyard was a giant stupa, with an eye in the middle. To say that this was one of the most peaceful places I've ever visited, it’s an understatement, even with all the people surrounding us; the peace of the place is palpable. After admiring the Hindu side we made our way down and up again to the Buddhist side. This side was also beautiful, but it was smaller that the Hindu side. Also, here is where we saw the most amount of monkeys and I am convinced that they like to have their picture taken, because every time we were going to take a picture of them, they will stay still and look at you... We made our way down the mountain to see the rest of the temples. On our way down, our friend Ben fed one of the monkeys. He was giving the monkey one cracker at a time and after a couple the monkey snatches the whole bag and ran away. After visiting the temple we rode back to town and have lunch and do some shopping in Thamel (a sector of town, which is known for their bargains). We bought all sorts of souvenirs for bargain prices and then made our way down to Durbar Square. This time we paid to go in and we can say that it was worth it. We saw the different temples and did more shopping. 

On Sunday we decided to go south to Patan, which has another Durbar Square and according to Lonely Planet it is the best one. We grabbed another little Suzuki car and 15 minutes later we were in historic Patan. We started to make our way through the quaint streets that had lovely little shops and more temples. Once we arrived at the square, we knew right away that we made the right choice in going there. This square was much larger than the one downtown and had a museum, garden and a restaurant inside the big palace. We had lunch in the palace and then we decided to do one of the walks that Lonely Planet suggested. This walk was neat because it took us through houses and little courtyards that ended in one of the most wonderful places I've seen in my life: The Golden Temple. Yes, this temple is made completely out of gold. Now that is a sight and I had never seen that much gold in one place. After admiring the temple we went back to the square to look for one of the guided that offered to show us where the best shops were. He personally walked us to the stores and we were in heaven. I bought 2 pairs of earrings and James bought a brass bowl. After shopping we decided to start heading back and grab a taxi to head back to the hotel. After a little down time, we decided to grab dinner at one of the hotels fancy restaurant. We had an early dinner, so we were the only ones there. The food was beyond good; it was splendid. James ordered the French onion soup and we all ordered sirloin steak (we had been dying for some steak). Now, I don't know if it was because we hadn't have meet since we arrived, but that was one of the best steaks I've ever had. After dinner we needed to walk of all that food so James and I decided to explore the stores outside the hotel. There we met some really nice storeowners and we bought pendants, shirts and guerka knives. 

Here are some pictures from our travels...


 
 
 
 

Needless to say that Kathmandu treated us very well and we look forward to visiting this majestic place again.


Nats

A month flies by when you are having fun! Janmashtami and National Day Celebration

It is official, James and I have been in Mumbai for a month and so far so good. Last week was another great week that ended with a great weekend away just 1 hour away from home. Here are some cool things we encountered:

Monday last week was another holiday. This particular day is called Janmashtami and during this day according to wikepedia this is what they celebrate: 

The festival is celebrated on the eighth day (Ashtami) of the Krishna Paksha (dark fortnight) of the month of Bhadrapad(August–September) in the Hindu calendar. Rasa lila, dramatic enactments of the life of Krishna, are a special feature in regions of Mathura and Vrindavan, and regions following Vaishnavism in Manipur.^[5] While the Rasa lila re-creates the flirtatious aspects of Krishna's youthful days, the Dahi Handi celebrate God's playful and mischievous side, where teams of young men form human towers to reach a high-hanging pot of butter and break it. 

So basically a group or team make towers to reach the pot and break it. We all wanted to encounter this and we were told of several places we could go and see the events. As always, we set of as a group to see set towers around our little neighborhood of Bandra West. 

But first, we met for breakfast, because if you have not noticed, most of our outings revolve about eating or going to eat. This time we tried The Bagel Shop, which we could say it is the Indian version of Panera.  The Bagel shop has indoor or outdoor seating and they serve bagels, sandwiches, salads, and awesome breakfast foods. I ordered a plain bagel with Philly cream (which is what they call plain cream cheese) with a vanilla latte. After breakfast, we met other folks and set off into our adventure in 2 rickshaws. It was cool getting into the tuck tuck and telling the driver "follow that rickshaw". We traveled through several neighborhoods before we found one of the places where they were going to do the human pyramid. We didn't see a lot of commotion so we asked several locals and they told us that the festivities usually start at 7pm, needless to say, we were about 7 hours too early. 

So that night, we all decided to meet again, this time a little closer to home to see the pyramids in action. When we arrived at Pali Market it was a different story from earlier in the day. Techno music was playing loudly, the teams were making their way to 2 different places where the pots were located and off they went. These pots were located in the middle of the road or intersections. Once we saw the teams approaching the intersection in which they were going to make their pyramid, we saw a police officer and we thought they were going to stop all traffic, once again, we thought wrong. The police officer was just directing traffic so the teams could create their pyramid. We parked ourselves in the median, where we had visibility of both pots. It was really cool to see way the teams created their pyramids with precision and concentration and start forming and seeing them trying to get to a pot of buttermilk that is 20, 30, or 60 feet tall. We saw several teams trying to make a pyramid to knock the pot that was 60 feet tall and just not being successful. A group of girls attempted the lower one and succeeded. 

It was awesome to see how these teams work together to get to the top and the amount of time they put into the practice. 

On Friday after James' work we set off into South Mumbai to the Taj Majal Palace Hotel, where the US Consulate would be celebration National Day, or 4th of July. Although it was a month and a half late, it was worth the wait. The reason for the delay was because both the Embassy in New Delhi and the Consulate in Mumbai were getting new people in charge of them and they wanted to partake in the celebration. Everyone from Officers, partners and local staff volunteered for this massive event. Everyone had a job to do, but once your job was done you could go and enjoy the celebration and meet people that came to the party.

The party started at around 7 and by 8 the party was in full swing. It was great to see the Marine do the presentation of the colors and hear the new CG and CDA give their speeches. It made me proud to be on the US Mission to Mumbai and once again, James and I realized that we had made the right choice by coming here. After our duty, which was setting up a barrier between the press and the stage was done and we set off to party. The party basically consisted of two areas, the dancing and drinking area and the eating area. Once you entered the eating saloon, you forgot that you were in India for a minute. There in the middle was a buffet set up of all our beloved foods: fries, burgers, cheesecake, and mini hot dogs, key lime pie. The food was great and the people we met were wonderful. It was great to chat up the CG to Turkey and her son, who invited us to Istanbul and the principal of the German School here in Mumbai. 

The party was over at around 10:30 and a big group of us were staying at the Taj, so we went to the bar to continue our own little American Party. We did not know were people were going at first, so James, Joel and I went to the first bar in Mumbai called The Sea Lounge, where we enjoyed some drinks. A little bit later we got a text from a friend asking were we were and we told them and they told us to join them at the other bar Starboard, which is also a Mexican restaurant. 

After a long night of partying we set off to our room in the 14th floor of the hotel and slept like babies in one of the best king size beds I've ever slept on.

The next morning we met some of our friends for breakfast and then at the pool. Later on that day James and some other friends went on a shopping spree around Colaba, where I found my new China pattern. That night I treated James to a nice birthday dinner at the Starboard restaurant and ended the night watching a movie in bed. 

Last week was a great way to end our first month here in India. More and more everyday Mumbai is stilling my heart. I am glad that we are able to experience these fantastic things and how many great people we have met in the past month.

Now a little bit of humor to end this great month:

Number of cows seen: 10

Number of rickshaw drivers that don't know where they are going: all

Number of donkeys seen: 2

Number of monkeys: 0

Number of parties attended: 4

Number of times I have haggled with people: 2

Number of people I have seen doing their business on the street: 2

Number of elephants seen: 0...

Seriously people, I was promised elephants, where are they?

Until Next time...

Nats