Oct 1, 9:45 pm : Reached the station. Trains were dirty, so was the platform. People looked “different”. Czech, athough in EU, doesn’t accept Euros, had to change the currency into Kronos. I got to my hostel — Czech Inn, perhaps the best looking hostel I’ve ever been. I got into my room, the only other roommate at that time was a girl from Brazil. “Do you want to go clubbing, ” she asked. I remember watching the movie, Hostel, where 3 american backpackers check into a eastern european hostel, get “invited” by ultra hot looking chicks to a nightclub and soon, they see their body parts being cut by a butcher, who prefers human flesh to animals. I looked at my watch, it said “10:55pm,” the hostel looked pretty and she was from Brazil. “Are you coming?” she asked again.

Before I realized, we were out in search of that club that one of her friends recommended. “Are you sure, there is a club by that name?” I asked looking at the narrow and dark alleys. “It sure is somewhere here,” she said. I had no gun or knife and I had no God with me either. My momma used to tell me, “You should pray to God, he’ll help you when you fear.”  We couldn’t find the club, but we found a few bars where we spent sometime. I felt lighter after having the local beer, Pilsner; beer in Prague: 1.65$.

Oct 2: I woke up, counted my fingers, my arms and legs. It was all in shape. Thank God, this is not Hostel — part III. We decided to travel together. We took the bus on Route# 22 which goes all across the major views in the city, all the way to Prague Castle, our first destination. It’s the best example of Gothic architecture, make sure you have atleast 4–5 hrs allocated. We checked out the lobkowicz-palace, one of the finest art-history museums in Prague. Beethoven’s original symphony no 5 notes is preserved here. After several hrs touring around the castle and museums, we walked down the bridge, overlooking breathtaking views of the city from the hill. then came across — Rudolfinum, home of the legendary Czech Philarmonic Orchestra. I couldn’t tell you how happy I was, like a little boy, when we got tickets for Friday night show. It was a live performance show (Bach). We walked on the Charles Bridge, watching sunset drop and hundreds of tourists taking romantic pictures.  Tiny roads hugging the architectural wonder, it was almost as if every building had “fine art” written on it. The most beautiful city, I’ve ever seen, in terms of architectural splendor.The night ended with a an Italian opera/puppet show. It was ok, I think I slept for ten minutes.

Came to the hostel at 10pm, I browsed for a while before I crashed.

Oct 3: Got up in the morning, our first destination was to cover the many sites of Josefov, the Jewish quarter of Prague which has such rich history. 6 synagogues and museums, it was a time well worth spent, a must visit in Prague. After spending several hours, we headed to the historic square called, “Old Town Square.” The eternally comical “Astronomical Clock” had hundreds of spectators. After a late lunch around town, we forgot where we walked, but we did walk a *lot.* Prague is quite a small city. Late evening, all roads led to Rudolfinum — live, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. We looked at everyone — the ladies in elegant dresses, the men in suits and blazers. I looked at mysel — a Torn Jeans and sweat shirt with a camera backpack. I looked at my new friend from Brazil, she was no exception. The two hour show was magnificent. We walked back to the hostel, walking again through the Old Town Square for a quick dinner. This time around, it looked even more beautiful, with the lights on.

Oct 4: We decided to go separate tracks, I booked for a day trip (which would start at noon) to rural Prague, Kutna Hora (Unesco site). Meanwhile, I used my feet to the best. First, it was the shopping district, then to the “Powder Tower,” from the top of which I got some breathtaking views. By noon, I boarded the minibus, we were out of Prague in 30 minutes. With a multi-lingual guide and eight Russian tourists, my patience was being tested. Were they loud? We came to a little town, itself looked dead, being a Sunday. When I asked the guide, he said, “People enjoy time with families during weekends, not outside.”  One of the churches I saw was something extraordinarily unique — An ossuary in Kutna Hora, a church made of 4500 bones and skulls. Next stop was Mint Palace & Museum, where they made coins out of bronze until 18th century. Nice. The last stop was a bronze church or something like that, I still don’t remember the name. But it was one of the most fascinating Gothic architectures I’ve ever seen. Spent two hours inside the church, they played organ music, supposed to be one of the best compositions in the world. The sound was perfect, I looked around for speakers, couldn’t find any. I looked close in the pillars — “Bose.”

I still had a night to spend; without further wait, I booked a ticket at the National Theater of Opera/Ballet. It was Romeo-Juliet. Yawn. But I liked the women, and the ambience. Did I say, I czech women are cute?

Hitting the sack, for the last in Prague/Czech. Defintely one of the best places I’ve seen. Off to Oktoberfest!

click here for the pics

day 1 — old san juan — old cobbled streets, women dressed to kill

As soon as I landed, I crashed straight into my hostel (Castro Guest House at Calle de Tanca in old san juan), the location was the best in town. For a fraction of cost at 28$ per room as compared to the hotels in the neighborhood (200$-400$), this is the backpackers paradise hostel. As always my best backpacking trips are without a plan. This time, I didn’t even have a guide book. I picked up a map from the visitor center, a free tour book and a few brochures. It was already 2pm, I decided to have a quick bite and check out Old San Juan with famed cobbled streets and Spanish colonial architecture, a preserved town since 400 years. I ended up visiting a lot of ‘Plazas’ (or old forts), it was mostly a lonely but joyful day for me. I must have walked over 5 miles. The best times I had was at the El Morro San Fellipe castle; there was a graveyard with the backdrop of the ocean and a slanting wall on the side (where I was sitting). The view was breathtaking. I came back at the night, didn’t see anyone in the hostel, which was strange, so headed to the Sheraton casino. I made 200 bucks.

They say that the women in Puerto are dressed to kill, I say that they’re dressed to test your manhood.

day2 — Bacardi, Bioluminescent bay, American Politics

I woke up late, headed to the largest Rum distillery in the world — Casa Bacardi. Here, they make 100,000 liters of rum every day. We had to take a ship from the port of Old San Juan, it costs 50 cents per trip, only. The tour is free and of course comes with a complimentary rum tasting tour, which is free too. After the tour, I came back and took a trolley tour of old San Juan (free) before heading to Bioluminiscent bay with EcoTours & Adventures. I highly recommend them, they were really good, especially the tour guide — George. He asked me what I do for a living, I said I’m into computers for which he gave a look to me as if I told something like … the day is brighter than night. Do we Indians have it written on our faces that we are in IT? Whatever. I’d rather say I’m a photographer or a writer. Read more about Bioluminescence here with a small rift of waterflow and these are like electric sparks generated, mostly greenish in color. It’s amazing to watch it right by your side. Even better, have these water droplets fall on your hand or feet, its like sparkles crawling like mercury. One of the girls jumped into the river for a minute and for a moment we thought we were watching a mermaid. It was beautiful. On our way back, George entertained us (there was an older couple and two girls from Minneapolis). It’s always refreshing to see how the locals think about the world, how they speak from their heart. . It’s amazing that such wonders exist in the world and very few witness it. When you’re paddling in your kayak in the lagoon, each drift is coupled.

“You see, the problem with America is, they think only in one direction. Money, Money, more mooonnnney. We Puerto Ricans are not like that. We have culture. We belong here. We do things with passion and when we started this tour company we were being threatened by the American Tourist companies which have tie ups with virtually every hotel in the town. We were being crushed,” he said.

I asked him if thinks Puerto Rico should be a state and not just a commonwealth of United States. “No, we would be more happy to be a sovereign country. We have everything to sustain ourselves. Today, America treats us like little ‘change’. They will send 50,000 troops from Puerto Rico to Vietnam when every other state in the mainland US sends less than 20,000. You see, my friend money is not everything.”

We were silent. He talked (bitched) for another 1 hour, things about Politics, history, Americans and why Cannabis is good for your hair. I took his card as he was a wildlife photographer too.

day 3 — Day trip to Ponce, quiet dinner

I took a day trip to Ponce. It wasn’t the best trip of my entire journey, besides the tour guide we had was a pretty tough lady. Are you sure you are from Boston? Yeah, why do you ask? Well, I’m originally from India. She seems to be pleased now, she thought I was Kal Penn from Namesake, hiding my identity. I said I don’t ike Mira Nair. I dont like Deepa Mehta either. We argued for a while. There were two couples in the tour van. One of them was a very old but sweet couple in their 80s. He was an engineer and she was a mathematician. She said she did programing in supercomputers 30 yrs back. They were so much in love together, I couldn’t believe. I asked them, are you dating? They said, they’re married for 56 years. You wouldn’t have seen any other couple like this before. When we asked the old man, when he met the lady, the old woman was actually blushing. God, these are the true beautiful things you would want to experience in life. Thank you. Ponce, is the second biggest city in Puerto Rico. I didn’t quite like it as it was dirty and too hot. (90’s). We went to a palace built in the early 1900s, it paled in comparison to what I’ve seen in Rajasthan. We checked out the city center and the Ponce Museum of Art. I liked the Art Museum, there were some exquisite contemporary art pieces. And we headed back. I would not recommend someone to goto Ponce, not worth it, unless you are driving by south coast when you can pass by. Meanwhile, I got a text from the MN girls I met the day before, we were planning to catch up dinner and drinks in Old San Juan. We met up at a great place. I tried the vegetarian variant of a popular dish, it was nothing like what I tasted before — fried Plantains, peas, vegetables all put in an earthern pot. It was good. We went to check out some art galleries as it was the “Gallery Month”. There was this place called El Espional. Exquisite pieces of art in white clay. And then I saw someone. She was beautiful, elegant and all by herself. She had a particular grace in her walk and the way she held herself. It’s hard to find such elegance these days. Women rely too much on makeup, dressing and fake hard to act innocent and feminine. Before I realised I could give her a compliment, she was gone. And so were the MN girls as they were getting late. I didn’t feel like pubbing alone, came to my hostel early at 10 and worked on some of the pics I’ve taken. I slept early.

day 4 — the elegant lady

Sometimes you wish, that all your wishes just appear out of thin air, even if it’s for a day. Sometimes how you wish Destiny was by your side.

I woke up late, missed my tour van by 10 mins, I decided to sleep again for another couple of hrs. When I got ready, just when I was shuffling the maps in my hand I saw someone open the door next to my room. I didn’t know there were others living in this hostel as I never say anyone, not even near the common bathroom. And when I saw her, I was thinking about destiny, perhaps serendipity. I saw the elegant lady. The same one, from the art gallery. She went away before I could say Hi. I gathered some of my maps and headed outside thinking that I could probably talk to her later but we ended up meeting at the front of our gate. She was from Manchester, UK, a city not too far from where I lived in UK (Leeds). She had plans for the day and I asked her for some suggestions as I had no plans. We parted our ways in a few minutes only to meet at another point in the town after half an hour, looking helpless. I must have talked about destiny before. This time, both of us were confused about what to do and where to go. I suggested, we rent a car and drive alongside the coastline, all the way to Rincon, as I heard the beaches were great there. On the way we could stop at Arecibo Observatory, the largest suspended telescope in the world (the place where Golden eye and Contact movies were filmed). We agreed and in less than an hour, we hit the road. It was 2pm. We talked a lot and as I guessed, she was the thinking girl, a great conversationalist that kept me driving in good spirits. We checked out the Arecibo observatory, it was great, especially the museum inside. We hit the road again and continued our talks on backpacking and life in general. At one of the junctions, I took a right turn suddenly, must be one of my better instincts. It was the best instinctive_right_turn of my life. There was a lovely beach, massive coastline with sun kissed sand, trees, caves, birds, pebbles and with absolutely no human inhabitants in the vicinity, except for a few surfers at one corner. The next two hours, we walked, almost a mile, passing the caves, bushes and another stretch of the shore, watching the sunset and taking strides in talking about life. Only this time, it was a bit more personal. I think as Adults, we often have feelings of being cut off from the paradise, of being weighed down by responsibilities. Childhood is the golden paradise we are always trying to recreate. And sometimes, when we travel with no strings attached, ready to explore this world, we embody the longed-for qualities of childhood — spontaneity, sincerity, unpretentiousness. In the presence of a fellow traveler, we feel at ease, caught up in their playful spirit, transported back to that golden age. I enjoyed talking to her. I never photographed a model before in a beach, something I wanted to try and I was glad she agreed for, gracefully. The other beaches and sunsets I’ve seen pales in comparison to this experience. We headed further north to have dinner at Rincon late night, and we ended up at a beach side restaurant, with more beer. It wasn’t tough to convince ourselves that spending on the beach for another 4 hours, was a great idea. So we stayed till 2am, walking on the beach. Alone. Did we talk? A lot. With beer, of course.

day 5 — El Yunque, beer at the beach and pub hopping
I woke up late, as we reached only by 4 ish. We had our own plans for the day but were looking fwd to catch up in the night. I drove down to El Yunque National Rain Forest, the only rain forest in US, hiked 3 trails, the last one was a pretty tough one but by the time I reached, it was nothing like what I’ve seen before. There was a tower on the top for viewing and it was like standing near the pearly gates of heaven. It was all white, 360 degrees around me, so much fog that it was moving fast like the clouds and covering the sky. I stood there for sometime trying to capture the essence of the nature. Fascinating. It was already 5, I wanted to drive further south east and touch sunset and come back. I drove alongside Route 3, near Santiago beach. There were a couple of other beaches where I had the local Medalla beer, it’s the cheapest beer in the world — 1$. I don’t usually drink and drive but this time, I gave it an exception. And the beer was mild anyways. Came back to my hostel, took a shower and felt like my legs were trying to touch my bum. The next door was locked, I left a little post-it note at the door, to catch up next morning. Just when I was about to doze off somewhere in between midnight and my dreams, I hear a knock on my door. It was 12:30. She just came back from the same bioluminescent tour I went the other day. She asked if I was interested for a drink. Are you buying for me? Yes, the first one. We went to a few pubs, live music bars, of course the famous Rumba cafe where Dirty Dancing, part II was filmed. We came back at 4 am.

day 6 — Caribbean drive alone and salsa

I enjoyed driving alone, the day before. This time, I hit the south and south west, towards the Caribbean coastline. All the way through, while I was driving, I had the FM radio on. Spanish music is very interesting, hip, happy and generally very party-going, specially their reggaeton. I went via Route 1, and expressway route 52, crossed Ponce and headed towards the tip of route 116 and route 333. Route 333 was beautiful. So many beaches in a 20 minute drive. These were my best pics. Walking and being by the side of the beach, all alone is a different story altogether. It’s not true to find out reasons not to get connected when we have so much beauty in the world, so much life still alive and kicking and in these beaches, inhabited by very little humans, it’s a rare beauty to experience a new life. I went to another beach, Santa Beach on route 325 for watching the sunset and a few Madella beers before I headed back. It was a long drive back, almost 3 hours. I came back to my hostel and saw a little post-it.

Waited till 8 .… see you at neo rican cafe or the terrace if you’re still awake!

I took a quick shower and headed to another famous cafe down the alley called — Neorican cafe. They have live music with a world music twist. That night was a Salsa night, so the women as usual were dressed to kill. And then a lady came in a red dress. All heads turned around. Did she have a man with her? She was alone. Well, she was the elegant lady herself, the lady in red. We talked with gusto, had lots of beers and danced for the live salsa for the rest of the night. We headed back to the hostel, few beers still left in her room. I didn’t mind. We have a bar right in front of the hostel and a small patio on the terrace, so we were there till the end of the last bottle. It was pretty late. It was 4. Very rarely, will you meet a girl with such elegance, very grounded and focussed in life. Sometimes, it’s important to share with the other person what you feel about them, even if there is no purpose and expectations. Genuineness never has to pay a price.

day 7 — breakfast and good byes

I didn’t have much time, we went to breakfast together and did our last parting ways of good byes and sweet hugs. Its always tough. You know, like the stomach playing the little rat race inside, when your intestines are wobbled up and you feel that you haven’t eaten anything from morning but still feel like puking. Life always comes with little surprises. With my backpack, I went downstairs, opened the gate, walking down the street and something in me said I should turn back. I turned back. She was there, in the balcony, waving good bye. Sweet. The little moments of gentle warmth and hope.

day 7.5 — destiny knocks again
I had a connecting flight at Newark. My flight got delayed for 4 hours. I checked the other flight timings, I went to gate 137 and waited there, for more than 2 and half hours. The gate says — “Manchester, UK departing at 7pm”. I met the elegant lady, one last time. I surprised her, she was jumping. We had one last laugh together before she left.

Time just flies or is it inertia?

Click here for the pics.