~~ Nitya's Blog ~~

Nityaaaa! My mom called me for the fifth time. I got out of bed, woke my sister up and brushed my teeth. Since we had slept in our dress, we didn’t have to change them. I tied my hair in a high pony tail and did my sister’s into one too. “Go downstairs..Get your jacket..get your sister’s too..put on your socks and boots…” – the instructions kept on pouring. CLICK! Our van seats buckled and then there was peace. Not sure how long it lasted, because back my sister and I slipped into something we love to do – sleep.

At the airport parking place, we unloaded the entire luggage and took the shuttle. The airport was a busy place! Where are all these people going, so early in the morning, I wondered. We headed toward the check-in-line. It was pretty long before we got our turn. Plus, we also had to switch a few things because our luggage was too heavy to put on the plane. By the time we were at the gate, it was almost time. We took off and shortly after, yep – you guessed right – I went to sleep again.

I was awakened by a…let’s call it a “pain in the ears “. It said – Put on your seatbelts. Why do you sound different, mom? and don’t hurt my ears I wanted to say. Then I opened my eyes and it all made sense. It was the flight attendant announcing the plane was landing. That explains my “ear paining mystery”. Some of you might think it is weird but it is true. My dad said we had to hurry ( as if we were not all this time) to catch our connection. We didn’t have a minute to lose! Suddenly, I heard an announcement saying that the Cancun flight was delayed. Thank you announcer, you are my Hero. When we got to the gate, I was very hungry but I kept it to myself. My dad said he would find a cafe so we could eat, but my mom pretended that we could wait for a little more time. Soon we all mutually agreed that we were all very hungry. Me, Navya and my mom went out looking for a place to eat while my dad guarded the bags. Sure enough, we found a good place to eat and rushed back to tell my dad before all good seats were taken. By the time we got back, most of the good seats were taken but there were a few left. A waiter came over and gave a menu for us to pick from. Navya and I picked chow mien noodles, orange chicken, and a bunch of yucky broccoli (of course the menu called it something else).

After we ate we went back to our gate and boarded the plane. I thought it was a nice time for a cozy, warm nap. It took me some time to get all settled for the nice cozy nap I am talking about…

Nityaaaaa! I woke up yet again with a startle even though it was just a whisper. It was my sister’s call. Sometimes I feel like she should get into the Guinness book for wanting to play the most in the world. This was one of those frustrating, annoying times. I said we could play the animal game. In case you don’t know how to play these are the rules: First, the person who is “It”, thinks of an animal. Next, he/she gives four clues to the guessers. Finally the person to give the answer gets to be “It”. My sister is a fan of the animal game but she hardly even remembers her animal, and keeps on changing the answer. Anyway, fortunately we landed after a little while…okay fine maybe it took a long time. Still, it seemed short for me. After we went inside the Cancun airport we had to go through security clearance. It took a while for our turn since we were at the very back of the line. A man behind a weird looking counter and a weird looking machine told my dad to put his thumb under a scanner. After our checking was over, we got our luggage and took the shuttle for our rental car. As we stepped outside I felt a warm breeze on my face. This was Cancun…I could feel the smell of ocean and could imagine the beautiful beaches already. It felt like paradise!

We got into a limousine like car to take us to the car rental. My dad checked out a car for rent and off we went to the “NH Riviera”. At first we were totally lost since our GPS did not work in Mexico and we did not understand Spanish, but we finally managed to find our way to the resort. As we entered the lobby, I knew this hotel was a very grand one. In the lobby there was a huge fountain, a mini bar where you could order drinks from, a theatre, a ticket counter and an enormous room with soft sofas for visitors to relax. We went up the elevator to our room. It was on the 4th floor and had a magnificent ocean view. After we changed and settled down, we went to a buffet dinner. There were so many yummy things to choose from…which I wished my mom could make! After our delicious dinner, my dad mentioned about a show. It seemed like a good show and so we decided to go take a look. The show was entertaining and had many dancers and singers singing Mexican songs.

But since it was a long day, we were all tired and we decided to go back to our room and rest.

The next day I woke up with a lovely feeling. We had breakfast ordered in our room and we ate in the balcony viewing the ocean. After that I made a fuss about going to the beach since that is what I have been dreaming all along. Finally we convinced my parents into going. When we got there, my sister and I had a blast. We played so much in the beach, chased the waves and collected sea shells. My family and I made a city in the sand, and decorated it with sea weeds. We called it the eye of the Kabala – since it had kind of a mysterious shape.

When we were finally done playing, we had white sand all over our body and even our hair! After a relaxing bath, we had a great lunch again with many many delicious items. I felt lucky in being able to see such beautiful places and eat such great food. When our lunch was finished, we went to the pool and had so much fun! In the middle of that my mom bought me and Navya two yummy vanilla ice-creams. When my mom asked me t o swim across the pool my stomach twisted. I hadn’t practiced for a long, long time. I got into the very shallow water and took a long jump. Thinking I could fool my mom and dad I made a fake smile. After all the fun in the pool we went back to our room. In the evening, my mom wanted to do some Mexican shopping and dad drove us to a place called Playa Del Carmen. It was big marketplace with many stores. As my mom was wandering around, we watched a man painting amazing pictures with spray paint. There was even a spray can which sprayed fire. It was amazing to see the pictures he created within a few minutes. When I looked at the great artist I wondered how the man got so much paint on his hands. Maybe because he was not careful? Maybe he did so many paintings that his hands got soaked in paint? Maybe he has paint in his veins, instead of blood? My mom returned with two lovely Mexican dresses for her princesses.

They were blue and red in color and we liked them right away. We also shopped around for small gifts and trinkets for our friends back in Chicago. Walking around the marketplace, with the many street vendors and tourists was a nice experience. The traffic was bad, but I could feel my Dad’s excitement as he was whizzing past other cars while changing the gears, as if he was playing my Nintendo DS.

The next day we drove to a world wonder called Chichen Itza –an ancient Mayan temple. It was a long drive maybe four or five hours long. We stopped at many places for directions, but could not understand the language very much. I was the Spanish expert in my family, but sorry to say that I was not of help. Actually, I only knew a few words so you can’t blame me! I was listening for words I knew but no one was saying those words. Weird huh? Closer to the Mayan temple, we passed many beautiful villages .It reminded me so much of my travel through rural India. There were stray dogs running around, kids coming back from school –everything!

We stopped on the way and bought some nice dresses. We also bought big yellow plantain bananas, which I love.

When we got there, there was a huge entrance. It could actually fit a play ground in there. We parked our car and got in line. When we were finished with the tickets and stuff, a guide came walking towards us. He asked us if we wanted to look around with a guide or by ourselves. We fixed his price and picked the guide tour and started walking. We saw a really cool pyramid and if you clap at the right spot, a bird- like- squawk will echo back. I did it over and over – because I thought it was amazing. We also saw a deep well. Mayans would push prisoners in there if the rain was late. It was really scary. What if all the prisoners were dead and there wasn’t any more to push into the well? I thought. It was sad to think that people thought their gods would be happy killing another person and give them rain in return. Fruits and veggies - okay those are a good thing to sacrifice but humans? I don’t know - it just seems so wrong. We saw many little temples and took pictures. There was also a huge field to play ball. Our guide told us that the team that loses are usually killed right there. So you only play to win there, or you are dead. Spooky stuff, if you ask me. But those were different times, and maybe it made sense at that time, my dad explained.

We bought some little things like magnets and mini totem poles. We sat on the grass and chose to go to an Arabian show back at the hotel instead of Chichen itza night show. The drive back was quicker since my dad took the freeway.

When we got back, I got into a beautiful dress. We walked down to the lobby. We had a little path way out side were we could come through to get to the lobby. Outside it wasn’t cold at all. It was even warmer than inside the hotel building. As we walked down the little path, we passed the swimming pool and the place where we got the ice creams from. When we reached the lobby, we sadly realized that the night show was already over. We had spent too much time at Chichen-Itza. It was such a loss. Since we had come all the way, we took some of the food and sat down at the table. I thought the food tasted quite good, but I did not eat all of it. I was saving up for dessert, so I finished quickly. I waited until the rest of the family was done eating. My mom suggested that we should just go outside with the desert and sit under the moon. We did that and enjoyed a delicious desert. I flopped on to the bed the moment we got back to room. My mom told me at least ten times to brush my teeth. Finally I mustered myself and obeyed her. When I was finished, I changed into pajamas and settled down into bed. My dad turned on the TV, so we could watch it lying down. This was surely much better than a working day. It took me a few minutes to sleep, but soon I was dreaming away.

The next day, we had buffet breakfast - Cinnamon rolls, French toast and pancakes and a thousand other items whose names I don’t know. After breakfast, my dad & I spotted a huge chess game. It was so big, the pieces were half as tall as me. After a round of chess, we went to the pool again.

This time swimming came back to me and I could swim all I wanted. My mom lied down on a folding chair and took a nap. While my mom was asleep my dad , Navya and I played in the pool. The pool we were in was connected to another pool so people could float there. There was a cool bridge where the two pools were connected so you could float under it like small boats. My dad decided to go to the other pool and enjoy the view. I did not want to get hit under the pool so I did the back stroke without moving my arms. When we got to the other pool my dad set Navya on his back and tried to catch me but I swam away and was too fast for him. After that my dad showed me a flip under water. I wanted to learn how to do that and my dad showed me how. He told me to take a deep breath and let it out slowly under the water. I kept on trying and soon enough I was an expert. If you forget to keep breathing out, you will have water in your nose and you will feel really weird. When four hours were finished we went out for lunch. There was soup, rice spaghetti, hamburgers, salads, fruits, dessert, cake - you name it, it’s there. In the evening we went to visit a family friend of ours from California. They have two daughters. The elder ones name was Athira and the younger ones name is Ariya. Their mom Bindu Aunty was my dance teacher in California. When we reached their hotel, they met us at the lobby. I was so glad to see them after many months.

We spent almost two hours with them, playing in lobby and talking to them. Navya, Athira, Arya and I ate some ice cream. Bindu Aunty took us to a shop where we all got magnets and little cool stuff, while my dad and Prathap Uncle kept talking about stuff. When it was time to say good bye, I felt very sorry but was grateful that we at least got to see all of them and spend a lovely evening with them. We had to be in bed early that night since we were catching an early morning flight back to Chicago.

The next morning, a sad “Nair” family started off to the airport. When we reached the airport, we sat at the gate waiting for our flight.

While I was playing the Nintendo, I got a startle when “the Grinch” came behind me and started talking to me. It was someone dressed up in a costume and we looked around and saw many Christmas characters. After a little while, we boarded the flight. I sadly whispered “Goodbye Paradise” as our air port grew smaller and smaller until it vanished.