Diary of SpanishI was Born in Latin America, My Friends are in Europe and I'm Living In India… My Daily Life… My Friends… My Diary

I had Jaipur on my mind since a very long time. Jaipur is located in the Indian State of Rajasthan, having beautiful architecture, handicrafts, elephants, camels… I had to see this.

So I booked my train ticket and decided to just go and explore the city. The AC train was quite comfortable and also almost empty. I think my coach just had around 6 people in total. I had it all on my own! I reached Jaipur at around 11 a.m. and took a taxi to my hotel. The location was quite good and the doorman was dressed with the typical rajasthani clothes and had a very big moustache. The room was nice and neat, just royal.

That day I wandered around the city. Suddenly I saw the beautiful Palace of Winds or Hawa Mahal. It was stunning. Just imagine the queens of the 19th century going there to watch the city life without being noticed. And the sun light reflecting directly on the sandstone makes it look impressive.

Later on I saw the Jal Mahal or Water Palace which is curiously a five storey palace but having four of them actually under water when the lake is full and therefore gives you the impression of only being a 1 storey building with a terrace.

The old Jaipur is full of small shops in the main road. I put my eye on many things I wanted to buy. But that I was planning to do later.

In the evening I had dinner at a hotel with a friend and her girlfriends. God, they talked a lot… and also very loud! I didn’t know that a bunch of Indian women together could be so noisy! But no doubt they were very friendly.

Next day the plan was done, we were going to the Amber Fort. It was a hot day outside. When reaching I saw a group of elephants… there was an elephant ride to the top! and of course I wanted to take it. My friend agreed.

While we were walking towards the elephants a bunch of vendors approached us offering from small handicrafts to paintings and the things were nice really but I was just not planning to buy anything at that point.

But suddenly a man came trying to convince us to take the elephant ride and he was talking a lot. I think part of his strategy is to really convince you to take the ride, I mean that’s his job after all. He looked at me.

- You’re so beautiful – he said to me with a big smile. Read More…

The “shaadi” (wedding) season has started in India and I have been invited to some weddings. Attending a wedding in India is always a great experience and I look forward to have some fun. But the fun starts way back before the shaadi itself. And that means shopping for the occasion.

Indian women like to attend the weddings with the most luxurious ornaments and dresses. A catwalk of jewelery and sarees are a delight to the eyes, specially to mine who always like to watch these sparkling women walking around.

An essential part of Indian makeup is of course the bindi, which is placed in the middle of the forehead, most of the times like a sticker. It is said that it can protect you against the bad energy or luck. For me it’s a very nice ornament and it just goes perfect with sarees or salwar suits as they come in different shapes, colors and sizes. Read More…

Today I went to the market. I wanted to buy Melon and so I went to my fruit vendor as usual and stood there looking for fruits. I saw the melon and asked the price. My fruit wala said to me Rs. 20 per Kg.  I was surprised because till last week he was selling the same for Rs 50 per kg. All of sudden it became 20 rupees. First I thought the Indian government has curbed the inflation which is going out of control, but then I saw that everyone was selling melon so I understood why he was selling at a cheaper price… the first thing to keep in mind when you go to the market is to never buy something when only a handful of vendors have it. When the product is with everyone all the fruits and sabji vendors sell at the same price and you get the fresh fruits and vegetables.

So I stood in front of my regular fruit vendor looking at the melon and their sizes and color. It was almost 7-8 minutes that I was looking and wondering that if it would be sweet or not… shall I buy it or not… if he is cheating me or not… I mean, those 20 rupees made me think so much because I didn’t wanted to feel fool when I returned home as most of the time I feel like that, so I was taking my time. Read More…