by Pradyumna
These are memories of the Winter 2005/2006 bus tour to Mexico that 17 of us took. I apologize because some of the writing is in present tense and some in past, whenever I wrote the entry a day or two later. Nevertheless, I hope it imparts the fun we had and the sense of camarederie we shared for the two and a half weeks we all spent on the bus. Try following the diary of events with the tons of pictures we took on the tour.
12/16/05 - Getting Started
At 6 p.m. some of the people going on the bus tour were unloading their belongings and equipment that they would be using on the two-and-a-half-week trip.
Apparently, the finals of a soccer match involving four of the members of the bus tour coincided with the time the bus was supposed to leave so the departure was going to be delayed a little. The positive side was that the soccer players and the other tour members watching the game arrived exuberant with the news that their team had won the game 5 to nil. We had some more delays after we found that Govi’s passport had expired and due to some miscommunication he had to go to his house twice for his birth certificate. But all the delays and taking care of the necessaries was worth it to make sure that everyone had their paper work in place for crossing the border and getting back. After taking care of these things, we finally head off to Mexico.
12/17/05 - To Houston and Beyond
The second day of the trip. We arrived at the Houston temple at about 10:00 a.m. The large deities at the Houston temple are beautiful. It seems the devotees there are adding a whole other temple structure on top of the existing one. We picked up two more members for the tour: Keshava from North Carolina, and Rishi-kesh from Denver, Colorado. After greeting the deities, singing some
bhajans and eating
prasadam, we took off. Back on the bus, we engaged in deadly games of playing Mafia where everyone tried to use their powers of persuasion to befuddle the other players.
Cleaning and cutting vegetables, washing rice and dahl and cooking it can be quite an experience when you’re in a bus moving at around 70 mph. The business of cleaning has become easier because of a plastic shower installed in the bathroom. We’re using a two burner stove hooked up to propane. And even in such humble circumstances, Jaya Radhe and Kalindi managed to make a deliciously creamy
kitchri that made all of us go back for second and third helpings. I think they overestimated the proportions a bit and looking at how much is still in the pot after dinner, we’ll probably be having more of it at a future meal.
12/18/05 - Viva Mexico!
We entered Mexico last night. Slept in and woke up to see the sun rising behind the hills. Observing the sun through the trees blanketed by fog looks like the opening scene from a movie. After going through our morning routine and having a sumptuous breakfast of oatmeal and recycled
kitchri (which hasn’t lost any flavor) we have a rocking morning program lead by Jaya Radhe.
The weather up to this point has been pretty chilly and everyone is still bundled up in the winter clothes that we were wearing from home. I’m sure everyone is anticipating the warm weather and beaches we've been promised.
We arrived at the temple in Mexico City around noon. After a much needed shower, we set about to explore the surrounding neighborhoods and shopping centers.
The temple served us a wonderful lunch of quesadillas packed with all kinds of goodies in addition to other
prasadam. We had a drink made from the Jamaica flower, aparently a popular drink in Mexico.
After a few hours of rest, we headed for the Sunday Feast
sandhya arti lead by our own Kalindi. Bhakti-lata followed Kalindi with Nrsimha prayers. A few of us tried to exercise our Spanish by attempting to follow the lecture in the native language. Others sought out translators from the audience.
The devotees from the Mexico City temple organized a mini-music festival for the listening pleasure of the bus tour folk and their Sunday feast guests. The highlight of the show was the immensely talented, dreadlocked Narahari prabhu, clad in Jamaican colors, who belted out five devotional reggae songs accompanied by his immersed dancing. After the performance, some of our youth eagerly fanned around and bantered with the charismatic musician.
We took off from Mexico City temple that evening and, after a hairy ride through the city where the streets didn’t correspond with the maps, we finally got out and were on our way to many more adventures.
12/19/05 - Palenque Ruins & Agua Azul Cascades
We drove for 12 hours non-stop towards the Palenqe ruins, located halfway between Mexico City and Cancun. The drivers changed shifts every four hours and the ‘driver keeper upper’ (DKU) changed shift every hour.
Normally, when the bus tour happens within the United States, where driving conditions are much better, it is the duty of the DKU to talk to the drivers so that they don’t fall asleep at the wheel. On the Mexico trip, since we were on foreign terrain, the DKU was saddled with additional duties. They had to be able to read maps with foreign names pretty decently and more importantly, keep their eyes out for speed bumps.
It seems that the whole country of Mexico has g
iven up on enforcing speeding laws. Instead, drivers are forced to play an involuntary game of "who can spot the camouflaged speed bump first," slowing down their vehicle before they hit the bump at full speed (which would result in busting an axle and shredding some wheels.) Incidentally, the Mexican name for speed bump is
tope (pronounced toe-pay, as in, if you don’t see it in time, your vehicle’s ‘toe’ pays!) So the DKU’s had a very important job of spotting these bumps and potholes from a far enough away that the driver could slow down at a safe speed. For our bus, during the day, this precaution was most essential when we did our vegetable cutting, washing and cooking while the bus was in motion. During the night, if no measure was taken, all the bus tour participants (hereafter lovingly referred to as
touries) would be bounced all over the bus and would have practically no sleep—a very unpalatable situation for 17 people greedy to make full use of the daylight to explore Mexico.
We arrived at Palenque in the morning. You can watch all the movies and read all the books but it doesn’t cover the reverence you feel while being at an archeological site like the ruins in Palenque. Each of us explored our own private thoughts as we stood on top of the excavated pyramids deep within the jungles of Palenque.
After Palenque we drove 90 kilometers on a winding jungle road up and down mountains near the Guatemalan border, to the Cascadas Agua Azul, an enchanting series of waterfalls. The force of the water was sharp enough to make it challenging to go against and just light enough to be able to go exploring. The
touries engaged in challenging each other to scale the waterfalls to discover the hidden secrets and beauty of the river paradise.
Exhausted from the days activities, most of the
touries collapsed in their bunks on the bus while our reliable drivers and their faithful DKU’s wound us out of the jungle on our way to the beaches of Tulum.
12/20/05 - Tulum Turquoise Carribbean
We arrived in Tulum at 7:00 in the morning. After we took care of our bathroom necessities we stopped by the grocery store to pick up a few things. It’s to the
beaches next. And what beaches they are. A grass hut "tiki bar" sits squarely in the middle of a resort elegantly dotted with bending coconut trees. The turquoise waves of the Carribbean Sea calmly and quietly creep up the white sandy beaches. The
cool, calm water is a contrast from the sharp rays delivering the heat of the sun on the beach. After a competitive game of ‘ultimate frisbee’ we spend our time relaxing, making sandcastles, and just enjoying the crystal clear waters of the Caribbean.
That afternoon, after a late lunch and amidst a sudden onset of pouring rain, we drive to the touristy town of Playa del Carmen 45 minutes away. As we arrive, the buzz of energy around us induces us to further explore the town. We drop our laundry off at the local lavenderia for later retrieval, and fan out in groups of threes and fours.
Jaya Radhe had announced a couple of days ago that we were going to do ‘Secret Santa’ on Christmas eve. The way it works is that each member of the tour draws a name out of a hat and buys a relevant gift for that person. The hard part is to find out what the person wants and to find a gift for around 50 pesos ($5), all without the person finding out that you are their ‘Secret Santa.’ We tried to take advantage of the vast markets of Playa del Carmen to find our gifts.
12/21/05 - Snorkeling in Cozumel
We spent the night on the outskirts of the city. Early next morning we headed back towards the ferry docks in Playa del Carmen. Everyone was in their bathing suits anticipating one of the highlights of the whole trip: snorkeling in Cozumel.
The ferry ride to Isla de Cosumel was an experience in and of itself. The
careening vessel danced in the choppy waters of the turbulent sea as it made its way toward the island. The
touries hung on to whatever stable part of the boat they could grab on to as they were tossed as high as almost three feet into the air a few times. Of course such movement doesn’t come without consequences, and a few of the
touries’ stomachs threatened to deliver their undigested breakfast into the sea. The 45 minute trip was made without anyone having to do that, but everyone feeling somewhat queasy nonetheless.
We landed at a touristy section of Cozumel. After a brief taxi ride we arrived at a marina where we would be taking the boat that would take us snorkeling. The beautiful double layered boat we went snorkeling in looked like something out of a travel magazine.
The whole afternoon we swam through blue waters with jutting coral reefs and exotic creatures. An enormous manta ray swam by, causing a few of the snorkel-clad bus
touries to animatedly tap people next to them, trying to get their attention.
Once again enduring the ferry ride back to the mainland, in Playa del Carmen we were free to pretty much do what we pleased. Some of us went shopping for gifts while others went grocery shopping. A few lounged around the bus practicing their
mridanga and harmonium skills and sang
bhajans.
Since we were making good time, we decided to head back to Tulum for another day at the beach.
12/22/05 - Beach Volleyball and SoccerWe arrive around 10:00 in the morning at the same Tulum beach from the other day. It’s more sun and fun. I take a moment to just glance around and observe the beautiful scenery of the ocean licking up the sandy white beach.
After a couple games of volleyball with some German tourists who decide to join us, we change sports to soccer. The girls agree to play on the condition that the star male soccer players pass the ball to them occasionally, instead of hogging it amongst themselves. With the option of jumping in the water to cool off between goals, the soccer game turns out t
o be engaging and everyone seems to have fun. We play sports till sunset. Exhausted, we crawl into our bunk beds while the bus trundles on to Chichen Itza.
12/23/05 - Among Mayan Legends at Chichen Itza
We pulled into the famous pyramids of Chichen Itza around noon. We tried to visualize th
e civilization and the people who lived here as we listened to Manu read about the site. The Mayan civilization that occupied this place was apparantly quite a sophisticated one. A temple, perhaps ten stories high, boasted the center stage of the city. At the top, a beautiful view over the tree canopy of the jungle as long as the eye could see awaited. Inspired by the view, some members of the tour including Jaya Radhe started composing
haikus.
The Mayans who occupied this land even had their own stadium where a game resembling basketball was played. There were huge hoops hanging high in the walls where the athletes would try to score the ball into. We imagined that the players must have been quite motivated because the captain of the losing team apparantly paid with his head.
After walking through what seemed like the royal quarters, we huddled together to discuss realizations that we had from our visit. We left Chichen Itza around evening time.
12/24/05 - Over the Hills and Through the Woods
Today happens to be one of the most scenic rides in Mexico so far. We're driving up and down winding mountain roads. We're wide awake because the air is fresh and the roads are dangerous. The people sitting around the driver are trying to spot cars coming around the bends so that we can be ready to avoid them. We drive through green rainforest valleys and over rugged mountain passes. Every once in a while we hear the roar of waterfalls near the bus. We pull over to fill up our fresh drinking water supply at one.
On another occasion we stop to buy fresh fruits from a local mountain vendor. We sample fresh guavas, passion fruits, and a few fruits we’ve never seen before.
After driving for a few hours, Manu decided the bus might be overheating, so we pulled it over to the shoulder of the road. We took the opportunity to do some house cleaning and shook the mats out and cleaned some clothes and dishes at a nearby stream.
The water in the stream was freezing cold. But rather than be deterred by it, Krishna, Prajyumna, Jaya Radhe, Bhakti and Dattatreya decided to make a little competition out of ‘who could last in the freezing stream the longest.’ Krishna hopped out of the stream in 20 seconds. Jaya Radhe and Datta, stubborn enough to turn their toes blue, tied for first place by finally walking out togethor of the stream after more than 15 minutes. They probably would have been there longer, but we were trying to make it to Oaxaca in time for the famous Christmas parades that go through the town square.
Oaxaca - the "Heart of Mexico"When we finally got there, Oaxaca turned out to be a beautiful city that grabbed all of our hearts. The open shopping centers designed in colonial Spanish architecture style had a warm touch that was very appealing. In addition, ornate Catholic churches along with cobble-stone streets and colorful Christmas markets gave a very European feel to the ambience.
It turns out that we ended up doing a little more than simply watch the parades—some of us ended up taking part in a few. Separated from the larger group, Keshava, Patrice, Rishi and Prajyumna were walking along when they spotted a
posada (Christmas parade) ambling toward them. After snapping a few pictures, they walked along with the parade. The people in the parade started to give them candles and different parade articles to hold while walking, and before they knew it, the parade, with about 30 people, with them smack in the middle of it, went right through the middle of the town with tourists snapping up their pictures!
Eager to escape from the suffocating crowds, they wrestled their way out of the parade they were in to find themselves amidst the current of another parade. They managed to change parades several times. Having an experience of their lives and collecting dozens of pictures, the four returned to the bus where the rest of the tour was already waiting for them to start the much anticipated “Secret Santa” gift exchange.
Waiting their turn to gift, everybody huddled in the back of the bus clutching the gifts that they had shrewdly shopped for in the markets of Mexico. Then, one by one, we did the gift exchanges to the squeals, laughter and clapping of the rest of the group. The best was for last. We had a
piñata of a red Santa hanging above us stuffed with candy and canned condensed milk, courtesy of Jaya Radhe, Krishna Priya and Dattatreya. When the
piñata finally fell, poor Santa was demolished by enthusiastic hands ripping a different part of his limb in search of candy. By the time the revelry was over, the deck was littered with smeared chocolate, gift wrapping paper, pieces of Santa and candy wrapping. A few youth swore that this was their best Christmas Eve ever.
12/25/05 - Scaling Volcanoes
Hrdayananda Maharaja, who hadn’t been to Mexico in about 10 years, is apparently in Leon, a city that is far away. Since they don’t get the association of their guru maharaja very much, the devotees whom we were supposed to visit today opt to defer their plans to receive us. Without skipping a beat, Manu makes a different plan.
Smiling at us with his shiny snow-white face through our bus window are El Popo and his "wife," Iztaccihuatl. The couple are part of a greater chain of volcanoes that form the magmatic arc of southwestern Mexico. Standing at a height of 17,925 ft (5465m) with a snow-glistening top, they are a beautiful sight even from a far distance. Our plan is to drive up a road that apparently goes between the two volcanoes.
While the rest of us sing
bhajans and occasionally peek out to savor the magnificence of the view, our faithful drivers are trying to decide the best route to take. We are stopped at two check points by formidable groups of military personnel who wanted to know the reason for our traveling. After satisfying their inquiry, further up the road PJ decides to take a shortcut, and the next thing we know, we are going uphill on the most treacherous,
rocky and winding mountainous volcanic ash road that we had ever taken. There is no place to turn around. We only have one choice: forward. In addition to being the wickedest road, the driving conditions are compounded by the fact that it is Christmas day. Caravans of cars filled with picnicking family members look for opportunities to sneak past our lumbering bus hogging the narrow dirt road.
We are the lone bus on this road since it seems that no other Mexican bus driver is quite brave enough to challenge their bus driving skills with roads of this quality.
By the time we reach the top of the gully we are jarred, nauseated and rattled from hours of snaking up the horrible dusty road. In search of a more scenic view to take group pictures with El Popo, we walk five minutes up a decent hill. Because of the altitude, a lot of members of the group have pounding hearts and are out of breath. We snap pictures and share realizations from our scenic lookout, and return to the bus.
After driving the whole day, we reached Tepoztlan in the evening. We spent Christmas night at the house of Hari-Katha prabhu and Daiva-Shakti mataji. They have a beautiful, quaint house on the side of a mountain, designed according to Spanish architecture and tastefully decorated with Krishna paraphernalia.
Manu lead the evening
kirtan with his signature tunes. The youth were soon dancing to the rhythm of the mantra and induced the host and his young daughter to jump in the fray. After the uproarious
kirtan, we feasted on quesadillas, tortillas, tamales, 2 wonderful sauces (salsa tomatillo verde, etc) and a deliciously rich milk cake. Spending the night on floors that didn’t move and without the din of the roaring bus engines was a welcome break for all of us.
12/26/05 - Sweating Over Red-Hot Lava Rocks in a Native Mayan Temescal
We had a morning program at our host’s house. Manu read a verse from scripture and class turned into an interesting discussion. The sun streamed through large windows in Hari-katha prabhus temple room and we could see the outline of the beautiful mountains outside.
After breakfast
prasadam and some rest, most of the crew headed out for a hike to an ancient pyramid on the side of a cliff. Being Ekadasi, some people stayed back to prepare a mini feast for the cliff conquistadors.
In Hari-katha prabhu's back yard there is a
temescal, a native-Aztec/Mayan sweat lodge. It looks like an igloo made of mud with a pit in the middle to hold hot lava rocks fired in the kiln outside. That evening, all 17 of the tour members were packed shoulder to shoulder breathing in peppered steam that emanated from the glowing red rocks as they were sprayed with a mixture of water, scented oils and herbs. If that wasn’t cleansing enough, a rhythmic trance ensued with half of us chanting "Om, om, om, om..." and others singing a pulsating chorus of ‘Om namo bhagavate vasudevaya.’
12/27/05 - Acapulco Adventures
We had restful sleep for the most part except for being woken up by someone yelling “Scorpion!” Premanjana caught the scorpion and let it out, preventing a reapeat of the situation where Bhakti got stung by one yesterday.
After getting back on the bus in the morning we reach Acapulco after a four hour trip, in time for more fun and games on the sandy beaches. This is our first experience of the Pacific Ocean on this trip, while for some this is their first experience of the Pacific, ever.
With the ocean on one side and the skyline of ritzy hotels on the other, you get a sense of the type of people that come to Acapulco. It’s a cosmopolitan beach with sophisticated tourists who are willing to pay lots of money to establishments prepared to entertain them. The recent hurricanes that destroyed hotels in Cancun have helped business in Acapulco with tourists flocking to the latter. This fact is obvious at first glance at the beach brimming with people.
The waves along the Pacific are a lot larger than the ones on the Carribbean east coast. We enjoy the rest of the afternoon boogie boarding, body surfing, and playing volleyball and a competitive game of soccer. That night, hoping to spend a couple of peaceful days on a less crowded beach, we drive 2 hours south.
12/28/05 - Playa Ventura
This morning we arrive in the quaint seaside village of Playa Ventura. With only a handful of Mexican families frequenting the palm-fronded
palapa huts and local establishments, this feels more like our turf. The ocean is a hop and a skip from where the bus is parked and we have the beach pretty much to ourselves. Manu announces that we may spend 2 to 3 days here. We’re thrilled!
The girls started their morning doing yoga on the beach while the local people gawk on. The boys are doing their own calisthenics and muscle exercises as the sun's rays intensify. At a certain point every one is in the water getting the life of their bodies pounded out on the rolling surf as the waves mercilessly thrash them about. Quitty, the master bodysurfer, slices through the water hydro-dynamically propelling through a wave further than anyone else. He stands and gives his trademark smirk as if to say, “Let’s see you beat that!” Others try. There are many sprained necks, strained muscles, and twisted backs by the end of the afternoon, but everyone has a smile on their tanned faces.
After a sumptuous meal of burritos, there is a group meeting to address the fact that some bus
touries are slacking in doing their part to make the tour run smoothly. Resolutions are made, and everyone verbally commits to pulling their weight.
Activities revolve between volleyball and the ocean for the rest of the evening. Exhausted, the
touries huddle in the bus clutching their bowls for hot corn
kitchri. We end the evening playing a game of "first impressions," involving sharing our first impressions of people on the tour. Later that night, half of the tour decides to sleep on the beach, watching the bright stars in the clear sky and listening to the pounding surf. Unfortunately the reality of it is a lot less romantic and the beach sleepers are awoken multiple times by roosters crowing way before morning time, barking dogs, pop-music, and drunken Mexican tourists.
12/29/05 - Campfire BhajansToday is the last day on the beach and everyone seems acutely aware of it, determined to make the most of it. After the daily morning program, led by Premanjana, different people head in different directions to complete their various duties. The rest of the day is spent alternating from the volleyball court to the ocean front. A couple of us catch up on sleep lost last night.
The highlight of the day is late in the evening when the whole crew is gathered around a bonfire. Premanjana, Rishi and Narayan are feeding the fire with dry coconut shells, husks, palm fronds, and other dry sticks that they collect from the perimeter. All of the devotees are facing the bus tour deities who seem to be glowing, hearing the chanting of their Holy Names and basking in the light of the jumping flames. Different devotees take turns on the instruments, using their talents to urge out beautiful melodies and beats glorifying Krishna’s names as others follow along while honoring hot prasadam of creamy potato soup.
After an incident where some drunk locals drive over our volleyball and refuse to give compensation (the 1 peso doesn’t count!), we head to our beds.
12/30/05 - Delayed in Acapulco
We were supposed to be at some devotee’s house for a program. But since that got cancelled, we are spending the rest of the afternoon at the same beach we originally went to in Acapulco. How sad. Not!
We whipped out our soccer balls, volleyballs and boogie boards and went to play. This time we noticed that the waves in Acapulco were strangely different from the ones in Playa Ventura. The waves that would tumble down made it feel like the water was flowing down a hill. The horizon was no where in sight because of the hill of water in front of us and the sweeping currents dragged us to the east like we were in a river.
On the beach, six local Mexicans asked our boys if we wanted to play soccer with them. Quitty, Krishna, Datta, Jaggi, Abhay, and Keshava went against the other six guys that were taller and bigger than our boys. But their athletic prowess was of no match to our boys who scored four to their one goal. Wheezing and panting, the other team admitted defeat.
Later on in the afternoon, after a scrumptious lunch of Mexican chips and mixed bean dip, another group of Mexican boys challenged our boys to a game of volleyball. Datta, Krishna and Premanjana decided to defend the honor of our group. With the rest of the crew lounging on beach chairs cheering them on, our trio engaged their challengers in a sandy battle. Soundly defeating their opponents, our heroes emerged victorious to the applause of their captive audience.
After what would be our last excursion in the ocean, that night we back towards Mexico City for the New Year celebrations in the capital city.
12/31/05 - New Year's Eve Harinama Party
We arrived at the outskirts of Mexico City around 3:00 AM. As at other times when we attempted to either enter or leave this city, we got lost going through the unique mazes of streets with no names. To make matters worse, we were entering the
city in the early morning hours when we couldn’t ask for directions. Finally we paid a homeless person 20 pesos to get on the bus with us and lead us to Chepultepec park, where we found the temple. After a morning shower, all of us got into our winter devotional clothes (Mexico City is at high elevation and quite cold on a winter morning) and made it in time to greet the deities. Bhakti from the tour lead gurupuja.
After breakfast, Darshan Prabhu, the president of Mexico City temple, took us to see the grand pyramids of Teotihuacán. As we gazed upon the excavated ancient ruins, we imbibed the history of the area we were observing. Some of the series of structures we saw seemed to be like bathing
ghats. Though with a different focus and having a different set of priorities, it was interesting to observe another civilization with god at the center of their activities.
After snapping a few group pictures while savvy hawkers tried to unload their souvenirs on us, we made our way to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, the third largest pyramid in the world. The climb was steep and a few of us took time out to catch our breath while making our way up. Once at the top, more pictures were taken, one even of a few of our guys making a human pyramid with another pyramid in the background.
Once back at the temple, we honored delicious Mexican style
prasadam. After some rest, different bus
touries went about attending to the different services they had volunteered for. Eight of us helped in the kitchen for about 3 hours, making 1,200 sugar cookies for distribution during the anticipated New Year's Eve
harinama celebrations.
At around 11:30 PM, we all piled into our bus along with a dozen devotees from the temple and made our way to the Zocalo at the center of the city. There were clusters of people all over the city square, with balloons and sparklers, waiting. But once we got there, we were the star attraction. At the stroke of midnight, with cathedral bells ringing in the new year, we danced and chanted blissfully in
kirtan, while people surrounded us, lit their sparklers, cheered, and downed the cookies we had made for them earlier in the day. As we danced in unison, inducing the crowd to join in, the celebrations and the crowd grew in number. Throngs of people joined in the chanting and dancing.
The temple president explained that they had never had a
harinama on New Year's Eve and they had done so only because we were there. He thought that it had gone very well and said they might try to do it again in the future.
We dropped the devotees off at the temple in the wee hours of New Years, picked up a pot of tamales, courtesy of the Mexico City temple cooks, and we were on our way out of the capital, headed towards Monterrey.
1/1/06 - New Year's Day in Monterrey
Having reached Monterrey, we parked on the side of the road while waiting for Ambujaksa Prabhu, a devotee who is preaching in Monterrey. He was going to take us to the preaching center/residence that he shares with Mataji Mahabhavarupa and her family. Monterrey has a reputation for being a very modern and sophisticated city. It’s classiness is obvious by how people carry themselves and how the architecture of the city is laid out. Once at Ambujaksa’s residence, we were once again grateful to be able to shower and get cleaned up from the nights driving. The devotees there were very kind to provide us with a sumptuous feast of
prasadam.
Kirtan followed after a short interval of rest.
What was particularly engaging was the discussion that Manu started after
kirtan. Personally, it was interesting to hear about Manu’s dreams and hopes for spreading Krsna consciousness and his vision about the enormous opportunities out there to spread Krsna consciousness. Not being one to be very vocal about his point of view, you don’t always hear about the way Manu sees the world. But whenever he does speak, you realize that this man, who generally is all action and few words, is always attempting to operate on the vision for Krishna consciousness that he has. We all got a small glimpse about how this bus tour is a small part of his larger vision and his service to Srila Prabhupada and Lord Chaitanya.
Since we still had to prepare for our
‘Preaching in Mexico’ challenge, we all got into our groups and each went to a different section of the house. The challenge was, given only one hundred dollars and one copy of a Krishna conscious book in Spanish, each group had to figure out the most elaborate as well as realistic plan to spread Krishna consciousness in Mexico within five years. The winning team would get a prize of a hundred dollars, and a KC Spanish book. We had been working on this challenge at various intervals during the bus tour. And since we were in Monterrey at these devotees' house, the groups tried to take advantage of the experience that our hosts had gained from preaching in Mexico. After a good few hours of working on this project, we profusely thanked our hosts for having us and made our way back to the bus. Tomorrow would be a long day since we were crossing the border.
1/2/06 - Border Blues
We awoke in the morning and found that while we were asleep, the drivers had driven close to the border and parked near an abandoned warehouse. We spent some time cleaning up the bus so that it would look respectable when customs and border patrol would go through it. Then we drove the bus amidst the sea of vehicles waiting to cross over the border. If we had known the reality of the wait in the lines with all the other cars vying to get into the US we would probably have done our cleaning while in line. We spent a good five hours in line, moving a few inches at a time. The monotony was broken when four Mexicans with their clothes bundled up over their heads tried to cross over the Rio Grande river towards the US in broad daylight under the bridge that we were waiting to cross.
We were close to home. After making it across the border towards the American side, in heartfelt appreciation of the US, all of us sang the Star Spangled Banner at the top of our voices. Mexico was great fun but boy it was great to be back in the familiar lap of the US once again.
1/3/06 - The Challenge
After dropping Rishi off at the Houston temple in the middle of the night, the bus, slightly off schedule, made its way back to Alachua. On our way, in the middle of the day, all three groups did our presentations for the
Preaching in Mexico challenge. After everyone had participated in their presentation, we all voted about who scored where in the different categories. When all the votes were counted, it turned out that the group with Krishna, Jaggi, Datta, Gundica and Prajyumna won the $100 dollar prize and the Spanish book.
We got one last bus tour experience with all of us parked outside the Winn Dixie supermarket in High Springs with bowls of ice-cream in our hands, teasing and joking with each other. The bus tour officially ended when we went back to the Alachua temple where our cars were parked. We all helped Manu and Jaya Radhe clean out the bus. Then we said good byes, hugged and headed in our different directions. The bus tour should have ended there, but interestingly it didn’t.
The 2005/2006 Winter Mexico Bus Tour ended the same way it started—with soccer. The four soccer players Quitty, Govi, Abhay and Jaggi were playing a district tournament match, like the day we left for the trip, and interestingly, the rest of the bus tour was at their game, rooting them on. Their Santa Fe High School team ended up winning an overwhelming 4 to 1, a great way to end a spectacular bus tour!
Watch: Mexico Bus Tour Video - Part 1For information about upcoming bus tours, visit: Krishna.com/bustour
