India

Years went by and India was always pending.

Marcela, from laorillainfinita.com, was the muse of our trip. Upon entering her house I asked her without believing it: "Did you bring all this furniture from India? Her confirmation was followed by an eternal chat about the destination, which continues to this day.

And so, the strong desire to experience India was already with us and had come to stay. She put us in touch with Helena from Black Pepper Tours, the agency that organized the whole trip for us.

Life gives us beautiful people, the kind that inspire, the kind that add up, that nourish. One of them is Marcela. Her passion for the subcontinent was contagious. As a traveler like @tripticity_ she encouraged us to do it and, for that, we will always be grateful to her.

Helena had told us "India is a journey to the senses". In my words it would be a shock to the senses. A defibrillator shock to your being, to your everything. There where surprise is felt again, where you become friends with discomfort, where you are unable to dimension the infinity of the human, where you understand that you are very small in the universal history, where once again I felt that addictive contradiction that every trip generates in me, that of seeing myself at the same time very very small in this world (like an ant) and at that moment also very very huge (like an elephant) for having dared to arrive and live the experience that a trip offers you, proud of the courage that implies leaving home and walking and exploring.

Marcela, for her part, just before leaving, said to us "be prepared, enjoy the trip. Get ready, enjoy the overdose that is coming". And so it was. An overdose of everything: of gods, of beliefs, of people, of traffic, of palaces, of contrasts, of images, of impressions, of experiences!

In India everything abounds, everything overwhelms. In this subcontinent, color rules chaos and disorder dances in a logic only understood by them, the nationalist people in which multiple religions, beliefs, ethnicities coexist.

It was also common to read in specialized sites about the smells, colors and flavors of India. Yes, smells, colors and flavors and it is necessary to add its constant noises. In fact, what we believe to be most overwhelming was the constant chattering of its cities, to the point of feeling tired, of wanting to enter a sphere of silence after the daily walks through its cities.

The noise in India is enormous and permanent. It never stops. The horns do not stop, constantly one after another sound and sound, neither do the bells of its temples, the resounding noise is like the vital heartbeat of India.

It is a giant country, with multiple beliefs, intermingled races, contrasts at every step. A universe in itself.

India demands to stretch the sensory limits beyond the known. Everything is too much: noises, smells, quantities, distances.

To begin with, get the idea that you must be barefoot to enter all temples and sacred places. The suggestion to bring socks to wear in those situations was fundamental, socks that we discarded throughout the trip because it came to a point that even washing them was not possible to use them again. I remember one of the last days of the itinerary, when I had the feeling that my body needed to be exorcised, as if a long shower was not enough.

India is contradictory and fascinatingly mixed up, there are no limits, the refined and the stinking, the urban and the rural, the lavish and the miserable, the solemn and the grotesque coexist in a chaotic loop. Luxurious jewelry stores preceded by pigsties, elephants or camels loose in any avenue, shepherds with iWatch, monks from some millenary temple offering prayers in exchange for a few rupees. Everything is possible in India.

Traveling there is an experience that forces you to practice patience, to dare the unimaginable, to tolerate situations that in another latitude of the globe we would consider impossible, the inexplicable.

The garbage dumps are a constant, while ironically we get tired of seeing people hunched over sweeping, as if trying to remove the dust from their sidewalk, right next to the street full of garbage.

Running fluids are one of the many obstacles in this video game that is traversing its labyrinthine pathways, while dodging cows, bulls, calves, dogs, cats, rats, mosquitoes, street vendors and the incalculable crowd.

After experiencing the intensity of walking the streets of India, it is essential to return to a comfortable, clean and quiet hotel. That is why we replicate the recommendation made to us here: save as much as possible and go for the best hotel you can afford. In our tour we started and ended in super luxury hotels and we also planned stopovers -every five days- in which we stopped in this type of lodging and rested, as a way to pamper ourselves and get strength for the following adventures.

Another very peculiar issue in India is the illogical number of switches and sockets. In every hotel we entered we started to decipher which switch corresponded to which light.

And what about the vehicular chaos! While traveling by car, tuk tuck, rickshaw or cycle rickshaw you feel, from your western perception, that your life is at risk every second, that an accident is about to happen at every instant. The impact between the vehicles is about to happen, and yet - magically - it does not. Except for us and our sense of survival, no one else seems to notice the constant miracle.

It is a country of diversities, where everyone - the rich or the poor, the bored or the hurried, the millennial or the elderly - gives you their smiles. Almost the common denominator is the grace of its people.

We noticed that many men were "hunters", sometimes too many, and some have no qualms about throwing a compliment to a woman, like someone who throws a hook of seduction, even if it is in front of her husband. This happened to us with waiters even in restaurants and luxury hotels. We opted in our case to smile and leave it there so as not to ruin the trip. Every now and then, unfortunately, some case of abuse of tourists appears in the news, which spoils the image of this friendly country.

Moreover, in India there is almost no concept of space for others. In the queues, people join together, approach each other without any problem and even move ahead of each other without any scruple. That's just the way it is.

We also found it curious how they touch everything. If you ask for directions, without permission they take your phone and write down what you are asking for. At first it is perhaps violent or overwhelming, but then you understand that this is how things work in India. Even in a five-star restaurant, one of the waiters was telling us the differences between the breads (naan, chappati or papad) while he was grabbing them with his hands, one by one. Yes: those breads that we were later going to eat.

By the way, the difference between naan and chappati is that naan is leavened, but not chappati; papad, on the other hand, is crunchy, while both naan and chappati are soft and tender.

Obviously spicy, even when you order cheese naan or garlic naan, you can feel the hint of some spice. In India everything, everything, everything has spices. Everyone told us, before traveling, to be careful with spices. For us that was not the problem, not even close. While we enjoyed the spiciness, the truth was that what was most noticeable was the abundance of spices, cumin, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, turmeric are perceived in every dish. Even in luxury hotels when they offer you a complimentary coffee when you enter and serve delicious cookies, which seem to be only sugar and butter, a first bite is enough to discover that in them there is also a seasoning, usually cumin blossom.

We returned to Argentina with the desire to eat meat, bread, fresh vegetables, a salad (which we try to avoid) and food with just salt and pepper.

Returning to India, its vast history of struggles, combats and extraordinary power is reflected in its temples, its City Palace, its forts and its monuments, almost all of them declared World Heritage of Humanity by Unesco, an award that justifies the differential entrance ticket charged to foreign tourists. Helena had suggested us to take into account an approximate dollar figure of U$130 per person that we were going to spend on the entrance fees, but it turned out to be much more, twice as much for sure.

The constant feeling is that everyone wants your rupees: the vendor, the guide, the driver, the hotel bellboy, the one who offers you any trinket you can think of or suggests you buy a relic or treasure, the street vendor, well absolutely everyone, even the priests! I had read a suggestion from a traveler that I found wise: the best thing to do is to know beforehand that you were going to fall for the scam and that the extra money given without realizing it would be your contribution to someone who needed it. Or as we would say in Argentina: relax and enjoy.

That is why shopping in India is a separate issue. It is a country where consumption reigns. You are offered something to buy all the time.

Although in the "Practical Tips" that the agency shared with us there was a certain distinction about what to buy in each destination, I would have liked to know beforehand with more precision the shopping data, addresses, brands, outlets. Obviously, as in every trip, the rule "if you see something you like, buy it, because you will not find another one like it" applied. But in India, things are more critical. It's true, there is everything everywhere, but in some places you find more and of better quality than in others.

@tripticity_ with her eagerness for efficiency in terms of luggage always travels only with carry on, so as to restrain herself with shopping and be light during every adventure. So, in my innocence I had the idea that I would do my shopping in Delhi, the last city on the itinerary. Well, luckily I broke with tradition and shopped along the way.

In super short, Rajasthan is the place to shop for textiles. In Jaisalmer there was an abundance of colorful jackets (short and long), carpets and everything with patchwork. In our case, we bought the authentic cashmere pashminas in Jaisalmer, thanks to the suggestion of our agency. When we asked her about it, because in our online search she had found several authentic pashmina stores in Delhi, Helena offered us to buy them from Riyaz, whose family is from Kashmir. It was the best suggestion! Pure quality and extraordinary beauty.

Jodhpur - on the other hand - we considered it as the place to buy antiques and furniture, although in my case, thanks to the guide's suggestion, I bought several dresses. When we were walking through the market, near the Clock Tower, Jaswant told me "Argentine women buy a lot in this store", so at the end of the tour I asked him if he could guide us there again. I went in and I was tempted by some of those printed dresses that I never, ever wear. My closet is dominated by neutrals, grays and cream. Well, after my trip to India, even my coat rack suffered a shock of color and print overdose.

In terms of textiles, the place with the greatest variety and best prices to buy is Pushkar, without a doubt. It is a market where everything is mixed but knowing how to distinguish, you can find interesting clothes, especially in those small stores that mix the typical prints with more western designs, that is, it is not necessary there to buy a sari that you will never wear again. In Pushkar I found a lot of typical Western designs but with Indian fabrics. Also famous are the little notebooks or notebooks with recycled paper, very nice.

Jaipur, meanwhile, is characterized by its offer of precious and semiprecious stones. Even silver, which is imported from Peru and Brazil.

The currency exchange in Mumbai was extraordinary. We knew it was not a good option to do it at the airport, so it was only when the guide picked us up from our hotel in Colaba and started the tour that we asked her to stop to exchange dollars for rupees. It was then when she asked us: With papers or without papers? We wanted the experience one hundred percent so we opted - logically - for the second one. The driver made a stop, we got off in a hurry and the gentleman, very polite but without much patience, urged us to complete the transaction without further disquisitions. We were in a hidden passageway, which in a Hollywood movie would be the prelude to a kidnapping and subsequent organs trafficking, or -at least- that's how we felt. We left loaded with banknotes with Mahatma Gandhi's face on them, and when I saw him I said to myself, everything will be all right, I took it as a sign of destiny.

And indeed, the change had been very good. And everything went well.

Before traveling, there were many people who showed concern, fear or even dismay when we told them about our trip. They told us to take care of ourselves, to take medication, to get vaccinated, not to drink tap water, and so on.

Helena had told us in her "Practical Advice" to drink only bottled water. And as a precaution we even opted to brush our teeth with safe water, although Mr. @tripticity_ often acted like a rebel. And so we traveled super well, even adapting to local food as almost the only option, even for breakfast.

And so, losing the initial extreme precautions we enjoyed the adventure as we went through our entire itinerary, healthy, spicy and absolutely happy.

Our tour, designed in a super personalized way with Black Pepper Tours started in Mumbai, the mega metropolis, continuing with a land circuit through Rajasthan, ending in Agra to delight us with the Taj Mahal, then a few days in Varanasi to get into the essence of India, its roots, rites and beliefs and ending in Delhi, its cosmopolitan capital.

Here, just an attempt to summarize these avatars.