February 2021 - Adham's Blog

AdhaMexiCovid 08: Mexican Paradise

Do you believe in paradise??

On Monday we went to Akumal, a beach near Tulum where you can snorkel and see turtles. Not far from the shore you can swim with the turtles in their natural habitat. Please don’t step on the sea weed because this is what they eat. I was partly struggling with catching up with our small group consisting of Marika, an older American couple and our snorkeling guide, Daniel. Marika was all the time checking on me to see if I drowned already! We moved from one spot to another sneaking to see turtles, sea eels, corals and colourful fish. I spent half the time trying to breath through this snorkling tube and the other half taking it off and catching air on the surface. I was, nevertheless, very happy with what I managed to see.

During this trip, I have collected a list of favorite Spanish words that sound nice to me. One of them is “chaleco” which means “life jacket”. Maybe not because it sounded nice but rather because of the number of possibilities it allowed me to expediences as a bad swimmer. My most favorite word from this trip is “cubreboca” which is the face mask that we are wearing now because of this shit virus. There is a nice musicality to this word. In Spanish, you can make things smaller by adding “ito” for masculine or “ita” for feminine at the end. For example, doctor becomes doctorito and means “little doctor”, sounds cute. I saw a grill bar called ” infiernito” which translates to “little hell”. I found the translation rhymes even better: ” little hell, BBQ and grill”.

This will be my wallpaper! Animal beach.

With two towels, not the traditional mexican clothes!

Marika excited about tasting tres leches. Kind of a habit since our trip to ecuador.

Tuesday started somehow cloudy and rainy, so we opted for visiting the Grand Cenote near Tulum. A very beautiful Cenote where many turtles are living. Here as well you can swim with the turtles and watch them in different sizes eating and chilling. I counted around 15 turtles chilling on the stones or tree leaves just above the water surface. This Cenote consisted of two parts connected by a cave that you can swim. But that swimming path passes under a lot bats. This part crept me out and I swam this path only once.

Swimming in this Cenote while watching the turtles made me forget life worries. They made me think of Paradise. A place where you are immersed in beautiful nature without worries. I this is not the big motivation I am currently a believer but at that moment i found the concept appealing.
In the afternoon we visited Tulum’s paradise beach. Sand, clear water, sun, palm trees and everyone having a good time. I decided, a regular visit to the seaside is mandatory to maintain my mental health.

On Wednesday we explored playa del Carmen. We didn’t stay there long though as we felt it was more prepared for American tourists. We had a quick meal and headed to Cancun and from there we took the ferry to Isla mujeres, which translates to island of women. A name given by the Spanish colonials upon arriving when they saw a lot of images of women. The images belonged to Ixchel, a goddess of childbirth and medicine in the Mayan culture. We had very little beach time before the sunset then we walked through the market Street with many restaurants. We had such a fine dinner at a good price. I am definitely going to miss the food in Mexico.

These three days of leisure have rejuvenated me. I felt ready to be back to real life after all these experiences but I didn’t actually want to! Well, we still have around 3 days more!

AdhaMexiCovid 07: The Mystery of Cenote and The Healing Curanderos

Sunday 21.02.2021

I went all in. I had a beef sandwich from a street-food stall and followed it with a coconut-juice where the seller used a bucket to get my portion from another container. I trusted the higenic standards in Mexico.

I rented a car and met Marika in Valladolid in a small restaurant in a small unspectacular neighborhood. Still, a lot of tourists passed by. We discussed about what to do. Marika has discovered some Mayan archeological site near Merida and was not excited about seeing more of the same. Chichen itza is the largest site in Mexico but I couldn’t convince her to go there. It was also too hot to be outdoor in that hour of the day. We decided instead to go to a nearby cenote. Wait, what is a cenote? I didn’t know what it was, Marika has visited one yesterday and she then explained to me that it is like a cave under the ground with water in it where you can swim. So we went and it was one of the highlights of my travels so far!
We paid around 120 pesos to access two Cenotes. The first was called Samula. With some wooden stairs you go through a hole into the underground as if you are going into a mine. The basic infrastructure includes also the mining spot lights. It was a big cave with crystal clear water and one opening in the top where magical sun rays sneaked into the cenote. It was surreal. Thankfully forced to wear a life jacket, I could compensate for my in-prpgress swimming skills. The place was mainly full of locals and families and only a few tourists. We took a few photos but I also leave you with a YouTube video:

We also visited the other nearby cenote which was dark and kind of creepy. Since these cenotes had been there for thousands of years, I was sure there were dead bodies underneath. If we were to dive deep enough, we would have probably collected some material for the anatomy lessons!! I actually guess not. Maybe the government has sent divers at some point to sanitize the bottom of the cenote.
The Yucatan peninsula, which is where we are now in Mexico, is full of these cenotes. It is thought that they are thousands connected by a network of underground rivers. It is still a mysterying how they were formed. One theory is that a meteorite hit the earth millions of years ago and created a big explosion and changed the geography of this place, and created cenotes. I chose the following two short videos as well.

We then wanted to go to Tulum, a paradise beach 2 hours from Cancun. But on the way back there is a small archeological site in Coba that we thought we could spontaneously see. As we arrived there and we parked the car in the empty parking meadow, another traveler told us that the site was closed and that he also missed the opening time. We chatted a bit and then decided to go altogether for dinner.
Our fellow traveler, M. from Croatia is travelling around Mexico then will go on his yearly trip to Peru where he studies in a jungle with the Masters of healing, shamans, using the “sacred” ayahuasca plant. He is an alternative medicine therapist in Croatia and believes the the plant has cognition. He says they believe that with the plant you have access to the knowledge of the universe and that through drinking the ayahuasca infusion, you somehow get connected to the plant and also get this access. This is supposedly a process that takes years and they have masters. In the therapy ceremonies, both the “patient” and the healer drink the infusion, then the therapist would be able to see the bad organs. They would even see to the vessel precision. No need to tell your story or your problem. They would simply see it. M. seemed to deeply believe in this. He says he knows many people who got cured after such treatment. We listened attentively to him in what seemed to be a lecture. He didn’t seem to want to know anything about us and focused in passionately conveying his ideas about the metaphysical world of ayahuasca.

We have no idea what cognition is. We have theories, but how we think what we think and our very subjective experience that defines who we are is far from being scientifically understood. Psychedelic drugs alter our perception of the world. Whether they pseudorandomly generate patterns of experiencs or grant us some access to usually-not-accessible inputs, we can not tell. I stay between my skeptical attitude of metaphysics and my personal experiences along with the experiences of some friends that are hard to explain with a sole scientific approach. Besides, who doesn’t like a bit of mystery?

M. told us we have to visit Chichen itza.

We bid our new friend farewell and drove to Tulum. A destination of breathtakingly beautiful beaches and good vibes. We booked our accommodation because it was supposed to be full of travelers, probably with many stories as exciting as that of our friend M. It was indeed full of travelers but mostly around 20 years old with many tattoos and half naked. I might be a bit judgemental here but they didn’t seem to be our kind of folks. We drove to a street food stall where Alejandro and his two assistants prepared us wonderful Tacos. The neighbouring stall with Goumi prepared us a wonderful quesadilla.

AdhaMexiCovid 06: The Magnificent Cañon del Sumidero

Saturday 20.02.2021
No rain today, so it is the Cañon tour day. The bus collected the guests from different hotel and we had a bit more than an hour ride. The group was an interesting mix. I spent the way talking to Jenny from Switzerland, Agnieszka from Poland and Harold from Sweden. We arrived to a small port where we took a small motor boat with a guide and we set in the river in the canyon for around two hours.It was a magnificent natural formation of two mountain chains separated by a river. You feel hugged but also very small and vulnerable. We are small and insignificant. Oscar our guide stopped in different sides to show us crocodiles, monkeys and stone formations. With strong wind against our faces and somehow cloudy sky, I was immersed in imprining the view in my memory. Since I also have trust issues with my memory, I took a couple of photos.

Here is also a video from Youtube of a drone-video of the Canyon

Canyon de Sumidero

I thought about all these years I have not seen such a wonder. First, I didn’t know where such things exist. I also didn’t know how expensive it is to get there. This is why I would like to share with you a simple plan to experience this. First you need a flight to Mexico. Either to Mexico City or to Cancun. From Europe the flights are very cheap currently. For between 300 and 400 Euros. Then take another flight to Tuxtla. Could be around 40 euros. Then get a couple of nights in a hotel or a hostel. You can easily manage with 10 to 20 Euros per night. The tour itself including the transportation, the boat and the guide would cost around 15 euros. When your eyes are happy, satisfy your taste buds with delicious tacos for between 2 – 4 euros. I think such a trip combined with all the things you can experience in this great country is something for the bucket list.

***

After the tour I detached from the group and took a taxi to the airport to fly to Cancun. In Cancun, I spend some time having action with taxi drivers that tried to rip me off. I was pretty pissed off when I went to my very cheap hotel. The hotel was so basic that they didn’t even have a lift. The poor room service lady had to push the cleaning cart on a very long ramp between the floors. I was glad that I didn’t have to do this.
I went to bed early that night. The next day, Sunday, I will reunite with Marika who has discovered Merida on her own and will meet me tomorrow.

AdhaMexiCovid 05: Lovely People in San Cristóbal

Thursday 18.02.2021

I flew in the morning to Tuxtla Gutierrez with a layover in Mexico City. I didn’t visit Tuxtla but rather took a direct microbus to San Cristóbal de las Casas, an old city with colonial flair and cubblestone roads.
The one-hour drive there was curvy through beautiful mountains. Nature is gradually changing from hot desert to more green and forests. I was adviced to visit it by some friends due to its nice atmosphere. It reminds me of Risihkesh, India and slightly of Bali, Indonesia. It has the most number of tourists I saw so far. Besides, it is full of hippies, barefeet white guys and girls who have rasta hair, probably vegan and give you the impression that shower is not accessible. I have the feeling we have very little in common and often think it is a reaction to growing up in previleged societies. I rarely see this from people who were once forced into minimalism by poverty.

The town is colourful and like many places in Mexico abundant of beautiful corners. This is a nation that likes colours and making things look nice.

Looks like Cuba but it is Mexico I have never been to Cuba anyway

In the evening, I met Ivar, a local couchsurfer who took me for a walk around San Cristobal. Ivar was very interesting. He studies his Masters studying obesity in Indiginous communities and its relationship with gut flora. He hosts couchsurfers to be able to see the world untill he manges to travel outside of Mexico. Well, talking about our experiences in couchsurfing, we figure out that he hosted my friend Nenad. Nenad seems to be everywhere. We met first in Venice in 2010 and then he hosted me in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2014 and finally in Quito, Ecuador in 2019. He has been travelling the world for years and everywhere I go, i find his footprints somehow. You can read about our encounter in Jakarta here.

I have planned a visit to the Sumidero Canyon for tomorrow. It is supposed to be a marvel of nature and a must visit while in Chiapas.

****

Friday 19.02.2021

Eggs with mushrooms, toast and marmelade for breakfast. With eggs they always serve you some hot sauce. They also typically eat enchiladas for breakfast. I have no idea how they can tolerate such spicy sauces in the morning. I tasted with caution thinking about later consequences.

A morning walk at 8:00 am is always peaceful. It is dropping very small drops of rain making it in general a very pleasant atmosphere. I went back to the hotel to get to know that the Canyon tour was cancelled because of the weather. I didn’t have plan B. So Marika recommended I take a cooking class. Which I was lucky enough to find in the same day. I booked “cooking with Sofia” experience on Airbnb for the afternoon. Till then I went around the streets strolling and looking for inspiration.

Sofia welcomed me in her kitchen in her cafe/workshop place. Over two hours, she guided me in a culinary trip on preparing chicken tacos as well as her recipes for guacamole and smoked sauce. We cut the ingredients together and she gave me tips on how to choose different ingredients and how to chop or prepare them. Between the steps we exchanged some thoughts and conversations about our lives. She is a very energetic and kind person with passion for food and connecting with people. She also introduces me to pinolillo, a drink based on corn and cocoa. The evening was both enriching and entertaining.

Afterwards I went to meet Blanca and her boyfriend Marco. Blanca is a friend of my friend Aldo and he connected us today. She is a local who loved more than half of her life abroad and now working on a project building a house and hoping to sell it. She is doing it herself. Hiring workers, electricians etc. and telling the what to do. Well, she is originally a psychologist and has a PhD in history. While Marco her boyfriend is Italian who arrived here 9 years ago after other 10 years in London. He opened a coffee shop and also fixes coffee machines and gives Barista courses. We had a few drinks while we got to know each other. Lovely people with kind hearts. We discussed a lot about the pandemic and how each of us coped with it. I believe we have the conclusion that life somehow needs to go on.

Life is a journey where we breath, eat, move and do other things that make us human like love, connect and interact. I see no beauty in extending life per se without all the beautiful things that we can experience in it. What is the point of having a society eating, sleeping and breathing but having no pleasure, no movement and no experiences? A short full life is in my opinion superior to a long boring and depressing life.

AdhaMexiCovid 04: Tales from Oaxaca

Tuesday 17.02.2021.. time flies..
It is exactly 8:00 am and I am waiting in a parking lot for my carsharing ride. Joel was a bit late but he was nice. We both waited for the third passenger. Imagine this with me. A car with a couple came. The guy cmae first with the luggage while the girl stayed in the car. It seemed like masculine announcement of possession! Then he went back to the car to bring his lady, opened the door for her, she stepped off, and after a few steps walking together, he went on his knees to tie her shoes!! I am not sure if this is an act of gentlemanhood or if he simply didn’t want her to bend in public. I understand both motives, in a world where both being a gentleman /a proper lady are forgotten arts of living.

Four hours of driving in the desert among mountains, hills and valleys covered with dispersed cactus trees. Then we were in Oaxaca. The trip was paused here to watch the champions league games. I had both games playing simultaneously on two screens while I enjoyed a typical Oaxaqueño lunch. My afternoon was chilled afterwards. I met Chris from Couchsurfing. A half french, half finnish born in Sweden. He has been traveling Mexico for a year. We spend a few hours around the city eating mediocre cake, tasty street food and looking for some night-time action. We had no luck. Who parties on Tuesday?? Nobody in Oaxaca!

Wednesday 18.02.2021

Given the slow pandemic life, I decided to go with a guided tour, hoping to learn a thing or two, see a thing or two, and talk with person or two. It was evident from the beginning that I was the only non spanish-speaker. Our young guide was repeating everything in a bad English for me. I actually understood the same amount if he spoke English or Spanish. I told him to just go on in Spanish and I will be happy with whatever I get.
Our first stop was Monte Albany. A historical site with ruins dating around 300 BC. The ruins are not really magnificent in themselves. For me the stories around them are more interesting. I drifted with my imagination to how the normal life was in these times. Not hero’s or history makers. Just he regular hi!and like you and me who love, hate, fear and hope.

“Dear Rosa

I am sad I had to leave you in the small pyramid after our last kiss on the monkey day. I am even sadder that this might be our last kiss in case I win the flaming ball game tomorrow. As you know, it is a decisive game. If we win, we will be honored and sacrificed to the gods by our tribe. We will then be Immortal in the next life. If we lose, we will be enslaved by the opponents. It would be a shame. My heart, eternally loving you, is now ready to be placed on the sacred golden plate.
In either case, in glory or in chains, I love you till my last breath.

Yours, always,
Antonio”

***

The day included visits to a pottery workshops, a carpet workshop and a fabrique for Mezcal, a typical alcoholic beverage. I have been to similar workshops in many countries so my day in this aspect was not remarkable. Here and there I socialized with the group.specizlly a Columbian couple who lived in Austria and speaks German and a Chilean couple who happened to be doctors as well. For lunch we stopped at a local buffet for typical food. Giovanni told me he also does not eat pork because he gets an allergic reaction from it. We both ordered the same beef soup. It was delicious but I doubted that the pieces of fat swimming there might be pork fat. I just finished my soup and didn’t give the matter much attention. When we left the restaurant, Giovanni reacted allergically with red spots on his skin! My doubts were confirmed.

We also so a hug tree that is around 40m wide and also a similar height. Estimated to be 2000 years old, It is not the biggest, neither the oldest in the world. Still magnificent.

I concluded the day with a fine dinner in Zandunga restaurant. The consistency of the chicken was unmatchable in my experience. I felt peaceful and content. Tomorrow I fly to Chiapas!

AdhaMexiCovid 03: Ugly Angels, a Big Pyramid and a Volcano

I jetlaggedly woke up around 6am, did some morning routine and then went for a walk in Puebla hoping to get some breakfast. Well, I didn’t. Everything was closed till almost 9am. Today is also a COVID solidarity day by the government where shops had to close by law. I honestly didn’t understand this but didn’t care enough to research it either.

Puebla is said to be built in one of the oldest inhabited regions in the Americas. But it is built by the colonial Spanish. The history is intriguing, complicated and full of legends. It is also called the city of Angels. The cathedral is one of the biggest in Mexico.I walked the grid-shaped empty streets. They buildings in the historical center are one or two stories and are colourful with many beautiful architectural touches. I took some bad photos.

The market is always a colorful and interesting place to be. You see the locals dealing, negotiating and buying things that I didn’t know how they will cook. But it is a buzzing environment. I stopped at how they presented the fresh whole chicken with their heads dangling over the counter!!

My first though was that I am happy I am not a chicken. Then I remembered the German song that says “I wish I were a chicken 🐔”. It says: I wish I were a chicken and didn’t have much to do. I would put an egg everyday and two eggs on Sunday, hehehehe.

I wish I were a chicken

Next to Cholula, an adjacent town with an interesting history. It is also where my friend Aldo studied. Similar grid shaped historical center that connects the many churches. This town had so many pyramids among them the great pyramid of Cholula. It is said to be the biggest pyramid by volume in the world. As an Egyptian, I didn’t take this information wekcomingly and I became skeptical without any knowledge or truth-seeking attitude.

The Spanish came, they saw the pyramids and decided to build churches on top of each of them. To do that they enslaved the locals and killed them after they were done. This is why the locals took a looong time to finish the churches and revenged by making ugly angel statues. Well this all is a legend and probably most of it is not true. But this is just a fun blog not a history book, hehe.

As you can see, this is permanently borrowed from alamy.com

It was said that there are 356 churches and the city has as many saints that are celebrated everyday. But this is not really true. They are less than 50. Most of them are now closed because of the pandemic. The streets are empty. I walked a bit then went to have a local Mole Poblano in Frida Kahlo Restaurant. The waitress met me at the door and told me “well, officially we are closed today by law, but I could have you in a hidden table from the backdoor”. I liked the evil illegality and went for it. She even did this evil hand gestures of opposing finger tips like a wave!

The mole Poblano was a nice piece of chicken covered with chocolatey sauce with sesame. It was delicious combined with a refreshing fresh maracuja-Mango juice.

With a full stomach I strolled a bit around Cholula and then went to see the nearby Volcano 🌋 visible from the city. The Popocatépetl. I took a bad photo of it, I leave you both mine and the internet photo as a reminder that real life is not perfect, hehe.

I went back back to Puebla for the night. Tomorrow I go Oaxaca.

AdhaMexiCovid 02: Love and Tacos

The moment I stepped out of the hotel, a reflex smile transformed my face.
Pure blue sky with a gentle warming winter sun. I started walking towards the historical center without a particular aim. The streets here are clean but sometimes broken or irregular. I found this imperfection somehow pleasant. Two thoughts came to my mind. The first was what Marika once said in the streets of Milan; “when there is less order in the street, I feel comfortable when everything is perfect I feel pressure to be perfect as well”. I also remember the code that I have read in my teenage; “chaos breeds life..order creates habit”.
When you live long enough in countries with impeccable order like Germany and Switzerland, you forget how the situation in the rest of the world is. But this perfection somehow becomes the norm and you only notice what goes wrong. If the world around you is full of broken and irregular, you become more tolerant.

It is a calm Sunday morning, the street are quite but studded with street-food stalls. I didn’t trust my immune system yet. I need a couple of days before I completely dive in.
Many cafes are serving breakfast for tables on the streets. No inside seating due to Corona. Although I have already had breakfast in the hotel, I needed to re-live some sense of normality! I went for a second breakfast with a small came, a cappuccino and some fun rays. At that moment, I needed nothing else!

I spend the day walking around Mexico City. Moving between plazas and different neighborhoods. I enjoyed particularly the architecture in the historical center. The city is also very clean, even in small poor neighborhoods.
My wake was quiet eventful, a group of young girls practicing dancing on the street. Homeless people occupied some main street and filled it with tents, a police raid with motorbikes on street vendors while those just disappeared intwo seconds beforehand..based on an alarming whistle from an informing watchman. This reminded me of Egypt where you are guaranteed to witness some action if you hang out in the street long enough. Chaos breeds life again.

They agreed to dance for you guys!

It is Valentine’s day. Here it is not just loves day but also friendship day “dia del amor y la amistad”. The streets were full of lovers holding hands and sometimes matching T-shirts. Families went to the streets with children and everyone is eating tacos! I ate a couple of meals and hoped that pork was not part of my meals. Not sure since my Spanish is barely enough for survival.

The COVID measurs are strict he and people are conformant. Everyone is wearing a mask even in the fresh air in the street. I only saw a couple of people without a mask. When entering restaurant, they put disinfectant gel in your hand. This gel smells disgusting mostly. One restaurants with spraying people even. Like spraying their clothes. One guy even turned around and they sprayed his ass which left me perplexed.

They also measure your temperature with this thermometer gun.i came to know that my average body temperature was 36! One guy measured me, when I asked how much, he said 33! Fair enough. It reminded me of the guy at the door of the COVID test center in Zurich who asked me if I was in contact with risk groups like kindergartens or nursery homes.I said “worse, I am a doctor and work with COVID patients” this left him somehow confuse and my answer had no consequences! Many of us just follow clear orders literally!

I decided to leave Mexico City for the moment and discover the rest later with Marika. I took the evening bus then to Puebla which seems to be an exciting destination with interesting stories.

AdhaMexiCovid 01: Resumption

I woke up tired after a long shift yesterday.. quickly packed my tiny backpack and headed to get an antigen COVID test before my flight.
Despite all the lockdowns, the restrictions and the blanket of sadness that has descended upon us, I have decided to travel again. It is dangerous indeed. It might be slightly irresponsible. But what is life without living? I guess this last sentence summarizes many of my opinions, also my advices to my patients.
I write these words on my first leg flight to Mexico. A new adventure I am very much looking forward to. I promised myself to indulge it into pleasures of the taste without counting calories.. I would like to re-establish my forgotten relationship with the sun.. and I hope to be enriched by meaningful encounters with special people.
For this trip, I have very few plans for two weeks. The first week I will be on my own discovering what life throws in my direction. The second week I will be joined by my beautiful and special lady Marika. Having received some insider travel tips from my good friend Aldo, I am excited.

Having fullfilled the requirements of the transit in Amsterdam ( 2 negative COVID Tests; one PCR within the last 72 hours and one negative antigen test within the last 4 hours), It is comforting to know that all co-passengers are probably COVID-free. It is impressive how we adapted to this new shitty situation to the degree that we forgot how normal life looked like. I bet you are like me feeling strange when you see a movie and two people come too close face to face, or shake hands. Anyway, I am going to get a taste of another aspect of life in the pandemic, traveling.

Long flights are boring. I would always prefer many connections rather than one long flight, even though it imposes a higher risk of missing a connection. At least I would move more and have more input.
I landed in Mexico City Airport. Crossing the immigration control was smooth and friendly and ended with “welcome in Mexico” from the officer. Me being a holder of an Egyptian passport, it’s not trivial to move between countries.
The airport and the metro stations were very clean. I don’t know why this is surprising.. I guess in this trip as well I would be confronting my prejudices.
The two metro stations that I saw were interesting. One was almost an exhibition about space, physics, history of the humanity and origin of the universe. They even had multiple diagram explaining the LHC and Higgs boson. The other station had a lot of art paintings and photography of graffitis. The people in the metro seemed to be regular tired citizens. Looking at their hands you could see they had manual jobs. In Arabic we say “Time has eaten and drank on him” or some like this. Which means he has undergone many time- and weather induced transformations, increasing entropy

So that the regular guy understands physics

I went directly to the hotel hoping for a moderate jetlag and not having to try pills. Tomorrow I will think about a plan for tomorrow. Good night for me, morning for most of you.