Just an Average SKIRT

We arrived safely into Delhi.  As we approached the city, we all gazed out the window at the bright lights.   The bright lights that seemed to span for hundreds of miles.  This city is huge, I believe the population is 14 million and the buzz on the plane is that it’s the most polluted city in the world.  Yikes, what about that big breath of India air I swore I’d take…oh well, have to be true to my word.

The landing was smooth, man that was a big plane to get up and down - after 14 hours in the air I kind of forgot that I was on a plane and that it had to land.  I guess it’s like when pregnant women come to the realization that the baby they’ve been carrying for months actually needs to exit.  Ok not exactly like that, but in my world it’s as close as I can get to explaining the landing of this beast.

As soon as I stepped off the plane I could see, taste, feel and smell the air.  Polluted, yes.  Hot, yes.  Humid, oh yeah!  The airport was quiet for the most part but it didn’t take long to notice the ‘all business’ soldiers and their ‘all business’ machine guns pointing right at us.  We headed through a health screening area which was a bit eery.  It was in the basement and everyone except for us were wearing masks.  One by one the new arrivals were scanned by an infrared beam which displayed their bodies on a big screen labeling temperatures throughout.   This part of entry was far more difficult and serious than Customs.  At Customs, the guy didn’t even look at me, he just took my passport and stamped it.  I guess they don’t care who comes in just as long as you don’t have the flu.

Off to baggage claim then to exchange some US dollars into Rupees.  All seemed pretty quiet, what was all the talk of crowds and pushy people I had heard about?  So far so good….

Then we turned to exit the airport, more armed soldiers, more machine guns and hundreds of people lining the walk way.  It felt a bit like a red carpet walk.  It was hot and grew very claustrophobic, very quickly.  Get your buddy and stick with the group.

All of a sudden we were blasted with people, noises and air that didn’t seem right to be breathing.  But alas, I took that deep breath and reset my body to a new atmosphere, a new life that I would be living for the next 2 weeks.  Then I coughed madly for a few minutes, most polluted city?  Confirmed.

Off to the prepaid taxi which would take us to Hotel Clarke Green for the night.  Not sure what the hell we were doing at this point, all of a sudden some guy walks up with a sign reading sort of like a name that may have resembled someone in our group.  Ok that’s us, let’s go.

One leader, 10 Americans and a bunch of guys trying to grab out suitcases.  We were led through a tunnel where we literally tripped over a beggar man and his very unhealthy son holding his hand out in desperation.  Where the hell were we?  ‘Hands off dude, I will carry my own suitcase’.  While others in the group chased their luggage, I was white knuckled and not letting go.  This was my first experience on the trip of trust.

Trust that this tunnel and the 5 or so men leading us through would end up in a parking lot of cabs.  Trust that we would not be robbed.  Trust that once we were in the cars the hotel was in fact where we were being taken.  At this point, I’m remembering Elish at Passport Health telling me to register our cab with the police so that we’d have a better chance of getting to our destination without being robbed.  Oh well….definitely didn’t do that.  Trust, a good lesson in trust.  I was peaceful knowing the the universe would get us to where we needed to be and simply enjoyed this little adventure.  It was experience, I decided to start soaking it up, there were many more to come.

Yes, the tunnel ended.  Now we found ourselves on a dark road on the side of the airport with groups of men everywhere.  Ok, head down, forge ahead, smiles everyone we’re in India.

Ahhhhh, the big parking lot with the cabs.  We headed off into the craziness that is Delhi traffic and after an extremely fun cab ride we arrived at Hotel Clarke Green.  Not too shabby of a hotel.  King Fisher beers, spinach paneer, dal, naan and a cold shower helped me settle into the night.  I am so excited to be here, I am so excited for what is to come.  I am so excited to be unplugged from my life and 9,000 miles away from the security of my home.   Out of my comfort zone?  Sure but this is the start to a once in a lifetime experience and I am completely on board with whatever is going to come my way.  With that said, I did need to remember there were loved ones at home waiting for confirmation of my safe arrival…time to get on the computer and report back to Boulder.

Tomorrow we’re flying to Dharamsala.  Will we see the Himalayan Mts. from the plane?  Will we crash into the side of one?  What will Dharamsala look like?  For months I’ve talked about this trip from a very superficial, unknown place….now, I’m starting to live it and I’m pretty freaking psyched!

This entry was posted on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 7:42 am and is filed under Triathlon. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.