This is at an awesome restaurant in Charlestown, called Tangerine. Morroccan food, belly dancing, hookah bar all under one roof. We had one complete section of the restaurant to ourselves. This was on my birthday, Feb 5 th, 2005.
Posted by Picasa

My last working day at TI. Worked here for 4 years &10 months. If I had stayed another two months, I would have received a gift for completing 5 years! Well, I guess I'll have to live with that thought for the rest of my life. Unless I go back to TI, and then work for five more years....
Anyhow, while we could'nt take the whole office out for lunch, quite a few joined us. My good friend Stephan is the second guy from the right of the pic. The guy standing to his right paid the bill. And we ate at.........the Elephant Walk.(previously called Carambola)


Posted by Picasa

Taken at a Diwali party at the Awasthi's. (that's a friends house ,was also used as a Desi party hub in the Boston area.
Posted by Picasa

How is my Espanol?

Quite pathetic. Am easily forgetting whatever little I picked up on my last trip to Bogota. I dont have any spanish speaking friends to practice my spanish with in Boston( Tu Hablar Espanol, no puedo espanol, jo hablo poquito espanol..stop it!!), and the little time I get to talk with Luisa, we dont get to practise my spanish atall....So, for now i am still stuck with all these phrases that I memorized on my last two trips to Bogota
Muy Lindo....Jo Queiro hablo con luisa, por favor. Muchas gracias, Senorita. muchas frio...como estas...jo estava esperando tu llamanda....grrr....yeah- growling is allowed in spanish too.

Ok , enough. The one thing I am happy about with Luisa being in Bogota( I hope she never gets to this page) is that I can get real cheap calling cards to Colombia. Rates to Bogota are as low as 0.03 cents/min. And.....Colombia is only one hr behind the US. That is sweet. I instantly empathize with all my Indian friends who have had to nurture LD relationships with their loved ones in India. You come back from a long day at work, and you cannot reallly call India, as it is probably real early out there.
But, I'll empathize only for a minute though..It sucks having your lady love in a diffirent continent, no matter what the diffirence in time zones.
Back to my fav country, Colombia. There is so much negative press given to this country, I think i am going to start a series titled " All things good about Colombia". ( I am up for any suggestions from any one out there who gets to my blog).

Who would have thought, Indian Motorbikes used as a means of transport in exotic islands off the caribbean sea! The man (or woman) behind this idea deserves a Cigar! ...and a fine 18 yr old scotch to go along with that! Muy Bein!!


Posted by Picasa

Some of you may think, what's with this guy filling his blog with all his own pics? Well, its hard to avoid a little bit of self indulgence when you have nothing more to write about...OK, I do have a lot to write about. Check back after a yr.
Posted by Picasa

Collage of the Yamaha V Star
Posted by Picasa

Yamaha V-Star Classic 650 cc.
Posted by Picasa

Stephan's 32 footer Luhre fishing boats. Popular in the Boston harbor for summer parties. Nice
Posted by Picasa

At the shooting range in Las Vegas, where bullet ridden pictures of Hussein & Osama are very common. I found a pair of pics that I could practice my shooting with.

Posted by Picasa

This is'nt as easy as it looks!
Posted by Picasa

Plaza De Bolivar is a large square in the middle (I'm not sure of the exact orientation)of La Candellaria. There is a statue of Bolivar ( you can see it if you open up the image, and then squint real hard) to honor him. He was one of the leaders instrumental in driving the Spaniards out of the region. This region ( currently Venezuela, Panama, Ecuador & Colombia) was called Gran Colombia. Bogota was the cultural capital of Bogota. All these events took place sometime in 15xx dC. That would be 1500 AD in English speak. For whatever reason ( I am still interested in learning how that could have happened)when the countries of Gran Colombia were finally formed ( in 18xx dC), somehow Colombia inherited all of the problems, whereas the other countries were practically unscathed, leading to current day situation of the other countries as a tourist mecca, and Colombia classified as a high risk region by the US Dept of State! Or atleast that is my impression. If there is a more logical reason to this, I would like to hear about it.

La Candellaria - Old Colonial Bogota, with several churches and buildings more than 300 yrs old!
There is one building converted into a hotel around one of the streets. This section of Bogota is really charming, with cobble stoned alleys, romantic horse carriage rides, museums and churches dating back to the 16 th century!
The military museum has a great collection of all kinds of firearms, guns, knives. Also on display are stories and images of soldiers from the Colombian army that fought the Koreans as part of the UN force.

All things good about Colombia.

This is definitely a hidden gem!
San- Andres, 480 miles northwest of mainland Colombia. The link above will give you good details about the place, but if you are looking for a testimonial, you have come to the right place!!
This island is BEAUTIFUL. I had the most memorable time at this place.
One thing that you realize real soon is that this is no American tourist mecca. Infact, in the five days that I was in San Andres, there was not a single american tourist. There were people from Panama, Salvador, Ecuador, and Colombia(offcourse), but not a soul from America. Not that I missed it. I mean, I could have gone to any of the other touristy spots in the caribbean, and then talk about it, just like ppl fondly talk about their trip to the Caribbean. No, I was destined to go to San Andres (to which my American friends would say" whaaaat??)
I was probably the only non spanish speaking tourist in the whole island. I think i spotted some europeans, but their spanish was what I would call "Level 3".
And...I am pretty sure that I was the ONLY desi tourist in the WHOLE island. Infact, this was confirmed by one of the locals who said he had seen ONE desi months ago, but had not heard of any other. Needless to stay, I got a lot of stares, both from the guys, and the ladies as well.
We got a great deal from Bogota, at ~750USD. This included RT tickets for two from Bogota to San Andres on Avianca, 4 nts/5 days stay at a popular chain( called DeCameroon), free food, and UNLIMITED drinks for the entire stay. HOW COOL IS THAT!!
You cannot fly to San Andres from anywhere in the US! There are some private chartered planes operating out of some of the Central American countries, and I think a major Ecuadorian Airline flies out there as well( we spotted a lot of Ecuadorians), but that's it.
If you are in the US, your best bet is to either find out about a chartered flight out of Central America, or fly out of a major city from Colombia ( Bogota, Medellin, Cali I know operate flights to Bogota). That is reason enough for about 99% of americans NEVER to see this place.
Anyhow, rambling on...we made no plans about places to visit while in San Andres. However, Luisa had already been here a couple of times, so I had the best tourist guide in the world beside me.


At the end of my visit, I only had one thought racing through my mind. I HAVE TO COME BACK!!

Luisa, who lives and works in Bogota.

We took this pic while waiting on our table at the Legal Sea food in Boston. That is her fav sea food place, and we went there to celebrate her birthday.

BLOGATUL