Thriving in Ecuador (dated July 15th, 2014)

~Peace out in the Amazon~

So Peeps and I are in the middle of nowhere. While I write, Peepu is sleeping by my side. A short flight and a few canoe rides this morning, we reached a jungle lodge in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Our room is beautiful, the jungle sounds refreshing, and slowly, most stresses are waning. For me, this is an opportunity to disconnect. Frankly, I don’t have a choice as this place has no internet. After much protest, I've come to terms with it, and have decided that I’ll spend the next few days 

• Continuing to dance with nature- swim in the amazon, walk through the rainforest, potentially limit alcohol
• Relax and meditate
• Write about all the thoughts and ideas bubbling in my mind 

While I will soon move on to another thought, its worth pausing and reflecting over the last few days. Peeps and I are in Ecuador. We planned this break fairly quickly, and it has so far turned out to be more exotic than we had thought. I fear about going on without once thanking the powers that be, for making this possible for Peeps and I. For sure, we work hard. But we’re definitely fortunate that our hard work yields and allows us to be passionate. Passion is not an option for everyone and I hope that some day I’ll be able to use my experiences, knowledge and passion to give back and enable some others to achieve at least a part of their dreams..

We started the journey a few days back, when we flew from SFO to Houston. A stop over, made longer by a nasty storm, delayed our flight to Quito. We landed in Quito at 200 am, where after the immigration facilities and dubious looking officials, we made our way to our home for the next 3 hours- Quito Airport Inn. Quito is at 2,800 meters above sea level, again something we learnt only after stepping out of the airport with no jacket or wrap to cover ourselves.

The inn was about 10 minutes away, and cost $5. The proximity didn’t mean much until a few days later when we really saw how far Quito is from Mariscal Sucre International Airport. Quito Airport Inn cost us $49 a night- probably a good call given how little time we spent there. When we reached the place, all we saw was 2 dirty dogs, a very friendly young girl to welcome us in the early morning hours and a few stripped down rooms, which had little other than a bed sheet and cover. It did have good wifi, and after catching up on email, our very long day ended. 4 hours later, we were back at the airport, negotiating with LAN Ecuador on why they shouldn’t bump us off our flight to the Galapagos- our first major stop. Some fuss later, LAN convinced Avianca to put us on their flight and we were off to the otherworld! Between spurts of awake time on the flight, we had a chance to stare in awe at the Cotopaxi and the Chimborazo- the two highest volcanoes/peaks in Ecuador. The Andes were stunning and left me with a sense of regret that I will not have the chance to trek through these possibly in this lifetime. Soon, the terrain changed from the volcanic Andes, to flat lands. Our plane stopped at the humid city of Guayaquil, before flying us over the Pacific towards the otherworldy Galapagos Islands.

~Thriving~

Now the Galapagos are behind us, and we’re hundreds of miles East, in the Lower Napo river, close to the mouth of the Amazon.

We started our day with a beautiful walk in the forest, all the way to a series of metal observation towers, which elevated us above the canopy, setting the stage for some phenomenal views of the forest and bird life within.

Its noon now. There’s something to be said about starting the day at 5:30 am. I’ve always been a fan of rising early. Over time, it’s started coming naturally to me. On a typical weekday, I wake up by 6, and on weekends, no later than 800 am. Of course, to make this work, I need to be somewat disciplined about a few things:

-          I make sure to turn in by 10 or 11 pm, so I can clock no less than 7 hours of sleep.

-          Keeping my evening meals light has helped me manage well with 7 hours of sleep, something that used to be very difficult earlier.

-          I also drink much less now. This is something around 2-3 glasses of wine a week, which is possibly too low but keeps me happy yet energetic

-          I’ve cut down smoking to barely 2-3 cigarettes a week, but I’m hoping to bring this down further, possibly cold turkey.

This change has benefitted me in several ways. For one, I have a significantly more efficient work day. I get the time to prepare or pick up a healthy breakfast, and I’m not always rushing. I also manage stress better as the morning hours help me catch up on work better than later, especially when all the world starts booting up. The regular sleep clock has led to better skin for me over time, which has been for long, a pretty painful affair for me. I can’t say that all my skin problems are gone, and some of them will probably never go away. Finally, more often than not, the efficiency releases time to work out. I have to better about it though, and make this a more regular part of my life. I manage 2-3 times a week but would like to take this up to 4, or in a good week, 5 times a week. 5 would be ambitious and tough to sustain, and 4 days, including 2 on the weekend and 2 during the week feels more reasonable.

While I’ve been writing in, I slept off for a bit. During this time, it started to rain. While  I thought disconnecting would be tough, its actually been wonderful. In our wood room, we can look outside to see a sea of trees. From time to time, a monkey would be jumping from tree to tree. The sound of the forest is anything but soft. From screaming birds, to croaking frogs, this is a beautiful break so far. Soon, we’ll head for lunch. After tasting the dinner last night, I’m really looking forward to seeing the fare this afternoon.

~ As close to skinny dipping as I will get~

Last night, we went out in to the forest again. The night walk, as they call it was scary as hell. It was pitch dark, and from time to time, we came across giant tarantulas, snails as big as my head and many other creepy crawlies.

Today was short, but helped me tune out even more. We started the day with a long boat ride down the river and back. The food at Sacha Lodge continued to satisfy my soul. In the afternoon, we had the option of venturing out again but I held back. I let Peeps go and stayed back in the lodge to connect with the forest alone.

I also went by the water, and considered dipping in. The staff had informed us that its safe, but it was daunting nevertheless. While I read my book and debated whether to dive in or not, I realized it would soon be dark, and hence unsafe given the Caymans start owning the water after sundown. Knowing I might never have this option again, I dove right in.  That was the feeling I had been looking for- being in the water, surrounded by the expansive and mesmerizing rainforest around me, I felt fantastic about life!

Later at night, we went on a ride in the canoe, while it was pitch dark. The only sounds we could hear were those of the forest, rustling leaves, night calls by the insects and forest life. And then, we saw a Cayman- 3 meters long! She darted away from us in a few seconds, leaving us gasping in amazement.

This has been life changing.

~Return to reality~

We got back from Quito early this morning. We had planned to take Monday off given it’s a long flight. Lucky for us we were upgraded.

The end of a holiday never brings back a lot of excitement. This one was special. It started out as a rushed, unplanned trip, but it took us to some otherworldy locations, forced us to disconnect thanks to limited wifi and immerse ourselves deeply in to nature (and each other).

Work starts tomorrow, and threatens to bring the expected stress with it. I tried plugging in earlier today but Peeps discouraged me, as he (rightly) pointed out that work will occupy as much we let it. I listened and don’t regret it. We caught up on the first episode of the new season of Masters of Sex. By 5:30, we were unpacked and settled in. I've been feeling this beautiful sense of calm since we visited the Amazon. I don’t doubt that this may well be a temporary effect, but I would love for it to stay with me longer. In that spirit, I went for a 75 minutes Yoga class. Our instructor today was GREAT. He started slow, and didn't make us go crazy with the calisthenics right away. His approach was to focus on form and enabling mindfulness rather than a power workout. Surprisingly, for most of the 75 minutes, I sweat profusely, and I wasn't alone. Throughout the session though, I kept taking my mind back to the late night canoe ride, amidst massive stretches of rain-forest, and the most calming expanse of silence. The only sound we heard was that of the paddle gently swishing through the water. Earlier that day, when it was brighter, I did get a few shots. The beauty and calm a few hours later, was magnified.

There was salmon in the freezer, which I let thaw and made dinner out of. It’s the simplest meal, which takes about 20 minutes to make. I left the salmon fillets in a baking dish, and added a mixture of garlic, parsley and herb-infused olive oil on it. I let it bake for 15 minutes after which I broiled it for about 10 minutes to make it crispy. For Peeps, I added two slices of bread, and for myself, only some Sriracha.

Tahoe, Mt Tallac and light tomato soup

We’re back in Mountain View after an intense and outdoorsy weekend spent at Tahoe. It was the summer solstice this weekend, and we couldn’t found a better way to spend it.

We left later on Friday than we would have liked, and got to Tahoe quite late. It was the first time we rented a private room through Airbnb. Though we reached quite late on Friday, it turned out to be gorgeous. The couple was nice, relatively less chatty (which is a very good thing) and quite patient given we reached at 10 pm, 3 hours later than we had planned to. Their house was stunning, especially once we woke up, to this view:

While we had no major plan for Saturday, we considered hiking partially or even all the way to Mt. Tallac, a mountain peak that is 9,736 feet high, and known to be a ~10-11 miles round trip. However, we were quite unprepared and didn't even have a decent backpack, since we ripped off my trusty VIP of 11 years. While we could make do with my gym bag, we were short of water too, so decided we would probably hike up only till the Floating Island Lake, ~1.5 miles away and turn back. As we hiked, we got some beautiful views of the Fallen Leaf Lake as well as Lake Tahoe. We reached the Floating island lake, but weren't terribly impressed. As we sat by the lake, we got the energy to continue on and decided to go all the way to the top. A couple of hikers on their way back, played their part by encouraging us. We soon reached the Cathedral Lake, another mile away, and definitely prettier than the lake we saw a few minutes back. I washed my face with the cool water, while Peeps sat on the rocks, and we pumped some energy in to ourselves to continue on.

Little did we know what lay ahead. As we hiked beyond the Cathedral Lake, we entered a very dry mile-long stretch, which required us to ascend ~400 meters. Having done some pretty intense hikes, I can safely say this was treacherous.  What was really concerning was the absence of enough water, and the knowledge that we were gaining altitude and entering a desert. We were fortunate to meet a gentleman who was on his way down and offered us a bottle of water. That eased some of the difficulty but we were still rationing water amongst us both, as we have learned from our Kilimanjaro experience how precious water is at high altitudes. Of course we did make it up this very difficult stretch, only to find we had another 2 miles to go. Every moment we saw something that looked like the summit was followed by a view of another point even higher, and even farther. By now, I treaded ahead of Peeps. We were gaining altitude, which slows Peeps down a bit. Plus, he was carrying the nasty single strap duffle bag that had 3 bottles half filled with water. He isn’t one to give up though. In about 90 minutes, from when we left Cathedral lake, we were at the summit.Totally.worth.it. We pranced around the sharp rocks soaking in the panoramic views of the lakes and the snow-capped mountains around us.

The descent was a monster. The brutal slopes crushed our toes but we kept going. We were both quite proud of having gone up this distance, which is definitely not something for the faint of heart.  We decided to make a first stop only once we came down all the way to the Cathedral lake. We didn’t stop for long. We took a couple of nice pics, and then continued down. Another 90 minutes and we were at our car. While the internet says it’s a 10 mile loop, my vivofit tracked ~13 miles in all. It sure felt like it. By now we were aching all over, chiding ourselves for taking on such a tough hike but at the same time feeling very very proud of having stretched ourselves yet again, physically and mentally. That’s the thing about hikes. They’re therapy. To me, the outdoors are a religion. It helps me connect with my body like nothing else does.  Some of our best times spent together have been spent on long, grueling hikes, some times under the scorching sun and at other under ice cold, star light nights. We followed our hike immediately with a cold beer, followed by a light Thai meal and then wine as we went to bed later at night.

This morning, before we headed back, we drove towards Emerald Bay, to reward ourselves with some incredible views.

After four hours of driving back, we’re finally back home. I thought it might be nice to wrap up a fit and fun weekend, with some light tomato soup. We picked up some ripe tomatoes on our way here, and after settling back in, I got to work. In keeping with my general philosophy of cooking, it wasn’t a ton of work.  I boiled the tomatoes, with some basil, onions and celery, in chicken broth and blended it all together. The quantity I made from 2 pounds of tomatoes is sufficient to last at least a couple of more nights. So, I put most of it aside for refrigeration and heated up 2 bowls for dinner. Once the blend was piping hot, I topped it with some ground black pepper, fresh basil and shredded cheese. It turned out to be quite thick, exactly to my taste. The husband likes his soup thinner though, but played ball and ate it up.

A good weekend this was!

The journal of intention and change

The title is borrowed from a journal I came across at Books Inc, a few minutes back. I was tempted to buy it, but I abstained as I'm also trying to keep myself from hoarding. I realized I had my computer with me, so why not write here.

Its 3:50 pm. I'm at Peet's at Town and Country Village, Palo Alto. Its a great day, has to be, since I'm out at coffee in the middle of the day in the middle of the week. I'm waiting for my class to start, and still have 40 minutes to go.

I'm struggling a bit with my food habits these days. What started so well last year, isn't looking very good. I'm hugely motivated but weak in following through. But I'm pretty good at focusing on what's right vs not. For now:

- the fact that i've kept my workouts up to 3x a week. Its not 5 x but its better than 0x
- I'm drinking a lot more water than I usually do. Easily 1-2 bottles a day.
- I'm not eating cheese as often, and have pretty much cut sugar out of my life
- I'm pretty motivated


What's not good is that I'm still not feeling good about what I eat, and that I'm still smoking a cigarette a day. I'm not great at following some basic rules I set, and that tends to have a downward effect too. May be I have too many rules. So I'm going to bring this down to 3 rules, which I'll try from now until the weekend after next:

- Continue to keep sugar and cheese out
- Exercise 4x a week (2 days during the week)
- Limit bread after 200 pm

There! That's pretty limited and doable. Lets see.

Lets tackle cigarettes once we make some small baby steps.

Its windy and slightly chilly, but tremendously beautiful. I have a good week behind me. I feel pretty good. The bay area is an amazing place, where Peeps and I are making some amazing changes to our lives. Some times, it feels like that's all that matters. Making it count.

Love.

Some salt, sugar?

The more I browse the net, the more I'm convinced that blogging about this is a good thing.

One week in.

All this happened:

• Elections in India, and sadly, my vote was wasted.
• Peeps and I celebrated our anniversary. Its been 3 years since the day we got married. I was a bit of a killjoy and didn't really add any cheer to the day. Expectations, expectations! Poor Peeps tried his best. Any way, I made up for it in the following days
• I got a new car. My old car was recalled and since I'm in an 11 month lease, I could easily get a replacement. They even upgraded me :) I now have bluetooth and easier cellphone access in my new car, which I realize is table stakes these days, but good enough for me !

So, the week was rough, and as expected, I couldn't really fit half a workout in. I did get back this Saturday. Peeps and I went over to the gym and trained our behinds. I've moved over to 10 pound weights, which is big upgrade over the last few years.

I'm also excited to start a new experiment. I'm going to try to cut sugar out of my life, as much as I can. One week at a time. I don't really have a sweet tooth, but I'm aware that sugar finds a way in to my life through  sources such as the occasional bread, smoothies, chips, salad dressings. This week, I'm going to actively avoid these sources of sugar. I've read some interesting accounts of how some women greatly benefited from cutting sugar out, through not just weight loss, but also more energy, better mood and better skin. Of course, finding a breakfast option is now very difficult, as I used to default to smoothies from Panera or Jamba or just the cafe at my client's office. I don't really think I can cook at home, during the week, and its one of those things that I refuse to even try to do given how busy the work week gets.

Any way, excited to see how this works out (and if i can do this even for a week).

I also have a bit of travel lined up this week. To Los Angeles this evening, back to Mountain View on Tuesday and then to NYC on Thursday (for fun only:))

All right!

Why this new space? Why not :)

The idea is to document the journey, and the hours and days that make this journey, from major events to smaller projects.

We're in the States. We've been here for a little of 6 months. I love California. It was always going to be a good choice, so no surprises here. The right mix of great weather, vast and beautiful outdoors, tons of energy, and a lot of quality time for the two of us. We miss our families though. The West Coast is the best coast, but its also the farth-est coast!

One of my projects here has been to transform my body. Since we started the move, I've been on a relentless drive to become fitter, stronger and healthier. Being able to do things that I couldn't, when I was younger, gives me tremendous confidence, and is increasingly defining me in my thirties. It started with last June, when at the end of a monstrous project for a global junk food major, I not only gained some 4-5 kilos, but I also became lazy, and depressed. I've, over the years, been more fit than average, and generally quite outdoorsy. I hit a low point last year, and this was just 2 months before our move to the States was to happen. I was lucky that I didn't staffed on something very demanding after that, and I decided that we both sign up to climb the Kilimanjaro :o. Extreme measures. With a little bit of preparation- not a lot- we did it last August! It made us both proud, tired, and extremely strong.

And then soon after, we found our way at the other end of the world, in beautiful California.

Continuing this effort on, I've tried a number of new things here. the occasional 10 mile hike, regular yoga, short runs, and more recently, the Bar Method. I am definitely fitter and healthier than before, though I wouldn't mind losing a few kilos either (which has NOT happened yet).

Along with this, whenever I get time off my extremely demanding work, I enjoy cooking delightful, wholesome meals for us. Our professions make us behave the contrary- we end up eating out at work just so much, that our weekends are extraordinarily low key in the food zone.

That's the introduction. Just having this space is a nice motivation!