Nando & Washington D.C.

As many of you know, I'm reading Finding Your Own North Star by Martha Beck. I'm almost done with the book and I've been applying the principles of the book in my daily process. I'm a big fan of change and to me, internal change is the best kind. I have often thought of myself as a person who rides the wave of change like a blond surfer with great legs; but lately, the whispers of my "everybody" have been louder and I'm receiving confirmation that I am becoming a rigid, cold, and stubborn Mexican whose ideals are no longer those of good energy, love and hope. So I have been forced to look deep inside and take inventory. With this in mind, I agreed a spontaneous week-end getaway with my friend Nate this past Saturday and took a Chinatown bus
to Washington D.C.

Although we were asked to be at the bus station by 9:30 pm, which turned out to be a Dunkin' Donuts on Allen Street in Chinatown, we arrived early to be thrown in the middle of a confusing situation. Many riders were looking for the bus going to their destination and the Chinese man wearing a Yankee's ball cap and an African-American Bart Simpson t-shirt--who spoke broken English--kept ushering everyone onto the same bus.

Stranger 1: I'm looking for the bus to Washington, D.C.
Chinese Man: Yes, here.
Stranger 2: I'm going to Baltimore
Chinese Man: Yes, here.
Stranger 3: I'm looking for the Statue of Liberty.
Chinese Man: Yes, here.

Things were looking up once we boarded the bus as Mariah Carey's concert, THE ADVENTURES OF MIMI, was blasting from the monitors.

Nate: Can you kill me now?
Nando: Shhh, this is my favorite song. "...You better shake it off, cause the lov'n aint the same..."
Nate: Look at what's she's wearing! She's almost naked. That little bikini and the bra thing?
Nando: Yes, but she's wearing a cape, and that balances the outfit out. "...I packed up my diamonds and clothes..."

We arrived in D.C. at 1:30 am.

Nate: Look, we're in our great nation's capital.
Nando: I need to pee.
Nate: We need a cab. Our hotel is located in this, our great nation's capitol.
Nando: Fine.
Nate: This, our great nation's capital seems to be so alive!
Nando: There's a drug addict coming our way so grab your stuff.
Nate: I want out of here, our great nation's capital.


For the next two days, we toured the city like 2 Koreans in Time Square. We saw the Washington monument, the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial Wall. And in between the walking and touring we hit the National Gallery of Art (I had just read an article in Vanity Fair of how Jackie Kennedy brought the Mona Lisa to the USA and hosted it at the National Gallery) where Nate and I had a small quarrel.


Nate: Don't you just love being in this, our nation's great capitol.
Nando: You have got to stop saying that. You're getting on my nerves.
Nate: But Nando, this is where our forefathers gave birth to great ideals which blossomed into democracy.
Nando: I'm gonna blossom you with my fist if you don't drop it down a notch.
Nate: Nando, our entire system of ....


As he was in the middle of giving yet, another compelling speech about America, I took a turn through the Medieval section of the gallery and left him behind. Now, I was able to enjoy the great pieces of art the gallery had to offer, not to mention hit the gift shop where I found the 30% off bin with damaged items like a Marylin Monroe postcard that read "Mary roe" because the missing letters had been rubbed off. Don't Judge.

After I got bored, I went outside and looked at my phone (which is always on silent). I had 4 missed calls from a strange number. I listened to the messages. It was Nate, in a panic--frantic even. He was worried because he couldn't find me and his iPhone had died on him. I walked back into the gallery and noticed him and his hard-to-miss green shirt flash by me.

Nando: Hey.

He noticed me and got a look of relief on his face, then relief turned into anger, then anger turned into the FACE OF EVIL!


Nate: Are you happy? Are you happy that you abandoned me? Where did you go?
Nando: I went to the Medieval section and when I turned--you were gone.
Nate: I WAS GONE?
Nando: Yes, I was like, "Oh, where did silly Nate go?"
Nate: I was in the middle of a speech and as I was concluding, I saw that YOU were gone.
Nando: Really? Oh, I thought YOU had left me. Well, we're together now.
Nate: You didn't follow the survival guide rules!
Nando: What are you talking about?
Nate: When you lose a member of your party, you stay in the same place, you don't go wander off.
Nando: It was just the Medieval section.
Nate: I don't care WHAT section it was! If we were trapped on Mt. Everest, you would've been dead by now. What do you have to say about that? My survival guide specifically said that you must stay in the same place, and fight the urge to wander off.
Nando: Nate, we're not on a mountain, we're in an art gallery in D.C.--did your guide cover such disasters?


My personal favorite part of the trip was having waffles in the Capital Ballroom. We stayed at the Best Western Pentagon (how generically delicious is that?) where their attempt to make things appear more "grand" was less than convincing. They named their breakfast hall the Capital Ballroom and they had industrial waffle makers for us to satisfy our urge for carbs and sugar. And of course, no breakfast in the Capitol Ballroom would be complete without Josefina, the Latin woman manning the waffle batter dispenser. Does life get any better?

On our return trip back to NYC, we missed our initial bus and had to wait an additional 2 hours for the next one. The bus we boarded was generic, it wasn't the luxury-liner we had on the way in. It smelled and offered nothing for our viewing pleasure. Nate kept offering to do magic tricks with a deck of cards he brought along on the trip, but I refused to be entertained by an amateur magician.

Three hours into our trip, I tried to rest my head on the window but since there was a huge gap between the window and my seat, I had to prop my Puma bag by the window and use it as a pillow. (Nate refused the use of his shoulder for me to lean on and sleep) Without me noticing, the emergency bar found beneath the window latched onto one of the bag handles and lifted the bar just a bit. The Indian man sitting in front of me, doing the same routine with his bag, didn't notice the bar rising and when he got comfortable, his shirt got caught beneath the bar.

Since I tend to fidget a lot when sleeping on smelly buses filled with crackheads, foreigners and magicians, I moved my bag which released the bar which then snapped the Indian man's arm. The loud "SNAP" noise woke him up and he angrily turned to me as I was rummaging through my bag trying to hide Nate's "magic" cards.


Indian man (With Indian accent): YOU POKED ME! (Rubbing his arm)
Nando: What?
Indian man (With Indian accent): You poked me!
Nando: Oh, I did, did I? What did I POKE you with?
Nate: What did you do?
Indian man (With Indian accent): He POKED me! (Making small circular motions on his arm)
Nando: With what? My tongue? My Shoe? What? What?
Indian man (With Indian accent): I don't know, but you poked me. Just admit it. (Rubbing his fingers deep into his arm)

That night, in my own bed I thought about the trip and thought, "Am I stuck in my ways?" What if Nate and the Indian man were right? Even though I didn't poke him, I do have a hard time admitting when I'm wrong. I don't want to be set in my ways, I want to celebrate life, live in the "now" and see the beauty all around.

And today while reading the last chapter of the book, Martha Beck recommends a prayer-chant that the Navajo Indians (a different Indian than the kind I supposedly poked, as he was from India) chant in order to bring you back to the present and enjoy the moment.

There is beauty before me, and there is beauty behind me.
There is beauty to my left, and there is beauty to my right.
There is beauty above me, and there is beauty below me.
There is beauty around me, and there is beauty within me.

I could have used this chant on the bus, not only during my Indian-poking situation, but as Nate found his deck of cards and kept asking me to "Pick a card, any card."

Side Note: Click here to view our photos from D.C.