Collage - Mexico

Viva Mexico - 2013

Saturday 12/14/2013

  "Wohoo! We are going to Mexico!" I was all over the place bouncing and dancing uncontrollably. That was all I was thinking about the entire week. It was a long and tiring journey to Mexico from Chicago. Finally, we arrived to our resort "Royal Haciendas" in Playa Del Carmen. I was so tired that I almost fell asleep in the lobby until my sister announced "I Hungry!" we settled down for 2 secs in our villa and headed towards Mexican restaurant "La Palapa Del Sol". The variety of food set out in front of me made me drool and gobble the food down. We were in for a melodious surprise when we found mariachi singers came to sing a happy melody for us. After our hearty meal we enjoyed the sand and warm waves of the Caribbean beach right outside of the resort. 

Sunday 12/15/2013

  "Psst", "Krupa, do you want to come see the sunrise with me?"
"uggh" I moaned.
"Last chance!"   My mom warned.
"Fine! I am coming." I mumbled.
What I didn't realize was that it wouldn't be some boring thing that usually my mom drags me into. While we were waiting for the sun to rise, w
e collected marvelous shells and our hands were filled with them. As if the clouds were curtains, they parted and revealed the glowing orinksh ( orange + pink ) bright sun. The sun's wonderful pink glow lined the clouds around it. Birds started chirping around. It was such a calm feeling!
We got back to the villa and dragged our dad to the pool. I tried to snorkel but it was a flop trial. I could not breathe right with the mask on.
My mom insisted on going to La Quinta Avida an outdoor market place to shop. Cobbled stone street lined with shops and street vendors reminded me streets of India. We bought a big conch, a brown star fish, Mexican sombreros, fans and some silver jewelry.  

Monday 12/16/2013

 "Up, Up, Up". "We need to hurry"! My parents rushed us. We were going to Chichen Itza and our tour started at 7:15 A.M. The bus ride was very boring and long. The guide told us about Mayan ruins and their sacred cenotes. "First stop Cenote IlKil" he announced.
 Wide open space to swim, variety of colorful fishes and salty water connecting to ocean is what I pictured the cenote would be. It was quite the contrary! IlKil is a semi open sink hole. I walked down the steps of the cool, moist, damp cave to swim in the cenote. The cave was dimly lit making a little scary to swim in. It was very deep about 130 ft deep! The water was crystal clear. I could make out every detail of cat fish and other tiny black fishes. I could not wait to take a dip in the cool, fresh water and swam to the center of the cenote where the sun rays met the water making it sparkle. I felt very relaxed and did want to get out....

 Next we went to Chichen Itza, a site with Mayan ruins. My favorite structures were El Castillo and the ball court.
El Castillo is like a pyramid except with no top. A special feature of the pyramid is that on every equinox, their serpent god would appear. Did you know that it took 70 yrs to make the side that serpent god would appear on ? Whereas it took 70 yrs to make all the other 3 sides of the pyramid combined.To keep faith on god among their people, The mayan architects planned the construction of the pyramid so that every equinox, it would look like their serpent god is slithering down.
El Castillo is also a Mayan calendar. The 91 steps on all 4 sides represented 364 days of a year. The last step was on the top of the main entrance.Mayan architects used stalagmites and limestone to build a good sound system for their community. Whenever you clap in front of El Castillo it makes the sound of an eagle.
After learning about the pyramid and having experienced the sound effect of Mayan structure, the guide led us to a ball court.
The ball court is a stadium for ball games played by priests. There are two walls parallel to each other with a hoop 7mtrs off the ground and exactly in the middle. The objective of the game is to get the rubber ball into the hoop only with the elbows. The Mayans believed in life after death and the captain of the winner's team had the privilege to get decapitated by the loser's captain.
Mayans had some unusual cultures for example, When a baby was born they would tape a piece wood to its forehead. Therefore structure of the skull would change and the baby would have flat head. Another gross example would be teeth piercing.
After the tour, we had a little more time left to explore the ruin. Me and my friends ran around freely just goofing around. We went around shopping for some souvenirs and bought a couple of masks, quartz dolphins and an owl whistle.

Tuesday 12/17/2013

 Green light! Red light! Pose for the picture. We were playing Red light and Green light on our way to the Tulum ruins. We entered a small tunnel and suddenly I was in a new world filled with small ruins. Butterflies fluttered around me, as if its going to lead us to something. I chuckled at my thought but followed it anyway, only to find huge iguanas basking in the sun everywhere. I ran after a small one, trying to catch it but its small feet carried it far away.
We strolled by the ruins, reading about the culture, religion and community. Suddenly something interesting caught our attention.
"Why are there metal bars in the window?" My dad questioned.
"Is it a jail?" I asked.
"Nope! The ruins are so fragile that they needed to put metal bars for support" he answered.
Tulum ruins are on the cliff next to the ocean. Albino white beach, Turquoise waves crashing against the rocks what beautiful scene!
"Can we go to the beach?" I asked.
"Thats our plan! My parents chirped in unison."
We headed down to jump waves. A huge wave came in, I tried to jump, but it whisked me under the water. After few more wave jumps we decided that I had gulped to much salt water and it was high time we head to Akumal bay.
Akumal bay was a small bay, unlike the ocean it had no rough waves. We went snorkling and saw many fishes and I even saw a Dori fish. Splat! A pelican dove down to catch its food, pointing out where we should go to see fishes. After a tiring swim we came home.

Wednesday 12/18/2013

 What are we going to do in Xcaret? I asked. Well I heard there is an underground river my mom replied. When are we going to do that? It sounds fun. I said.
Colorful macaws and pink flamingos greeted me at the entrance. I got to hold a soft green macaw! I was very excited but at the same time, nervous that it might bite me.
We were looking at a colorful array of fishes when it hit me. "Xcaret is more like a zoo than a park" I exclaimed. I saw many other sea creatures like jelly fish, coral, a conch shell, a sea urchin , a sand dollar, lemon sharks, giant sea turtles and sting rays.
"Will the underground river be scary?" I questioned. Beware of the alligator, it might eat you" the guide joked. We passed many dark caves and a mayan village. Fishes circled my feet. It took about 30 minutes to go around the whole river.
We also saw a Mexican cultural show and it was so rythemic, melodious and colorful.
After a tiring day we went to bed.

Thursday 12/19/2013 

Finally "My dream is about to come true" I cried happily. Tears of joy spilled out of my eyes. I was going to pet a dolphin! I got to go to the swim adventure which meant I would get to RIDE on the dolphin! Her name is Astreya and she is 22 yr old. My favorite activity was to hold a boogie board and swim to the far end of the pool, then she would push my feet and give me a ride to the other end. She also gave me a ride on her stomach. I gave her a kiss, hug and a belly rub. During free time, her sang for us. Did you know that a dolphin can make over 300 sounds with its blowhole? She liked playing "Dolphin see, Dolphin do" a lot! When I turned in the water with my hands up, she did the same. It was such an awesome experience!
I loved the cenote we had gone so much that I wanted to go again! We went to an open cenote called crystello. It had Mayan carvings on the rocks and platform. Black fishes swarmed around my dad's feet munching on dead skin. I had fun swimming in the crystal clear water among the fishes. "Splaaaash!!!" somebody jumped off the cliff into the water. "May be I will try that too" I thought. I climbed up the fossil steps leading to the top of the cliff. I looked down below and felt dizzy. The surface of the water seemed far down. Not wanting to show that I was scared, I jumped! What a terrible experience!

Friday 12/20/2013

Last day was our relaxing day at resort. We went free swimming in the pool and I finally learned to snorkel! After that there was no stopping me. Also, I played Astreya role for kruthi, towing her around the pool. We did a lot of fun things, got our face painted and went for a pinyata party too!!!
We headed back to Chicago the next day!

My Summer Vacation 2013

Summer
Bike rides through the green forests
Splashing in the cool river water
Touching icky sticky moss to
Climbing burning churning dunes...
Hello Summer!

Can you imagine walking on a beach filled with small, smooth gravel offering a free bad foot massage the whole time you were there? 

Small, big, and huge rocks, thrashing waves, a gravely beach and nature trails. That is Zion beach in Illinois. There were so many beautiful rocks all around, inviting us to collect them. Some of the rocks were so huge that we danced on them and jumped from one to another. "How do I skip a rock ?" was one little question that started the rock skipping contest amongst us and we spent a lot of time without realizing it. Skipping rocks isn't as easy as it looks. The rock has to be circular and light, it has to be thrown at a perfect angle, and  with good hand coordination, you could skip rocks. Next to collecting rocks, I loved making a sand castle with my family. Our castle had a parking lot with car and was decorated with black, shiny, polished rocks and gravel. At first I thought the nature walk would be boring, but to my surprise, it was wonderful. There were lots of birds to see but my favorite was the blue wood pecker pecking on a tree.

Hey Ho and Away we go to Mackinac Islands with friends.

It was a long road trip to Mackinac Islands. We took a break at Sleeping bear dunes. Me and my friends had a blast wading in water and collecting rocks with marvelous patterns. The water was cool, nice and clear. It was perfect for hot July day. After our dip, we decided to climb the dunes. Unfortunately,  the sand was so hot that it literally burnt my foot off but still I managed to climb with a few stops. Running down the dunes uncontrollably was the reward for my terrible hike up the dunes. 

Cherry picking was next on our list. Ripe, Red, juicy, delicious cherries were everywhere in the orchard. We picked up bucket loads of cherries and devoured them all.

Before exploring Mackinac island, we stopped at pictured rocks and took a ship wreck cruise to see the ship wrecks and rock formations. The boat had a glass bottom through which we could see the ship wrecks bit by bit.
 Finally, we got on the island by ferry.
Did you know that there are no cars allowed on the island? The only ways to get around is to walk, bike or ride on horse carriage. My favorite activity was to bike the circumference of Mackinac island which was 8 miles and horse carriage tour.
 Before saying goodbye to this beautiful island, we went zip lining and to my surprise it wasn't scary at all.


A rickety bridge, a steep canyon with water pouring off the sides, many waterfalls, huge green trees swaying in the wind and slippery paths. Oh what a great park! My favorite activity at the Mathessian state park was hiking up the canyon, sliding down the water slides. Jumping of a log and falling right into a mud puddle and being laughed at was the last thing I wanted to do. But, after a few more jumps, I started to like it. Getting wet under a waterfall was as fun as swimming in a pool filled with your favorite sea creatures.

My summer vacation wasn't just visiting places. It was also spending time with family and friends. I spent some good time with my grandma making crafts like lotuses made out of spoons and rangoli, celebrating festivals and eating yummy food.
My summer holidays was such a blast!!!!

Fun with my favorite friend

I walked down anxiously on the mossy steps onto the platform to meet my friend, Astreya. Her brown, adorable eyes glared at me and exclaimed "I am glad to see you, lets play!". Astreya wore a cute, wide, brilliant grin that made me very very happy inside. Her wet slippery skin pressed against my cheeks as she gave me a kiss. My arms curled around and I gave her a tight hug, not wanting to pull myself off her. Hand in hand we skimmed the surface of the crystal clear water. My hand tightly gripped the boogie board, I felt Astreya's head gently push me across the pool. My hand flew up and I twirled in the clear water."Monkey see , monkey do" she squealed and with that she graciously twirled in the water.Thank you Astreya for being my cute dolphin friend. I will never forget these moments we spent together doing fun activities.

Showcase

Prompt for 11/03/2013 :Showcased!

100 Words:

“Help, help, we need the rescue team!” I cried into the walkie-talkie with a terrified voice. A few days ago, on an unforgivingly cold, fall day, a monstrous tsunami rolled over a tiny coastal village in Japan, wiping out anything in it’s path. Me and my crew were searching for survivors. We came across a person’s feet, sticking out of a small, muddy, pool of water. With hopes of the person being alive, I went to take a look. I dunked my head in to see if the person was alive. With no such luck, I found a new world instead of the person’s face.

My Badge:

Kruthi My Sister

Kruthi always Kruthi. 
Remembers a lot of stuff. 
U can count on her to make your day fun. 
The things she can do are amazing. 
Having her around makes almost everyone happy.
I love you Kruthi

Rainy day

Tap, Tap, Tap, Pitter-patter, Pitter-patter. The rain poured down like elephants and whales with immense speed that it could have literally drowned us if not for the drains. While the school announced closing and the rain filled the streets of Aurora,  the glum weather made changes to our plans for the day. Me, my mom, and my sister were busy making boats.

The rain and us made a great working team. I made the boats out of parchment paper and used my origami book as an instruction Manual. After making the boats, we were surprised to see that most of the water was drained. Gosh! But we found a large puddle and floated our boats. We had fun floating and making our boats.

I figured that what makes a storm day fun is making boats and floating them.

My First Showcase

My first writing piece that made it to showcase!

Prompt for 09/08/2013:

100 Words:

The Michigan lake rippled beneath my feet. The cool breeze rolled over the lake making the water cool. I tossed my bait in the water waiting for the appearance of a big, juicy, meaty fish. I noticed a sign saying watch out for Pink eel fish. At the bottom of the sign, there was a picture of the fish. It had big eyes, it looked a little like a fish and a little like an eel, and it had a fat face. It was exactly like the fish I wanted. I guess I didn't see or read the warning because I took my pole, put on the bait that would attract the eel ...

My Badge:

Spring Time In Holland,Michigan

It was a beautiful, sunny, spring day in Holland, Michigan. A magnificent windmill greeted us by saying,"greetings, greetings. Welcome one and all come to the great tulip fest."

The cool wind brushed my hair as I raced across the tulip garden. The farm's green grass tickled my bare feet. Chasing butterflies and watching them fly over the rows of endless colorful, buttery flowers was one of the best moments of the day. I even saw a blue swallow-tail butterfly but alas! I could not catch it. My sister also started chasing butterflies after me! Me and My friends became flower detectives and searched for types of tulips including the Russian Princess but alas we couldn't find that either. We later wandered off into a dandelion meadow and made fresh bouquets of dandelions.

Then we went to Tunnel park with a beach and had a beachtastic time throwing water at each other and making sand castles. It was a fun filled day. I highly recommend you all to go to Tulip festival next year.

Holi

How bad could it be getting messy? I asked myself as we drove to riverwalk. I was ready to celebrate Holi an Indian festival for welcoming spring and we celebrate by playing with colors. When we got there, the brown picnic benches were full of hungry colorful people gobbling food and I could hear the music playing in the background. I ran to the store at the pavilion to get colors. I chose the brightest colors to play with. They were as blue as the sky, as yellow as the sun, as orange as a ripe orange, as green as the meadows, as purple as a plum and as red as a heart. I couldn't wait to see the faces of my friends when I would literally splash them with colors and get splashed right back! There was lot of commotion from the playful colorful people on the brightly colored grass. There were adults, children, teenagers and even puppies enjoying throwing colors even at strangers and getting messy. There were a few surprise friends that I didn't know were coming. And that was my fun filled, messy Holi holiday!

Adventure in Yellowstone

It was a stagnant Saturday morning. I finally asked ” can we go to Yellowstone national park?” “of course” said my father. So we packed our car and off we went and reached our destination in two minutes straight. I was so happy to be out, breathing fresh air. Birds were fluttering and chirping, colorful fall trees swaying, and earthworms wiggling in the dirt. I could feel happiness rushing through me. The stench of moist dirt filled my nose. The cool breeze on my skin felt so good. It was pretty autumn if you ask me. So we decided what we were going to do. First we decided to go hiking then we would saunter through the woods. I saw a near by trail and we started to hike. We then, came to two staircases. I didn’t know which one to take. So I decided to investigate the stairs. The first one, the trodden one was the one I didn’t want to take because it would lead to no adventure unlike the rusty, murky, damp, trail. “The least trodden one it is” I said.

The Sudden Stop

I was taking a drive through Mount Rushmore when creek... the car stopped suddenly. "What was that" ? "It can't be the fuel running out I had just filled it" ! Suddenly, everything went pitch black. Every single sign of light was gone. I got out of my car and started to cough badly. "So dusty in here" I croaked. When all the smoke cleared away, the engine looked busted. I reached into my pocket to get my phone. "Yikes! Who stole my phone?" I wailed. At that moment, a black shape whizzed passed my eyes and I was in deep trance and I found myself in a rocky world when I woke up.

They didn't mention that on the packet

I was reading a story from Greek mythology. Ding Dong. "Yippee" I shouted.
"It must be my snap circuit"! I rushed to the door and with excitement tore open the package. Out popped a talkative, annoying, blue haired creature.They didn't mention that on the packet. I tried to destroy the creature. Bad idea, it doubled itself! Uh~Oh this was no other than the immense double creature that I was reading about! If you were lucky and could kill it, you would have good luck all throughout your life! Unfortunately, not for me, it doubled it's size too. It hopped right onto my shoulders and, "yow what was that for" I yelled. It had sunken it's sharp talons into my shoulders, and guess what, the other one was heading straight towards my face!

The Unexpected Hole

It was raining all morning. When the rain cleared away, I went out to play in my lush, green backyard. I saw a shiny, silver key on the dew covered grass. I picked it up, it looked like a key detector that would lead to more keys! I examined the key thoroughly but I couldn't find anything to start the detector ! I took my magnifying glass out and I found a teensy weensy slit for a very small CD, then  I found  a CD that was supposed to fit into the slit. When I inserted the CD something started to glow and a hole appeared. It started to get bigger and bigger then I went inside. Halfway through the tunnel a monster erupted from the ground, he smelled like a million pairs of unwashed socks! Eww! He said "Me Want to Eat Human"."Um sorry not today"I said feverishly! Then the most amazing thing happened, I camouflaged right into the dirt but the monster could smell me. I tried to get out but I was locked "the key " I thought. But I turned around to find nothing but a shovel. Then it hit me, I could dig my way out but when tried to reach for it...