"Peru" is difficult to Access

"Peru" is difficult country to access for me. Consulate of Peru rejected my Business Visa Request twice. Both the times it brought me disappointment but a lot more on second time because the reasons given are illogical; looked like they did not like my passport.

First Attempt - January 2012: I was working in Mexico and my employer wanted me to visit Peru for a month to help out Peru team. Documents were arranged, consulate was contacted and file was submitted. Normal processing time for Business Visa was one week and after waiting for a week, I was informed that company missed to add a important piece of paper and visa was not approved. Disappointment does not end here, but they put a black annoying stamp on passport mentioning "ANULADO" in big words. The rules also mention that I can not apply visa again for next six months. My boss was angry with me; he said why did not Tourist Visa was applied for a short trip?

                                                   Annoying Stamp on my Passport
Everyone asks reason for this stamp whenever I apply visa of any country or I pass the immigration even in my home country.

Second Attempt - December 2014:

Almost two years had passed; I was working in Bolivia this time. "Peru" popped up again, my visit was planned for one month on a Business Visa. I was careful this time so took every precaution in documentation. Documents were arranged with extra care; legalization from immigration and Notarized Invitation letter from Peru gave me a hope of success.

Visa was applied and processing time was three-four days. I was confident but Consulate informed me that they need more time because of ghost of annoying stamp on my passport. Two weeks later they refused me politely and reason was given that "because it was rejected in Mexico so Lima officials did not approved my Business Visa". Disappointment!!

I decided to apply for Tourist Visa to visit Machu-Picchu. Let us see what happens!!

Flowers not Delivered. shopping.indiatimes.com provided bad service.

It was my wife's birthday and I decided to gift Fresh Flowers. Googling gave a lot of options to deliver fresh flowers. Many websites popped up and so brought up confusion. Google also have the solution for this dilemma. A quick check of "ranking" of websites helped to find out bigger players in this business. But the bigger players only provided services in big cities. A simple option to enter Postal Pincode, showed reach of companies and my city was not covered by so called big players.

One of the website was quick to start online chat. As soon as I opened the website, executive initiated chat, asking for preferences and suggestions. I finalized the flowers and started to process the order but Paypal could not complete the transaction. A thought came in my mind to do a quick check for credibility of website. A simple query on google resulted in many reviews and feedback written by customers. Website did not delivered package many times or delivered wrong package. Feedback mentioned that Customer Care executive were not so supportive and emails and phones got unanswered for complaints. I put question about this behavior to the Chat executive and she closed the chat and disappeared. I thanked god for saving me from crooks.

I continued my search and found that shopping.indiatimes.com have options to deliver flowers at my city location. Indiatimes is a reliable name in market so I thought that there is no need to do further probe of the credibility. I selected the flowers and put the order and date of delivery. My imagination showed me prospective happiness on my wife's face.

Flowers were not delivered on expected date. I send a query to know the status of my package which was not answered. After three days there was an update that package has been dispatched and consignment number will be issued soon. It was disappointing to see such a late dispatch of package. Anyways, I do not have options but to wait. Website showed that package was delivered next day but no such delivery happened. I raised the issue of non delivery and asked for refund of my money. Website registered the issue, apologized for non- delivery and informed that they will arrange delivery. I pushed for refund and they refunded me the entire amount after more than a month.

Here is chronology of events:

November 19: Order Date
November 20: Expected Order Delivery Date
November 24: "Order Delivered" But no such delivery happened
November 26: Case Opened
December 6: "Case Resolution Date" but no such resolution happened
December 27: Money returned and Case Closed

Customer Service Rating: Lack of proper communication with customer. No proper feedback mechanism. Overall the rating is "poor"

They returned my money after a long followup so they are honest in money terms.Attached are my order details:

Indian Food in Bolivia

Indian Food in Bolivia

There are Indian Restaurants in Bolivia. I was craving to eat Indian food and found the destinations in Santa Cruz and La Paz. The Name of restaurants in both city was Taj Mahal, coincidentally!! The owners were different, one was owned by Sindhi Businessman and other by Punjabis. 

I am a Vegetarian so my experience is about Vegetarian Food only.

Santa Cruz: Taj Mahal Restaurant

Only two Vegetarian options in Main Coarse and I tried both of them. Food was delicious but have to tell them to keep oil low while frying. 

Location: Near CineCenter, On the road Connecting Las Americas and Cine Center.

Ambience is good. Many options for Non Veg lovers

Must Try: Kulfi in dessert

La Paz:Taj Mahal Restaurant

Typical Punjabi restaurant with  Punjabi flavor. Also have South Indian options in Menu. Many Veg and Non-Veg options.

I ordered Dosa once,  it took lot of time to cook and that too had Punjabi Taste. I decided struck to their specialties next time. Punjabi Dal Makhani is delicious, Mutter Paneer is yummy, Bangan Bharta, Alu Paranthas, Chapatis and Nan makes you feel like home.

Location: San Miguel, Sur de La Paz

Ambience is good. Many Veg and Non Veg options

Must Try: Mango Lassi

Accommodation in Ajman, UAE

Accommodation in UAE: An Experience of Living in Ajman/Sharjah in year 2008/2009

Finding Accommodations and Getting Driving License makes life difficult in UAE. I lived in Ajman/Sharjah for two years in four different accommodations. I was a bachelor working as Engineer in a Company.
Property agents preached these rules to us for Bachelor accommodations:-

i) Bachelors are not allowed to live in Society marked for Families and there is no Bachelors Accommodations in decent locations
ii) Bachelors can live in Industrial Areas which face frequent Electricity/Water supply Issues
iii) Contracts between Builder and Tenant will be authorized by  Municipality; without authorization it is not a valid contract. There is no Taxes in UAE but this authorization costs 5% of yearly Rental value, which is huge sum. More than the tax, I paid in my home country.

We were four bachelors working together in the same company. We found a 2BHK accommodation  and Builder committed us to get authorization from Municipality. It was before the recession hit the World Economy so Rents were very high. We agreed for a AED 46k yearly for that apartment, which included the overhead costs of cleaning etc. Builder charged us the 5% of this amount for authorization. But to our surprise that authorization never happened. Rent is charged Quarterly in UAE. Tenant will pay the security, four post dated Bank Cheque to Builder for a years payment. Any cheque bounce is crime, same as other countries so once the agreement is signed it is difficult to come out of it. My friends told me that the security deposit is rarely paid back by builder.

In seventh month the builder informed us that Municipality is not authorizing the contract and there is a crackdown happening on bachelors living in these building so we have to vacate and move to other place. Later we understood that it is a kind of game that builders play. There was no such crackdown happening but real thing was that, Rent has increased and Builder was able to get more money for that apartment and in absence of contract we have nowhere to complain.

We found another apartment but more expensive than previous. We moved in new apartment and after three months, we can feel the impact of Recession. Rent prices had reduced, many peoples have left there cars on Airport parking and fled with their family. But damage had done to us, we do not have options to switch.

After these bitter experiences, I understood that it is better to find the sharing apartments on Monthly basis rather than sign a Contract with Builder.

Cycling Culture in Latin America

Bolivia:Día del Peatón y del Ciclista

Bolivia celebrates  "Day of the Pedestrian and Cyclist" on first Sunday of September every year.  On this special day, motorized vehicles are absent from the city roads and Pedestrian and Cyclist are seen on streets. Vehicles are not allowed on streets from 0900 ~ 1700 hours except emergency.

Government of Bolivia promote it as a special day to reduce Pollution and spreading awareness about sports and good health.

Cyclist on a Road in South La Paz, Bolivia

Mexico: Cycle Revolution

Mexico Celebrates Cyclist day on every Sunday. "Avenida Reforma" is one of Busiest road adjacent to downtown  Mexico City. Many people gather on this road to participate in weekly exercise. 

Ecobici have helped to develop a Cyclist Culture in Mexico City. People pay annual fee to receive a Ecobici Card. Card helps to pick Cycles from designated points in city. These cycles can be used to travel short distances and have to be returned to another point in a definite duration, failure to do so brings penalty. 

Bikes are helping in busy traffic roads. Peoples are liking it and it is helping health conscious one to maintain fitness level.