8/3/2019 Bizarre Night in Mexico

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I WAS walking barefoot on the PlayaDel Carmen coast. I come here every 

 year all my 17 years, and each year itseemed to get better. I could feel thecool relaxing grains of sand pushing

up against my naked feet. The windy breeze blew the soft brown hair out of my face andinto my organic lip balm. The beach had apeculiar aroma. It did not smell fishy, but

the odour was unwinding and it made mefeel soothed and at peace. The air washeavy with mist from the waves. You couldhear the fierce waves crashing onto therocks and boulders lying down on theshore. The moonlight on the dark wateremphasised the dangers that lurked in thehidden depths of the salty void. It was likenothing mattered in this world, eventhough, deep inside, I was empty.

  A very handsome man with an uncleanshave and messy dark hair approached me.

“Hola Señorita.”“Hola,” I said with a fake friendly smile.“Necesita ayuda?”“English, please.” I said with a bemused

expression.“Oh. Sorry, Señorita. I will not be good at

the English. But I will… Qué es nuevo?” Heasked with a strong accent and a cute smile.I was immediately enchanted.

“Try?” I couldn’t help but laugh at hisadorable lost puppy face.

“Sí, I will try… I will meet my amigos fora cerveza. You want to join?”

“Cerveza? What’s that?”“Just come. You can trust me.” He

stooped down to my height and looked mein the eye. His eyes were so exotic. They 

 were deep brown and his eyelashes were sohypnotic. He was very convincing.

“I don’t know…” I replied hesitantly. Would it be responsible to go off with a

stranger I just met? It would get my mindoff of things. Plushe really does

look like a nice guy...“Okay, I’ll go. But only for a little while.”“Magnífico” He was way too happy. I

kind of liked that he was giving me thatmuch attention.

“So, where is the place?” I asked.“Just walk straight. You see light? Those

are my amigos; they are sitting around afire. We do this every Saturday night.

“Tradition?”

“Si, tradition.” He smiled. “My name isJavier, if I have not said.”

“Oh, Javier? That’s a pretty cool name.Mine is Bella.”

“Bella?” He said in surprise. “That is beauty in Mexico.”

Blushing, I walked close to Javier until we reached the fire.

Hebeganchattering rapidlyto hisfriends whosefaces kept ongettingmoreexcited ashekept ongoing. Tome he said, “This is

 Antonio,Carlos,Enrique,Fernando,AmoraandEstefani.Chicos,thisis Bella.”Hasany-one been toa cafeteriaat a newschool andhasimmediatelyfeltawedbythosefewpop-ularandalmostbeautifulpeopleat thetablehavingfunandmindingtheirownbusiness?

That’s exactly how I felt. They were thosecool,socialpeoplethateveryonelookedatastheywerepassingby.

I sat on a log next to Amora and Estefani,and Javier threw me a drink.

“What’s this?”“This is drink in Mexico. All Mexico peo-

ple drink this”I just felt stupid, so I drank it.

 As soon as it touched my mouth, I was blown over by the taste. It was just so satis-fying and colourful in every single way. Thisis how I always thought heaven must feel. I

felt so at peace and so calm, yet soenergetic. I managed to calm

myself down just a

little to ask Javier for more. Even then Imust’ve sounded excited because they wereall smiling at me, but I didn’t even stress. I

  wish I could feel this way everyday… Imight as well make the most of it. I basical-ly drank every single green glass bottle that

 was left in that big coffee brown box.“This is… Perfecto!” I declared in joy.

They beamed and nodded as if they expect-ed this.

“This happens to all first-timers,” saidCarlos. I had a moment of joy because hecould speak English, but I didn’t think Icould talk. If it wasn’t for the drink I would

 be blushing strongly right now.“You want to take a stroll across the

 beach?” Carlos asked with a kind face. “We

don’t have to go alone. I could bring one of the girls if you like.”

 Without even thinking I said, “No, alone  would be fine.” I couldn’t help but put ahuge grin on my face. Where all Mexicanmen so beautiful? He was dark, tall andtanned and in his twenties. He had a mis-chievous look on his face which made himeven more intriguing.

  We were walking tipsily, it was gettingcolder and the wind was blowing intensely.I didn’t even realise I was shivering untilCarlos took his Jersey off and put It aroundme. It was seriously cold now. I could feelthe hairs on my neck standing on end.Mexico isn’t usually cold, let alone in sum-

mer. It wasn’t this arctic back home in

Michigan, and believe me when I say it wasmore than just freezing there.

  All of a sudden, the ravishing waters of the Caribbean Sea opened up and it waslike there were two split waterfalls in themiddle of the deep blue sea. Carlos and I  jerked back in alarm. The sea just splitopen. How does that happen? I got toadmit that that sight was unearthly.

Slowly, something started to emergefrom that supernatural scene. It was anabnormal creature coming out from in

  between the two ‘waterfalls’. I can notquite describe the creatures’ outlandishfeatures. It was so magical yet so blood-curdling. The face was calm and soothed,

 yet angry and irritated. It was beautifuland magical, yet beastly and hideous.The beast had a fierce look like it wantedto attack.

“Ejecutar!” Carlos said. “It’s misteriosa bestia.”

The dangerous waves slammed onto theshore. The currents were getting stronger

 by the second. I had to hold on to Carlos,so the wind couldn’t blow me away. My heart was beating so fast and hard that Iswear it could’ve flew out. I looked aroundfor help but I couldn’t see anyone. EvenCarlos was gone. There wasn’t light back 

  where Javier’s group was sitting. Where  was everybody? Without warning, the

 waves hit my body painfully and knockedme down. The rocks hit my scalp and Icouldn’t see.

There was a light. It was so bright. I couldalmost feel me going towards the light. Thelight was brilliant and blazing and it justkept on getting brighter.

“Despertarse! Por favor, Señorita.”I rubbed my eyes open to find myself 

lying alone in the deserted beach with apoor Mexican guy staring at me.

  What happened last night? I couldn’tseem to remember anything. There wasthis one thing that I just couldn’t get out of my head. But it couldn’t be… Could it? I liedthere hung-over and helpless, wondering

  whether the epic events were real or justmy wild imagination…

HOW does an average American know or seeDoha? Asked that question, I would say thatthe average American does not see Doha at

all. And, the ones aware of its presence, think of it asa city in the desert, where camels are the only modeof transport, where dune bashing and smokingshisha are the only activities. Some would evenknow this is the city that houses Al-Jazeera televi-sion Network. But that is about it.

Don’t get me wrong, the sand dunes are there, but

they are somehow restricted beyond the city’s ever-expanding boundaries. Within those limits are theshining, glazed skyscrapers, new malls, and beauti-ful luxury hotels.

The divergence between the image and the actualhas somewhat narrowed with the city getting the

 World Cup Football 2022 host tag.So, for someone stepping off an international

flight, the Ferraris and the BMWs all around and theabsolute absence of poverty in Doha now come lessas shock than as a pleasant surprise now. The city has much more in store for a visitor. After all, this isthe place that outbid, among others, US and

 Australia to bag the coveted right to host the WorldCup 2022.

The city’s architecture with its traditional Islamicelements is such a change from what the Americaneye is accustomed to. Among the many domed

 buildings that dot the cityscape is Katara, the cultur-al centre of Doha. The opera house of Doha, as it iscalled, does nothing to hide the influence of itsarchitecture, nor does it shy from flaunting the

 Arabic touch in the domes and traditionally Islamiccarved windows around it.Katara is also where the city hosts the Doha

Tribeca Film Festival once every year and where itoffers cuisines ranging from Indian to Japaneseround the year. It is where Hollywood actors likeSalma Hayek and Benjamin Kingsley come to sharetheir insights about the industry that made themstars. It is a place to experience Doha that preservesits own culture, but accepts what is good in others.

If you long for something close to back home,there are the malls, several of them. Villaggio is a

particular mall that tourists tend to enjoy. It housesevery designer present in New York City’s Saks Fifth

 Avenue. The Villaggio resembles the Venetian mallin Las Vegas. People can ride in gondolas through-out the mall. The food court is vast and the choiceincludes everything from Arabic to like Pizza Hut.

If Villaggio is enjoyable, Pearl Qatar is breathtak-ing. The huge outdoor mall is in the shape of anoctopus and is built on reclaimed land. The architec-ture is once again Islamic, with influences fromplaces like Italy and France shining through. The

 waterfront location allows tourists to enjoy the view of the Arabian Gulf’s turquoise waters and standingon the bridges, you feel like you are in Venice.Design houses from Giorgio Armani to Versace areall represented. Not surprisingly, Pearl Qatar sur-prised Dr Brandon Phillips, an American visitor.“Malls like this in the United States of America

 would prosper rapidly. I am amazed that a city I hadnever even heard of before could produce a mallsuch as this one, which has every thinkable design-er,” was the least he could say.

To take a walk down the lanes of the Doha of yore you will have to drive down to Souq Wakif. Narrow 

paths lead around the old style building with littleshops lined on either side. The shops hold dates,nuts, carpets, and traditional Qatari trinkets. Youcan also buy pets on the streets and see childrenplaying among hundreds of pigeons in courtyard.There are bird shops, and kittens being sold on thestreet. The Souq preserves a slice of the past as thecity zooms into the future. “Many people have mixedemotions about Doha’s construction. It is extremely different from when I was growing up, but mostpeople are proud of Doha’s (Qatar’s) progress as acountry and support this growth.”

The city can also provide you glimpses of theIslamic world history if you go to the Museum of Islamic Art. Each work of art has a special signifi-cance in the history of Islam and it shows that Islaminfluenced many cultures around the world. Rugsand textiles from countries all over including Egypt,India, Iran, Syria can be found here. The museumhouses the world’s biggest carpet, and holds some of the most exquisite pieces of jewellry from theMughal period in India. Victor Sisson, another

  American tourist said, “I was astonished by the wealth and intricacy of these works of art from thediamond encrusted pigeons to the pure silk PersianRugs.” Recently, the museum got a Dutch sectionand now it boasts of works of artists like Rembrandtand others from Amsterdam.

Qatar is not only prospering economically, but isalso reinventing itself educationally. Ten years ago,Qataris would travel abroad to receive a quality edu-cation, but today, they have access to top Americanschools in their own back yards. The QatarFoundation has six highly rated American schoolssuch as Cornell Medical School, Georgetown,

  Virginia Commonwealth, Northwestern University,Texas A&M and Carnegie Mellon University.

Professors from these schools are flown in from theUnited States of America in order to teach the localstudents. This Qatar Foundation resembles Texas orCalifornia in appearance, but the student body couldnot be more different than the student body of theUnited States of America. The campus itself isapproximately $12 billion affair. Many American

tourists commented it was like being in “mini- America.” This campus and its’ facilities show how Doha has grown educationally in the past ten years.

Driving all around Doha to visit the various touristsights, a common word appears on the billboards:“Reinvent”. This word has become Doha’s new motto while it is trying to establish its’ place in the

  world. Doha’s constant construction and architec-ture has paid off with creations such as the VillaggioMall, and Katara. The changes taking place in Dohaallow a modernisation of Doha, while still keepingcultural factors in tact.

Dynamic Doha, reinvents itself

Katara Amphitheatre Souq Wakif The author at The Pearl Qatar.

A view of the Arabian Gulf from Katara Amphitheatre.

“Driving all around Doha to visit the various tourist sights, acommon word appears on the billboards: “Reinvent”. Thisword has become Doha’s new motto while it is trying toestablish its’ place in the world”

— Rayva KhannaHigh School Student in Connecticut, USA.

 B i  za r re  n i g  h t

 B i  za r re  n i g  h t

The moonlight onthe dark water emphasisedthe dangers that lurked inthe hidden depths of thesalty void. It was likenothing mattered in thisworld, even though, deepinside, I was empty

— Fatima Hassan AlKhalStudent of Qatar International

School, Doha, Qatar.

in Mexico

 TEENS ZONEMonday, June 27, 2011

 www.qatar-tribune.com 35