Jinxed

OK, so right after I finished blogging this morning, I set off to run a few very routine errands I'd been putting off. I needed to mail a couple packages (here's lookin' at you, Gillian!), hit an ATM, finalize some travel details, buy new batteries for my flashlight, and try to touch base with my friend Bharati to see if she wants to do lunch or something when I'm back in her neck of the woods before heading back to the states.

I spent the next several hours lost in the winding alleys I had just finished praising. I never even got all the way to the post office.

To be honest, most of the fault lies with my guest house. Here's a good hint for anyone thinking of going into the hospitality industry. If you put a big sign announcing that no residents of the country you operate in (lets say, for instance, Indians) need apply, you should assume that 9 out of 10 guests will be foreigners with little or no experience with navigating your city (and who likely don't speak the local language, don't know who to trust, etc). This means that places you think are really easy to find may not seem that way to your guests. This is especially true when a guest comes to you for advice about how to get somewhere or accomplish something, already accounting for the fact that she will have a certain degree of trouble.

It IS your problem when your guests spend an entire day wandering around in circles trying to find something you told them was a really easy 5 minute walk. This is especially true when you charge triple the going rate for the services you provide. This isn't the fricking Motel 6, if you get my meaning. And it is SOOOOOO not cool when, after a guest lets you know about how she spent her day, you just shrug and say "sorry, not my problem."

I know, I know, this is India, people are crude and callous, get over it. I am, pretty much. I just need to vent (and yes, mom, everything is pretty much OK with me, don't worry!). Though I have to say that so far, I've paid next to nothing for places to stay, and yet every single member of the staff at every single guest house has been nothing but fair, kind, and helpful. It doesn't really take that much. I didn't expect above and beyond service - just good advice. I'd have happily paid some exorbitant amount for them to arrange a rickshaw, or to give one of their guys the relevant info and have him take care of it.

Bleh. Of course, I still love Varanasi and still vow to come back. I'll just stay at little 200 rupee holes in the wall when I return, and never trust nobody 'bout nothin'.