Puna November 15th, 2008

Slowly I'm getting to understand things around. Today I went to the Osho Ashram and enrolled, bought the necessary clothes (one maroon gown and one white for the evening). I had the tour which was quite a lot of PR about the place. Everything is pretty well organized. They say in lonely planet that this is the Armani of the Ashrams and it seems like it. It has activities from 6:00 AM to mid-night, additionally you can buy special workshops. It cost 1410 to enroll including one entrance day. And 550 a day. You have to take an Aids test before you can go in. I passed (thanks god) !.
It has a very nice swimming pool inside, and it seems that people stay there the whole day. You rent a locker and can leave you normal clothes in the locker, also you can have a shower and anything else you need during the day.

Surprising I already met two Brazilian ladies around. Their accent is so strong in English that is easy to find them out. One is leaving in Puna 6 months of the year and has an Indian boy friend. She buys merchandise and sends back to Brazil for sale. She also does massage and other spiritual stuff. The other was in the Ashram on the reception. She is participating in a 3 month residential program. They pay about $1400 for housing, participation in the workshops but need to work a bit. I also met a Mexican lady in the hotel, Tamara, guess what, she is jewish from Mexico city. She is coming to say a while in the area and is traveling for two months.
At the beginning my 9 months looked a bit long for a stay. But after you talk to people, many are staying many months locally or moving around India.

I'm looking for cheaper accommodation options. I'm paying 1200 (110 shekels) a day. The hotel is pretty nice. But people tell me that you can get buy with 600 or less a day in rented rooms.
Actually you don't much as you spend most of the time in the Ashram.

Nearby there is a place called the German Bakery, a hang around spot full of yuppie Indians and foreigners. There you can get European style bakery, omelets, pizzas, all kinds of coffes for reasonable prices. Very nice place, lively and always full. There is a happy atmosphere in this area. It is pretty messy as India, but you see many more motorcycles and young people.
They say Puna is an university city, that is probably the reason. Yuppie, modern dressed (no saris) young Indians is something I hadn't seen somewhere else.

Now is the middle of my day. Fortunately there is an internet by the hotel for 20 rupees an hour. That is quite convenient.