Varadh

Category: Explorations

  • Remote in Mexico City (CDMX)

    Remote in Mexico City (CDMX)

    I’ve been in Mexico City for the last month and it’s felt quite convenient to settle into. Before I leave, I wanted to articulate what made it special and drop some photos.

    Neighborhoods: I’ve stayed and stuck to mostly spending time between Condesa, Roma Nte, Juarez, Polanco, Reforma, and Centro. When some friends visited, they went to Coyoacan and Doctors but during the day. These neighborhoods likely represent a bubble of middle to upper-class Mexico with beautiful parks, delightful architecture, tight security, and upscale restaurants. The safety is likely thanks to an overwhelming police presence – you cannot go more than 4 blocks without seeing a cop car idling at the intersection or watching a pickup with armed police standing on the flatbed driving around.

    Remote work: My primary motivation of living was to experience a new city and country that was in the same timezone as the US to make it easier to collaborate with the team. CDMX coffee shops have good wifi and have almost been engineered to enable remote workers. You can walk into a boutique shop like Blend Station or a chain like Starbucks and find other people also doing the same. Plus, there’s lots of different Airbnb’s which’ve been optimized for remote-workers as well. I’ve had friends from India & the US both overlap while I’ve been here who’ve arrived with the same goals.

    Language: Even without speaking a beginner level of Spanish the experience has been natural though one was to live here permanently, learning the language would be non-negotiable.

    Inequality: You know it exists everywhere but like in India the inequality can be much more felt in Mexico City which has made me reflect a lot more. You’ll see small children who’re trying to sell you candy or flowers right as you’re doing outdoor dining which can leave a sense of guilt.

    Food: I’ve not been somebody who’s eaten a lot of Mexican food and as a vegetarian there’s been a plethora of options across cuisines including Mexican food. Some highlights on the sit-down end of the spectrum have been Expendio de Maiz Sin Nombre, Rosetta, Pujol, and Sartoria with incredible takes on their respective cuisines and associated desserts. Though my street side adventures were quite limited given my desire to have meat / non-meat not be cooked on the same cookware that’s a sizable part of the Mexico experience. I’ve also pleasantly surprised at the range of non-alcoholic beverages on every menu. And a list about food in Mexico would be incomplete without mentioning hot chocolate and churros which I could have every day. A challenge has been letting people know that bugs (ants, grasshoppers, etc) are not considered vegetarian to me. Here’s our list: Google Maps.

    Exercise: The city is incredibly friendly to bicycles and running routes. There’s no excuse to not lace up and head out for the day. Plus, you’ll get to meet 100’s of dogs to play with every day.

    Overall, would highly recommend remote working from CDMX if you’re considering it.

  • Real World Experiences: Vallea Lumina

    Real World Experiences: Vallea Lumina

    As a part of my nomadic journey across the world… I was recently in Whistler, Canada. While its usually known for its world-class slopes and pristine nature, one of the highlights was an immersive experience called Vallea Lumina. Initially, I wasn’t sure what it was or what to expect as it was marketed as a multimedia night walk but signed up anyway. It helped that there were little postcards about it all over the city. I didn’t expect much but who wouldn’t get excited by the word multimedia.

    Selecting the last show of the night (9:40 PM, I think), I boarded a bus to get to what looked like a trailhead. At the entrance, you’ve got a solid camp vibe with s’mores and hot chocolates for before you get started (or at the end). It took about 45 minutes to walk through something of a cross between the museum of ice cream, a hike, an EDM party with the themes of camping (lights and music), and mystery. There was a projected skit, a preserved tent with artefacts, a morse code challenge, campfire music, talking trees, and immersive lighting. It turned out to be a unique and pleasurable experience unlike any I’ve experienced before and it was worth every $$. 

    I think we’ll see many more experiences like this that are very interactive and novel. While people might scoff at the idea of the company that did the museum of ice cream raising $40mm, I’m quite bullish about experiences like that, Vallea Lumina, Dismaland (yes, I get it), and more. There will no doubt be so many new experiences that people of all ages do in groups together and I’m excited for all of it — whether out and about in the world or further into your computing devices(eg. Sandbox VR*).

    Whether these are to be one-off co’s that are similar to art installations or true venture-funded companies is TBD but this location Vallea Lumina also appears to be a good business. $40 pp and 600-800 people per night on average is what I heard from one of the people manning the shuttle buses and it increases as the sunsets become earlier. This though does get me thinking what’s Disneyland 2.0?

    *Invested in SandboxVR via an AL Syndicate