Chandigarh - Our first Couchsurfing experience

On October 17th we started our way to the South of India. Our goal was to reach Goa in the cheapest and fastest way possible but tickets to Goa are not easy to get... we decided to do shorter trips and stop on the way.. that way we would be able to control the budget and visit some places in between. We decided to stop in Chandigarh and from there we would go to Pushkar.. after Pushkar we will figure out later.

We had no expectations about Chandigarh as a city but it ended up becoming a very important experience in our lives... On the day before the trip to Chandigarh we thought about the possibility of trying Couchsurfing for the first time. Couchsurfing, based on wikipedia is a  "hospitality exchange and social networking website. The website provides a platform for members to "surf" on couches by staying as a guest at a host's home, host travelers, or join an event." For us, Couchsurfing was getting out of our confort zone one more time and discover new things. We searched for a possible host in Chandigarh but honestly we never thought it would workout but a few minutes after contacting one host we got a positive answer... Gaurav Gupta said he was available to host us at his home. When we saw his email we didn't know what to do... we both wanted to say yes but at the same time we were thinking about all the things that could happen... we have some friends that already did it and recommend it but what if things go wrong?! At the end we decided to take the risk... we are two so that helps..  and it was only for a night so there is a way out... we confirmed our stay with Gaurav and he offered to pick us up at the Bus station at 6am. Again.. we didn't know what to think.. a person is offering us his house and it is going to pick us up at 5am???? We agreed we would call him before the Bus departure to arrange the last minute details and that's it...

Before getting in the Bus, Kika called Gaurav's number but a lady speaking in Hindi answered... obviously the communication didn't work... we both thought our plans had died... either he gave us the wrong number on purpose or he made a mistake while writing the number and now we can't communicate.. we started our 12h trip a little bit sad and thinking we would have to find a hotel once we arrive but it is ok... actually we never thought it would work out anyway... but a couple of hours later our indian phone started to ring... we had never given our number to anyone except Gaurav so it had to be him... Kika answered the phone and shyly arranged the details with him.. we would text him closer to Chandigarh so that we could pick us up at the station... we were nervous and excited again.

As we arrived, we called Gaurav and he would meet us at the station in 20/30 minutes... the Bus dropped us in a random street in Chandigarh , it was not exactly at the bus station so we had to walk a little bit. We waited a bit and there he was... Gaurav walking and waving on our direction. We introduced ourselves and walked to his car... we shared some shy words on the way home but he seemed a very nice guy. As we arrived to his place we said we needed to sleep a little bit as the bus trip had been terrible. We noticed that his apartment was big.. much bigger than we expected.. clean and well maintained.. our room was big and had a private toilet. After sleeping for 4h we left the room, Gaurav was in the living room and we started to talk.. our initial intention was to visit Chandigarh but the conversation started and continued for 5h... in between he offered us coffee, cookies, boiled eggs and delicious vegetarian sandwichs (tomato, cucumber, capsicum, paneer and black salt).. we were in heaven. It was nice to be able to talk and truly connect to an Indian person. We talked about our travels, Indian traditions, jobs, culture, politics.. everything. When we realized that time had gone so fast we decided to visit Chandigarh for a bit.. Gaurav drove us to the lake in the city center and said he would meet us in 1h to drive us back... we couldn't believe he was doing all of that for us... we walked around the lake and shared some ideas about how the experience was so far... 1h later Gaurav showed up and we decided to go for dinner. He recommended a nice Italian restaurant, we shared an appetizer and a pizza.. we wanted to offer him the dinner, it would be the least we could do to thank him... but at the end he didn't allow that... he insisted a lot that we were his guests and offered us dinner. We were very thankful but at the same time we wanted to have paid... we had to thank him somehow... we agreed we would buy lunch next day.

When we got home we felt very tired and we all went to sleep... we were in Chandigarh for only 1h but people in Chandigarh seemed different, very well dressed, educated and richer than the average India the city also seemed more organized than other cities... large avenues and normal cars.

When we woke up next day, Gaurav had prepared some breakfast.. salad, boiled eggs, apples and cookies. He was spoiling us a lot... we talked for a bit and decided to go for lunch in the city center (sector 17) at the Indian Coffee House (recommended on our book) then we would visit the rock garden. The restaurant was really nice, traditional Indian and full of locals.. we shared some snacks and had a delicious coffee.. this time we were able to offer him lunch. After lunch we walked around sector 17 and saw a totally different India... big avenues with stores like Levi's, Arrow, Beneton, pepe jeans, tommy, ralph lauren and other fancy stores. The city was nice to live in, it's organized and there's no culture shock.. well... there are always some fun facts happening in India like when we went back to the car there was was a huge jeep parked behind us, blocking our way... Curiously, when people block others, they park on neutral so that we can push the cars as we did..  after the sector 17 we went to the Rock Garden... the garden started as an illegal construction made with garbage but as the garden grew the government saw how beautiful it was and ended up funding the rest of the construction. Gaurav explained us some historical facts and was as great tourist guide. We had to be on the train station at 8pm so around 5h we went back home and packed. We talked a little bit more and Gaurav drove us to the station.. he even offered us a bottle of water and a package of peanuts for the trip... we couldn't thank him enough... when it was time to say goodbye we left hoping we would meet again and that we would be able to host him wherever we would live in the future...

Couchsurfing was a brilliant experience, gave us a friend and another perspective about the world... people that like to help the others wanting nothing in return... available to wake up at 5am to pick up some strangers and treat them as if they are family or friends... it really affected us in a positive way.. maybe we should be more helpful to others... we think about ourselves as good people but we can definitely do better...

Note: Pedro lost 7 kg since we arrived in India.