Update

Hello All, Sorry I have not had the time to find internet since my arrival in India but I did make it here safely. Briefly, here is what I have been up to and some things I have observed

Tuesday: Arrived in Delhi at 5am. Basically slept all day because our clocks were all messed up and we were exhausted from the flight. First impressions of Delhi, nasty. Seriously, I choked when I took a breath leaving the airport. There is so much pollution that there is a constant fog in the air except its not fog, it pollution. Pretty gross. Once we woke up the brother-in-law of our travel agent came and picked us up and took us to dinner to have our first taste of Indian food. We went to a buffet so we could try various things and decide what we wanted. I would never have guessed how to eat some of these dishes but it was all delicious. We had this dessert that tasted like a hot krispy kreme but better. After dinner he took us to his house. It was a beautiful home that he was very proud of (not many Indians own there own home, in fact the majority seem to be living in what I would have thought was a condemned building). He showed us pictures of his kids and was generally amazing. He said that if we came back to Delhi he would love for us to stay with him and give us a tour of the city.

Wednesday: We took our favorite hotel driver Ajay and headed to Agra. Agra is a city abour 130km from Delhi best known as being the home of the Taj Mahal. On the drive out there Jenna and I began counting the different animals we encounted on the road: cows (which often block traffic), goats, dogs, elephant, camel, donkey, monkey and i am sure i am forgettign soemthing. so crazy. Once we got to Agra we picked up an amazing tour guide who led us through the Taj Mahal. Because of the damage pollution is having on the Taj you are not allowed to take cars within 500m of it, so we had 3 options: autorickshaw, camel and bus. Obviously we all were hoping for the camel but our tour guide said the camel takes a lot longer than the autorickshaw and smells. ha. The Taj is everything it seems in pictures. It is absolutely beautiful. It is made entirely of Indian Marble and precious gems. The gems are actually carved and inlaid into the marble, we saw some people doing this and it seems so impossible, a simple flower can have up to 50 pieces. The thing I thought was the most amazing was that the marble and one of the stones glows with light, so at sunrise and sunset (or if you have a handy flashlight) the Taj glows and is absolutely beautiful. I could not resist buying a small plate that had this stone in it to show all of you when I get home. The other thing that amazed me at the Taj was the incredible forethought it took to build. Everything is symmetric and every single thing down to the number of gardens and fountains has meaning (symbolizes the year it was completed). After the Taj we went to the Agra fort. Also amazingly beautiful and built in sandstone. Only about 20% of the entire fort is open to the public which is amazing because that 20% took 2hrs to walk through. The fort was so interesting to see how royal life was lived on a daily basis. Our tour guide was excellent at describing the different rulers and their positive influences and downfalls. Each new ruler added on new parts of the fort so you can see the different interests of each king. An interesting tidbit, the builder of the Taj Shah Jahn was overthrown from power by his youngest son who then imprissoned him in the Agra fort, but just to show he isn't totally heartless he imprissoned him in a room that overlooked the Taj, kind of cruel in my opinion. Anyways, after a long day of sighseeing we basically made it back to the hotel and crashed.

Thursday: Today we were basically flying all day. We had a 630am flight but because the pollution/fog was so bad we were delayed and kept on the plane for 4.5hrs. We finally made it to Bangalore and our travel agent's sister picked us up to take us to Mysore. On the way we stopped at the cutest little restaurant where you felt like you were in a jungle. She introduced us to some of the foods that are local to this area. She is such a blessing to have with us as she knows so much history and we get to ask her all our silly social questions such as arranged marriages and such plus she stops the locals from taking advantage of us. We have now arrived in Mysore which is apparently the city of the palace which houses the current king as well as a tibetian monestary. All incredible things I cannot wait to tell you all about.

I have to go since my internet time is running out but i wanted you all to know I was alive and well. I will try to write soon about my general impressions and some of the crazy things we have seen and heard.

love you all