#2

Finishing up our time in Delhi tonight. Tomorrow morning at 630 we take our frist train to Armitsar, the home of The Golden Temple, the holy place of the Sikhs.
But the last two days have been packed.
Yesterday morning after having a huge first day we decided it would be a great idea to get up at 530 AM and work out before we started our day.
Around Delhi, in the residential districts they have these small enclosed parks that have a walking path around the outside wall and a few trees and benches in the park. In the morning many people in the neighborhood come to walk and do some exercises.
Well yesterday morning they had company. Aly is a personal trainer and what was meant to be a five minute warmup before our run turned into and 1 and a half hour workout. It felt wonderful and almost everyone who passed stared at these foreigners doing high knees in the middle of Delhi.
After that we went to some of the local markets in Delhi and I learned the fine Indian art of haggling. I am proud to say that I haggled for a dress and got the guy down to 150 Rupees( about $3.)
We had lunch with Justine's Auntie Kunchin and Uncle Navin.( In India you call your family friends and elders Auntie and Uncle, so you probably have many Aunties but not many if any at all actually related to you.) The food was wonderful but the high light was definitely the Limo Pani. Limo Pani is a drink made from limes and tastes so good in the 100 Delhi weather.

Today we had an even better idea. We woke at 430 AM and went for a run before our bus to Agra(home of the Taj Mahal.) We were jogging through Delhi before dawn. Cait, Aly, and I were doing well until we ran past a pack of wild dogs who decided they wanted to follow Caitlin down the block. I slowed down a bit and ran with her and eventually they left. Wild dogs, cows, and sometimes goats and monkeys run wild in the streets. It's such an everday occurence no one pays them any mind.

We took a bus down to Agra, which is a small city to the east about 3 and 1/2 hours from Delhi. We saw three monuments including the Taj Mahal. It was breathtaking. After living in the chaos of Delhi for the past 3 days coming the very organized manicured lawns of the Taj was an important experience. Like the temples we had visited we had to remove our shoes to go into the Taj. It's hard to articulate what it was like, so I'm not going to try. You'll all just have to go and see for yourself. :)

The other highlight of the day was Mathura, which is the birth place of Lord Krishna in the Hindu faith. As we arrived I was confused as to where we were because we had turned into a very narrow street, almost an alley. Like many of the other places we have been there were little shops littered on each side of the streets with vendors and child beggars following us in a line down the street. Once you get down this alley way and make a left you can see the entrance to a temple, but honestly it still didn't look very impressive. Once you walked through the front door it opened up into this large outdoor courtyard with a maze of buildings around the sqaure. There was a little area where they sold things for worship and what looked like hindu miraculous medals. So Justine, Caitlin, and I got a ring of Jasmine flowers, and wrapped it in our hair as we walked into the first of the temple. I found the worship to be jouyous full of smiling and singing. We walked down a side passage toward a place when a huge crowd of people were singing the Hare Krishna. Thanks to George Harrison and my father I knew the words and could sing along.

That especially was a powerful experience but even more powerful was the ride home. It took so long. Almost 4 hours interuppted by a dust storm and plenty of heat lightning. So we just got back to Auntie Meera's had a little Indian food for dinenr andd are off to bed so we can wake up and run before the train tomorrow. :)

I'm not sure about the computer situation in Armitsar so it might be a while till my next post but it's sure to be a great time.


much love from India

Kat