Post from Julia:

hi family!!

so im in new Dehli now but I fly to Goa today with the group. Everything has been amazing. We saw this beautiful temple yesterday of the Ba'hai religion, which is based on accepting people of all faiths and ethnicities, it is a religion for world peace. THe temple is gorgeous, a white lotus flower design made completely of marble, gardens are immaculate and the parks surrounding the area are the cleanest places ive seen so far, families and friends lie around chatting and taking strolls, it almost reminds me of europe, well almost. Anyways we've seen so much in the past week, we went to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal which is as immaculate as it ever could be and the surrounding area of red buildings and shrines is just as astonishing. Surprisingly there were almost no other western toursits, just INdians in which case we whipped up quite a gathering. This woman grabbed my hand estatic to meet me and dragged me all around the temple trying to find enough light to take a picture with her and then in turn with each of her children. Then it got crazy groups of 15 men, women and kids would come up at a time to take pictures with the most white looking of our friends. After that every few minutes we would have a new family wanting to shake our hands and take "one shot" with us for a couple hours. It was really surreal, there are just so few white people here its crazy. Later we had dinner with the whole group of eight on a roof top restaurant overlooking the Taj Mahal.
We visted a small village called Pushkar before that where we finally didnt have to dodge traffic or here incessant honking, just cows and camels and pushcarts. We did some shopping and a lot of haggling, which we all are pro at by now. WE celebrated Zachs birthday although he was feeling a little ill so we brought him his chocolate cake with lit incense stick in bed. The next day they took a camel tour into the nearby desert villages and made a gigantic hike in the heat of the day to the top of this temple on top of mount savitri. THe view was breathtaking a small muslim influenced village surrounding a holy lake where God Brahma was said to drop down a lotus flower (the petals leaving the three lakes behind) all in the middle of a hazy desert.
Dehli was crazy with all the urban sprawl and consequences that an overpopulated developing country encounters. But with an alluring culture that still mesmorizes. ALthough the longer I stay here the more I feel like its home. THe routine sets in, the morning heat wakes us as we look around a dingy plain room with a small ceiling fan and sheetless beds, the cold shower if refreshing and quick, arraning our backpacks to start the day just as if we were searching through dresser drawers at home. The first haggle of the day with our rickshaw driver and then cramming into the the two-seater ride with 5 people, Indians staring left and right. The temples, the gardens, the animals and shops, beggars and sizzling food stands. Little kids peeing in the streets and sari wrapped women staring at our western clothes and anglo features. An afternoon nap to escape the extreme heat, scraping dirt from our legs and fingernails. Putting on the ever present hand sanitizer before we eat malai kofta, Dal Makhani, naan and all goobi with our hands oh and dont forget the glass bottled limca or sprite as a needed refresher. It all swings together, the day weve now become comfortable with, you just laugh at all the chaos and say "thats India" and we all nod with a smile.

love you all,
jules

P.S. Least favorite sayings in INdia that i never want to hear again: no no not possible (when it clearly is and they just want to cheat you out of your money), just look at my shop madam loooking is free, you from England?, I like your dress where that from (apparently knee-length dresses with no straps are head turners). oh the list goes on. haha