013 Confirmed: Bus Rides Everywhere SUCK

We had the opportunity to meet the former Archbishop of Bangalore today and listened to a very interesting talk about the role religion plays in India.

The Archbishop spoke a lot more about India’s diversity and Constitution however, and so I felt that he delivered information that most of us had already understood...Nevertheless, he was an incredibly interesting and compelling speaker, and so we had a wonderful time listening to what he had to say. It is still so amazing to me to see how seamlessly Indians can interact regardless of their background and regardless of their religious beliefs. Americans, who are supposed to be the most advanced and open-minded people in the world, still struggle with this regularly. I think that the tolerance that is so prevalent in India may be a result of the fact that there is no separation of culture and religion and income levels between people. When you grow up surrounded by people from all walks of life, understanding and respecting individuals that have different values than yourself is not as hard to do. It was such a special experience for us to meet someone who’s had so much experience and who has witnessed so much of the world in a front row seat and I’m so glad that we had the opportunity to do so. After his talk, we were treated to coffee and tea and some snacks and continued the conversation with the Archbishop.

Me, the Archbishop, Senad

We left about an hour later and headed back to our apartment complex to pack up (yet again!) as we would be leaving for Delhi later that evening.

TACO BELL?! +1 for India!

Outside our apartment complex.

After we brought most of our luggage down, we headed to see some government buildings in the city. Super random experience...but here, have some pictures.

Traffic on the way! No bueno!

Idk. Cool architecture.

We were given some free time to roam the area, and we took in the sights and explored a nearby park. The park was enormous, shady and beautiful, and we had a lot of fun walking through it and talking about random subjects.

We then returned to our apartments and before long we were off again to the airport! Once we got there, we checked in sans drama and headed to our gate.

Kevin was my luggage buddy.

One thing that I still don’t quite understand is why we need to have out itineraries checked before we can even walk into the airport. Also, family and friends have to send their relatives/friends off outside the airport and not before security, like in the States. No bueno. In any case, a few of us ate dinner together at a restaurant near our gate and the food was really quite delicious. And by delicious I mean pasta. You can't go wrong with pasta.

So good.

We boarded the plane after eating and had a lot of fun talking and singing and generally making a bit of a ruckus onboard. Seth has also decided that he will be writing a song to commemorate our trip with Ariel and I singing the song – we’ll see how far this idea goes! Also had some fun with Afshar trying to recreate some faces we saw in a magazine. It was a long flight, okay?

Afshar: the singer.

Afshar: the confident businessman.

Afshar: the Thai tennis player.

Aww. Couldn't take it anymore.

We arrived in Delhi around midnight and soon went to a nearby hotel for a quick change and shower. The hotel was HANDS DOWN the BEST accommodation we had the chance to stay in (however briefly) so far! It was almost cruel that we could only be there for a short period of time before we had to leave for the bus and an eight hour drive to the Corbett National Park. A couple of the girls took showers, but I was just happy to be able to lie down…I almost didn’t want to get back up.

LOOK AT THIS BEDDDDDDD.

We eventually got back to the bus at around 3 in the morning, and spent the next eight or nine or ten hours on the bus. MISERABLE, COLD hours, that none of us were prepared for! It was not fun…but we got to Corbett alive, and our rooms are AWESOME and have heaters, so really I suppose we can’t complain too much.