It's been a few days since my last blog and a lot has happened! After the tearful goodbye ceremony on Tuesday night, we woke up a little earlier on Wednesday in preparation to leave Carmel on an early bus ride to the Bangalore airport. We had our usual coffee/tea, our last daily chapel service (which closed with a very moving version of the Our Father, sung with all of us, students, team members and staff, holding hands in a big circle around the chapel.) We had breakfast and then began a lengthy goodbye process. I have to admit that it was about 20 minutes too long for me. I did once last round of hugs and got on the bus with a few of the team members while others lingered. I took a few goodbye pics from the bus and soon we were off. It was really hard to say goodbye - I remember watching the children wave as we drove out of the orphanage gates - it was emotional for all of us and many tears were shed.
It was a long ride to Bangalore but once we got there, we found a nice hotel with a couple of restaurants to choose from for lunch before our flight to Delhi. Our first non-orphanage meal, many of us opted for the pan-asian/chinese restaurant for something a little different. It was so delicious and a great change! I really did enjoy the food at Carmel - the chef who cooked all of our meals used to be an orphan himself - he and Backi and Freena (the couple who run the orphanage and school) grew up at another orphanage years ago called Bethel. It had some administrative issues and Backi (an accountant) and Freena (a teacher) got married and eventually started the Carmel Matriculation school and orphanage. The chef who cooked for us these last two weeks, Samuel, left the orphanage after finishing school and went to culinary school. He now works at a restaurant in Bangalore which caters to Westerners. Each year, he comes to Carmel for two weeks in January and cooks for the team members. And he really is an amazing chef! However, it was really nice to have a break from our usual Indian cuisine (reduced slightly in spicy heat for our delicate Western palates! I was worried about the spicy food, but I actually think I have a higher threshold for tolerating spices after this trip.) After our lunch in Bangalore, we headed to the airport for a short flight to Delhi. We arrived at the Ashok Resort Hotel a little bit before bedtime. I had a beer (Kingfisher) and some fries with some teammates, took a long, hot shower (my first real shower in 10 days!) and went to bed.
The next day we got on the bus again (we spent a lot of time on the bus during this trip, especially the last few days!) The sight-seeing part of our trip had officially begun! We went to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal - it was truly spectacular! I've never seen anything like it and I doubt I will again! This amazing structure is a tomb for a queen, built in the 1600s by her adoring husband. It is made of a special marble called Makrana and inlaid with semiprecious stones like jade and lapis lazuli. It took 20,000 people to build it. It was unforgettable. We then ate a very late lunch and went to a marble factory that handcrafts all kinds of items out of the same gorgeous marble and inlaid stones as the Taj Majal. Our tour guide was fantastic - he was great at telling us interesting facts about the Taj and really took care of us - the hagglers on the street were particularly intense in Agra and he really helped us deal with them. But he couldn't protect us from the horrible traffic we hit on the way back and it took at least an hour longer than it should have to get back to the hotel. We finally arrived at 12 am - I know I headed right to bed and I'm sure others were may have done the same. It was a really long day, but so awesome!
The next day was more sight-seeing. We had a tour guide this day who gave us a lot of information about the Hindu way of life. We went to a ruin of a mosque in Delhi (made out of the remains of a Hindu temple that Muslims overtook.) The tall tower at this sight is called the Qutab minar. We also went to the Gandhi museum where Gandhi spent the last 144 days of his life. Our last stop on this last day was a six-story shopping center called the Central Cottage Industries Emporium, which sells goods from artisans all over India. There was also a lot of traffic this day due to the rehearsal in the morning of a Republic Day parade on the 26th. But we did get to see the beautiful boulevards of New Delhi, the former British section of Delhi. We headed back to the hotel, grabbed a bite to eat and left the hotel for the final time, on the bus, for the final time (hooray!) and went to catch our flight home to the United States.
Will write a bit more tomorrow! Can't stay awake any longer! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment