Getting there
We got breakfast at the hotel, then got into the car Andy had arranged to take us to the Taj Mahal. I was expecting traffic to be crazy, but not like this. Wishing five minutes of starting out, we almost got hit by a bus. And that was no big deal. People park on the highway. There was even someone driving the wrong way down the highway like its no big deal.
At traffic lights, near the slums kids peddling shiny trinkets like balloons on sticks surrounded the car and tapped on the glass trying to get out attention. Once they started kicking the car, our driver popped the locks, opened the door and yelled at them to back off. Honestly, I can’t even process such complete poverty.
After we made it out of Delhi, it was just farms for miles. It’s amazing how, even across the world, things look familiar. The green belt between Delhi and Agra looks exactly the same as the green belt between Sebastopol and Santa Rose. Large green areas with an occasional lone tree.
Agra
The city of Agra itself, our driver told us, is extremely old.