Agra and Fatehpur Sikri

So this past weekend me a four of the other volunteers traveled to the city Agra to go see the Taj Mahal. We left Saturday really early in the morning and got back around Sunday night at 8. It's about a 4 hour drive there, but the entire way there, we saw tons of smoke stacks and factories and the air quality got so bad. The area around and in Agra had such bad air pollution, my throat started to hurt from breathing in all the fumes and pollutants. I think I started coming down with a cold too so that may have contributed to my sore throat, but anyway the air quality in Agra was terrible. Agra overall is not a very nice city. It is more of what people imagine when they think of India. There are cows everywhere!! Cows laying in the street, crossing roads, walking right next to cars, everywhere! It's funny because when you are driving, people hardly ever stop for other people, but if there is a cow in the middle of the street, there could be a four hour traffic jam. No joke. And we saw monkeys in the trees and camel drawn rickshaws. Super cool. No but Agra is definitely more of what people imagine India to be. People trying to sell you things everywhere you turn, lots of people, and huge slums and market places. Other than the Taj Mahal, there really isn't a lot to see or do. But we stayed in this super awesome hotel near the Taj and it was like we weren't even in India anymore. It's different in India because back in the states you can definitely tell when you are reaching an area of the rich and wealthy because the super nice neighborhoods and area, but here you will have a ridiculously nice houses, right across the street from a huge slum or crowded bazaars. It's very strange. Anyway so we went to the Taj twice. Once at sunset and once at sunrise. It was absolutely incredible. It really as great as everyone says it is. Entirely made of marble and the most beautiful architecture you have ever seen. And it is HUGE! I honestly thought it wasn't going to be that big in person, but it is ginormous and unbelievably stunning. We were able to go inside and that was really cool. I never knew what was inside, but it's a giant tomb. Inside, there is this huge opened room and right in the center there is this marble carved gate around this tomb. Very interesting. Even though pictures were not allowed inside, everyone was taking pictures haha. There was also a ton of policemen or military people in Agra, Many at the Taj as well as in the streets. Very high tourist attraction. After seeing the Taj, we went to this rooftop restaurant that overlooked all of Agra. That was really cool. After Agra we went to Fatehpur Sikri which is an old abandoned gated city. It's sort of resembles the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. It was so big. You could literally get lost within the walls of the city. Ridiculous. But after about an hour there we were so tired and hot and thirsty we left straight for Delhi haha. Didn't get back until the night time, but already Delhi feels homey and we were so excited to be back. So I would say we had a fairly successful first full weekend here in India. I can't believe I have only been here for a week. It feels like I've been here for months. I am still having a great time and getting more and more comfortable each day. I wish you all well back home and miss you guys!