"Money Jump, Ma'am!"

The atmosphere in Agra is much calmer than what we all experienced in Dehli. However, the many things like dogs, honks, stares, and the occasional cow have yet to change. Seeing the Taj Mahal was nothing like I thought it would be. Up close, the marble shimmers beautifully in the sunlight and is full of detailed stonework. A nice man inside even took the time to shine a light on the stones for us so we could see how some of them glowed. It's incredible to think how much math was involved in making this structure even though it was built over 300 years ago. Architectures even thought to angle the four towers surrounding the main tomb away from the middle structure so the tombs wouldn't be crushed during an earthquake. I also couldn't believe that a group of six men bet 500 rupees with each other on whether or not I was Indian. At least three of them loved me after I confirmed, but I'm not so sure about the rest. Traveling to Fatenpur Sikri, we drove passed poverty that was nothing like what I had never seen before. The pollution and unhealthy living conditions we passed by are ones I had heard about from friends and family, but seeing it with my own eyes was much more difficult than I thought it would be. Regardless of their poverty, the people here showed great smiles as we waved to them through the bus windows. Many sweet young kids even blew us kisses and danced for us.The structures within Fatenpur Sikri were extremely elaborate, but still very different from one another as had Akbar tried to create special structures to please his different wives. I was so surprised when a few boys offered to jump from one tall structure into a pond for 100 rupees while calling it a "money jump." Another even offered to   recite a poem to me for 10 rupees. When I recited one for him and asked for 10 rupees, he wasn't amused.

Overall, the two days we have spent in Agra have been much less stressful than the days we spent in Dehli. Despite what seems to be an increase in temperature and possibly even an increase in bugs, I can't help but wish we had more time to spend here.