Delhi!

Finally, after nearly two weeks in India, I have found a working Internet connection! This is perhaps more a reflection of the remote places we have been and the busy travel schedule we have been maintaining than of India's technological infrastructure. Yet it has been a bit frustrating to be unable to maintain the kind of communication to which I'm accustomed.

And even now, our bus awaits and I have just a moment to check in before moving on. So let me capture this moment: The smog is thick, the traffic hectic, the city amped up for Republic Day, a national holiday. Yesterday we visited the Mahatma Gandhi memorial, the Lotus Temple, the Jama Masjid Mosque, and a few other notable sights around the city. The magnificent antiquity of this place is as humbling as the traffic is obnoxious.

The past two weeks of travel have offered an amazing array of experiences, from urban noise to mountain vistas to village life to wilderness exploration (by jeep, so we're not talking American-style wilderness.) Our group is working well together, has for the most part been in good health and spirits, and is soaking up the amazing differentness of this country.

Today we will visit a couple more sites around this city before heading to Jaipur in a bus we chartered for the purpose. Hopefully there will be Internet access in Jaipur so that I can check in properly.

As we cross the halfway point of our expedition we are thinking of all the folks back home who have supported us, cared for us, and provided inspiration to our adventuresome spirits.