On to the next part of our journey...

Go Packers!!!!!  See I told you they won!

Greetings!
It was with heavy hearts this morning that we left Madhavapatnam India, as I said before the people there totally captured our hearts.  Yes, it's true that there is poverty and filth everywhere.  Yes, it is true that animals wander everywhere turning the streets into obstacles of manure.  Yes, it is true that at any given point of the day, in any given area you are likely to see someone relieving themselves out in the open.  Yes, it's true that women do the laundry (no clothes pins) in rivers only yards away from wading cows and sewage.

However, I must say I have never been anywhere in this world where people have been more friendly and loving to total strangers who look very different from themselves than right here in Madhavapatnam.  While in this village and neighboring city where we spent the nights, we never encountered another "white" person.  I do believe for many we may even be the first one they ever saw based on the looks we received.  But never did we feel threatened, or scoured upon...we were always greeted with smiles and waves. The ironic thing is, is that based on the amount of garbage you see laying around and knowing that they've been throwing it out their windows for centuries, you would think there should be a lot more...in America, our family alone can produce in one month what it would take a whole community there to accumulate in a year.  When they served on paper plates, it was literally "newspaper" plates...when they shop they don't come home with bags and bags filled with plastic wraps and cans, as they get things fresh from the market.  Like I said before, they even use the cow dung for making fires...nothing is wasted.  I really felt bad that they had to keep buying bottled water for us since those containers were just turned into garbage.

So what we choose to remember about India is not all the cultural differences, but the beauty in the faces.

It is for that reason that we will return someday.

Here's what I'm talking about...

We are currently in Hyderabad and leaving for Dehli in the morning.  Our plan is to be able to check out the sites there before heading out on our Safari the following day.  I hope I will continue to have Internet access as we move forward on our journey so I can keep you posted on our adventure!.

Our love to all back home!

Namaste ~Jenny