Today didn't go exactly as planned, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a good day.
After waking up and having breakfast, we hit the road to head to Jaipur. It's about a 6 hour drive, but we made a stop in Fatehpur Sikri to see the home of Akbar. grandfather of the builder of the Taj Mahal. It was huge, and the guy had 4 wives, each of whom he built a separate house/palace sector for. His Hindu wife is the one who bore his only son (the Taj's creator's father) so her's was the most extravagant. It was horribly hot, so morale wasn't great, and we weren't looking forward to the drive. In true fashion, we were really behind, lunch was late, then we had to stay to watch a puppet show (top 10 weirdest things I've ever seen), then hit the road. I had an orange fanta which was the first soda I've had here and it was fabulous, the highlight of my lunch, but then I found out I actually stole it without realizing it and they charged me a ridiculous amount for it (90 rupees) and then didn't give me my change, rude. But whatever it was great so I got over it. Then there was a rest stop, which I was thankful for but it took way too long, plus traffic, plus a late start this morning, it all just added up to us being way too late to Jaipur to do any of the things we planned. They say we will be able to hit them all tomorrow before getting on the train, and I hope they're right, but I won't get my hopes up.
We arrived in Jaipur at 7:00ish, and dinner was at 8. One of our girls needed to go to the pharmacy and also wanted to pick up some snacks for the road, so I went along for the ride; I hadn't seen a pharmacy here yet and that's like, the whole reason I'm here. Well, let me tell you, it was unlike any pharmacy I've ever seen. It was about the size of a closet, shelves and shelves of seemingly unorganized chaos from floor to roof with drugs, no prescriptions are needed, and the only person there was the pharmacist since he's all that fits. Everything is unit dosed so he doesn't have to count anything just dispense (that's why it is the lowest degree, just a distinction not an actual degree). Anyway, she got what she needed, and there aren't any drugs that I take so I could stock up on, but then an idea struck me. Flonase just went OTC in the USA, and it's my number one recommendation for patients with sinus or allergy problems, but I don't own it myself since it's expensive. And I had such a sinus episode earlier in the trip, I just asked him for one and how much out of curiosity. 200 rupees for a 100-use bottle. WHAT. 200 RUPEES!? That's not even $3! So I got 2, but he didn't have 2 of the same name brand (both fluticasone propionate 50mcg but not the same name brand) and the second one has 120 uses for the same price! So for not even $6 I am totally prepped for colds and allergy seasons of the future, I was super excited.
We tried to stop at the super market thing next door to grab snacks. As we walked in a guy started talking to me but I kind of ignored him because it seemed the conversation was going to become offensive real quick (I'm so over the stares and the "can I take a picture with you"s) so when I gave him a non-answer he confronted me asking "why don't you like Indian people?" I was just like what are you even talking about dude??? "I'm talking to you right now I don't dislike Indian people!" But then I realized that argument wasn't even close to worth it plus it was dark and the guide that brought us wasn't close by so I just went inside to find everyone else. There were no snacks that we were interested in eating so we left shortly after and made it to the hotel in time for dinner. After eating, I really just wanted to go to bed, but a few people were going up to the bar on the top floor, and my rationale was "it's only 10 days I can go without sleep if I form bonds with these people and actually hang out and get to know everyone" and I'm glad I did because we had a great time. It was one of the guys from Brazil's birthday, so we were all having a good time, then we all basically admitted we knew everyone's face but noone's names, so we played the name game which helped seriously so much, now I'm much less awkward addressing people. I headed inside about 11:30 to take a shower and go to bed, because since we didn't get to see anything today, we are leaving to begin sight seeing at 0730, which I am totally fine with because it's not that early and we have the possible chance to get everything in, although I'm not holding my breath. There's a rumor of elephants tomorrow at the fort, and I am just so excited!! I'll keep you posted on the elephant situation (duh I keep you posted on everything I'm basically writing my whole life). Namaste!