Pune, Maharashtra, India

Well, we have actually left Pune already and are currently in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India.  I wasn't able to post anything while in Pune because the internet connection at the hotel was so bad.  However, I did want to make sure and include some details about our time there because it really was excellent.

Although there were a lot of great things about this city, I guess the highlight of the trip was our visit to the Karla caves on Sunday, the 18th.  The Karla caves are located about 1 hour and 1/2 away from Pune in nearby hills.  They are Buddhist caves that were built
c.1000 A.D.

We had to climb all the way up this hill in order to get to the caves.  If you start climbing from the bottom it's a "stiff 620 ft. climb".  At least that's how the guide book said it. The awesome part of the whole adventure was that unbeknownst to us, the 18th of July is the feast day of an Indian goddess, Ekveera.  Thousands of Indian people make their way up the hill to a temple where her idol is kept in order to receive her blessing.  If you look at the picture below it's the building with the orange roof.  The atmosphere was exuberant and festive.  There were marching bands, not like the ones in the states, but guys dressed with similar shirts and playing drums.  There were men dancing with joy.

                                  


I'm including a link for anyone interested in finding out more about these caves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karla_Caves

The other fun thing was that everyone wanted to have their picture taken with us.

In this picture is Dave Prugh, a 5th grade teacher from Gainesville, Florida.

Here you see they are taking pictures of us, we are taking pictures of them and I am taking a picture of the whole thing.

If you want to check out more pictures of the caves, I will be placing them on the Flicker photostream.