Allahabad

            We checked into our “4” star hotel with a great  lobby. The room was clean but old and was definitely not a 4 star but coming from the villages was nice. First bathtub we experienced since leaving USA!!! Our luck ran out though as COLD showers were had by all. The boiler hadn’t been turned on so it was going to be a few minutes?!! We ended up eating dinner in the hotel which was decent and fairly priced. We 4 adults and 1 child for about 20 bucks. One of the adults was Ashwini, who is one of our cousins who was in the first village who is staying in a hostel in Allahabad for schooling. It was nice seeing him as he was one of the more friendly and appreciate kids.  Bed time was rough, an Indian Party with music and firecrackers started around 10:00ish and before/during/after we had loud noises in the hallway. On top of that our Uncle slept in our room. Talk about a chainsaw!!

We ended staying a second day in Allahabad as we were having difficulty finding a ride to Varanasi and we were told there really isn’t much to see there. Instead Vatsala went shopping while Raju and I relaxed at the hotel. It felt good doing nothing even though the power went out a dozen plus times