Photos!

Streets!

Finally, some photos! These are mostly the streets of the old part of the city. Hyderabad was originally a Muslim city, built near the end of the 16th C. Charminar is a triumphal arch; like Paris's famous one, and Mecca Masjid is the second largest mosque in India.

Today was the first day we went out sightseeing with the driver, who for now shall be known as Mr. N (because I cannot remember his name). He's a totally sweet man, super helpful and wanting to show us things even though he speaks almost zero English. The Mr. twisted his ankle backing up for a photo, (he's ok, not sprained, just tired) and Mr. N started massaging it, shaking it out for him, asking after him way later in the day.

But first, he took us to Charminar, where we climbed some very steep very tall spiral stairs, took some pictures and Mr. N decided that he'd run down to the street below and take pictures of us from down there. So, he's standing in the middle of insane traffic, happily taking many blurry pics. Most didn't make it into the online album. There's one hilarious one of two puzzled-looking guys he must've caught on camera by accident as he was fiddling with the camera. From there we went down to Mecca Masjid, where we got snagged by a "guide" who of course wanted cash from us. We gave him R200, and the guide wanted more, appealing to me when the Mr. said no. I had to use his patriarchy against him, "I have to listen to my husband" bwahahahaha.

From there, we went down to the market stalls on the street to look around. I haven't yet bought anything; I'll go with some locals next weekend maybe to actually purchase shiny things. We bought new batteries for the camera, which promptly died 30 minutes later. By the time we got to Golkonda fort, they were done for. So, I took pictures with my boiled brain. Consequently, they are a bit squishy. A huge medieval city/palace/fortress. We wandered around in the sun on the mostly flat bit, declining the 2km hike to the top. Another time; we've got plenty of time. There was a crew filming what looked like a a music video--we practically walked right into their catering space.

I think my favorite part was when I was standing alone for a few minutes, and was approached by one dude with his friends who wanted to know my name. I pretended to speak only Spanish saying "No lo entiendo, perdon?" We went back and forth a few times, finally he said to his buddy "Noloenendo Perdon" as if to answer his question. Bahahahaha.