In New Delhi

Here I am, in New Delhi, India. I had several months to get ready for this trip, yet I had no reservation in any Hotel a couple of hours prior to my departure. That was driving me crazy! Every guide says that it is pretty important to have that done upfront, once the arrival in India is always described as overwhelming to any person. Indeed it is. Every single sense is tested. The pollution is suffocating, the noise is deafening and the poverty is unbelievable. India says welcome in a very peculiar way, a way that sometimes makes people fly back home right away. It is not easy.

20 min before landing in New Delhi, I realized that the person who was sitting in front of me was speaking English with one accent that took me no longer than 2 min to figure out. I met Marcelo, a Brazilian guy who will stay in India for 2 weeks. I can not describe how relieved I was to find out that somebody else, speaking the same language and even coming from the very same city in Brazil, would be in the same situation that I was. We talked for a couple of minutes and I decided to try to get a room in the Hotel where he had made his reservation. For the first night I got a very nice Hotel room, to try to get used with the city in a very careful way.

Air on, cable TV, internet downstairs and I could have the feeling that I was still in London. I know that I can't afford that the entire trip, but doing that for a couple of days is essential to get used with the "Indian way of life".

I could not sleep more then 4 hours that night. The next day, I started my adventure in Delhi. I ended up in a very interesting street market in an area called Connaught Place – main commercial area in Delhi. I had McDonald’s for lunch and I swear to God, it is awful! The only sandwich that I was familiar with was the Mc Chicken. All other options were vegetarian burgers and chicken sandwich with lots of curry. I guess I will lose some pounds here...