We woke up this morning and Jason wanted to sleep some more as he had a restless night. He didn't want his bed changed so we let him get some good rest as those treatments take alot out of him. I woke him up to share some french toast and syrup with me, it was very delicious. I checked on Julie and she is not doing very good as she is in alot of pain in her bad leg and hip. We managed to get Jason's IV out and Honey did an excellent job. I asked Jason how he was feeling and he said great just tired and that he didn't mind at all if I go shopping with Dr. Nutan.

So at approximately 10:15 I left to go and meet Nutan. We started our journey by Rickshaw and it took us to the Lal Mahal or the Red House. This is where King Shivaji grew up with his mother. She brought him up to lead the country and taught him all that he needed to know to be King. There were all these Sand Art displayed at The Red House (see pictures). Sand Art is very big and you can purchase all colors at the markets. From the Red House we went to Shaniwar Wada, King Shivaji's Fortress. These buildings are from the 1600's if you can beilieve it. We walked through a giant door that would put most 18th century Castles to shame. I was super in awe of the history here. The entrance fee was just a few rupees for the locals but because I was a tourist I was charged 100 rupees and I think that is fitting. We walked up on the fortress wall and we took a picture of Uncle and Auties flat from this wall. People were giggling and talking about me as I went by and while in the garden a young couple asked it they could have a picture taken with me. Of course I complied, the Mother and the daughter stood on either side of me for the photo and the husband must of taken 6 shots. We were in the garden by a fountain that was grown over with algae when a lady approached us asking if she could interview us as she was with the Times. We told her sure and we agreed that the government should spend the money to restore the fountains. So I guess I made the paper, we will look tomorrow to see if our names are in the Pune Times.

My timing is a bit off, before we went to the Red House we went to the Dagdu Seth Halwai Ganesh Temple where Dr. Nutan and I had to remove our shoes. Many people bought flowers, green bunches of herbs or coconuts to offer the God Ganesh. We waiting in line to pay homage to Ganesh and then sat with the others to pray. I prayed hard for Jason and Julie that they would both realize the benefits from the stem cell treatments. It was extremely emotional and profound for me and I can't explain the energy I felt. Dr. Nutan also prayed very hard for Jason and she believes he will benefit from the treatment. The story of Ganesh is that as a young boy he was told by his mother to stand outside of her bath and not to let anyone by. A man came and wanted to enter and Ganesh did not know that it was his father and the man did not know the boy was his son. The man cut off the Ganesh's head and when he found out that it was his son, because he was a God he attached an elephants head to his sons body and that is why Ganesh is an Elephant with a human body. At the temple I bought a silver elephant to brind back to represent the prayers spoken for Jason and Julie.

From the Temple Dr. Nutan asked if I minded if we stop at her childhood friends parents place whom she called Uncle and Aunty. I said sure so we walked up some dark stairs to a very small flat where we were welcomed by Aunty. She offered us water and soon she was insisting we have food with her. Uncle showed up and they both started asking Dr. Nutan about Uncle's recent tests as they had concerns. Dr. Nutan patienly explained about the proteins in the urine excetera, I could actually understand their discussion because of the english medical terms. Ha, so then we lunched, Aunty put down a sheet on the floor and our plates of delicious smelling food. So we sat and the meal consisted of chapati's, spicy rice, buttermilk soup (yum), potatoes, beans and mango pickle. Oh and a banana chutney that we dipped our chapata's in. As we ate Aunty would add things like salad and top up anything that we finished. I finally said no more, thank you. We had a visit with Uncle and Aunty and before we left they wanted photo's of the foreign lady which we did. The most touching thing happened then, Uncle wanted to give me a gift so Aunty opened their meager cabinet and took out figurines of a traditional married couple from Kahn. I almost cried it was so sweet. As we were leaving Dr. Nutan bent down to both Uncle and Aunty touching their feet in a gesture of respect, very cool. I thanked them both very much and on our way down stairs told Dr. Nutan how much I appreciated the whole real experience.

After the Fortress Dr. Nutan took me shopping and she gifted me with two pairs of Indian earings. I shopped and got everything I was looking for including three types of peppers for Robin all dried. I think he will have enough peppers for a year! Dr. Nutan wanted then to take me to the zoo to show me all the big snakes and it would have been really neat exept it was closed. From there she lived one way and the hospital was the other way so we parted ways. The Driver of the Rickshaw took me to the hospital and it was quite a ways. I was watching the meter and kept taking more cash out of my wallet as we went along. Finally the meter went over the amount that I had change for and I wondered if the Driver would be able to break a 1000 dollar bill as making change is a big deal in India. Sure enough when we arrived at the hospital he didn't have change so I ran into the market and the staff there weren't very cooperative. A nice lady saw my deliema and quickly made me change. I paid the driver and came to our room.

Jason was in good spirits although he was a bit worried as I was gone a long time. We did text back and forth while I was gone. I called Dr. Nutan to let her know that I arrived safely. Jason says they wanted to insert another IV while I was gone and he told them no, I guess the fiesty nurse told him he had to and Jason explained that it was his body and he didn't want the IV. It is very necessary to be assertive in India. I showed Jason my treasures, then he had a shower and went for a walk.

Jason and Dustin walked accross the street and headed in the direction of a Park. The park had red slate paths and it had beautiful big palms and green grass. There were beautiful hedges and a rose garden and was surounded by stone walls and big iron gates. There was a playground for kids and there were a bunch of people. After walking the perimeter of the park they came out on the other side of the wall and started getting into the residential area with very small houses and dirt road. Then they walked down to the river and there were pigs all over, a lot of pigs. While walking along the creek it seemed weird that as soon as they left the garden they immediately went into slum, with garbage. There was a community fountain where residents get their water from. Jason saw a little kid with a bucket walking beside the creek chasing pigs, he was very poor and dirty. The creek had a small stone bridge across it, when they passed a small tin shanty Jason and Dustin were surprised to see a flat screen TV in it.

Adventures all around today, now that Jason is feeling better who knows what will happen tomorrow.....