Hampi

We are now in Hampi (that's the view from our rooftop cafe), an ancient royal and religious town known for it's bazaar and many temples (and as far as I can tell, monkeys!), in the Karnataka region. We arrived here by train from Goa after a relatively short 6 hour eastbound ride. It's pretty amazing--the landscape is gorgeous--it's in the desert and there are boulders and temples and tropical plants and trees (including large mango ones and banana forests), and then there are these amazing temples sticking out all over the place. The bazaar is really impressive too--it lines the main street and you can still buy all kinds of fine jewelry, silver, and gems there. We haven't done any shopping yet, but I think we're going to make our rounds today to see if we can pick up some genuinely nice things to bring home. The streets around the bazaar are very small and winding, making it easy and fun to get lost without going very far. We' are staying in a nice guesthouse (called Vicky's if you want to google it) on one of the side-streets that has a restaurant on the roof with some of the best views of the city (and hot showers!). At night, the goats come in from pasture and it's quite a little parade, with the two baby goats being carried by their shepherd (?) at the caboose (it's quite a sight and really adorable). Every morning we have breakfast up on the roof and it's pretty amazing to see the temples in the distance, and monkeys climbing all over the rooftops of neighboring buildings. There's a terrace with some chairs and a swing just outside of our room that affords us the opportunity to be total voyeurs of the people all over the street, and it's where Nathan has been able to get some writing done in the mornings while it's not too hot outside. We are right near the river too (I can't remember what it's called--everything here has an impossibly long name) so we've had a nice breeze and some cool nights as well. Although the days here are hot and dry, we've been exploring much of our surroundings. We've visited several temples, where Hanuman seems to be pretty popular (he is the monkey god!) and there are of course several statues and carvings of Krishna, Vishnu and his wife Lakshmi. Shiva's image can be found everywhere (including a paper mask of him perched on our neighbor's roof), and we've noticed several people in town with 3 white line markings on their foreheads which indicates they are of a particular sect that honors Shiva (while apparently a white V means you are a loyal follower of Krisha and Vishnu). One night we climbed some boulders behind a temple to watch the sunset--we've tried to take some pictures of this one and the sun over the Arabian Sea, but I don't think we were able to capture just how incredible it is here. We also visited some ancient baths, watchtowers, and royal elephant stables. Today (our last day here) we are going to explore the Virupaksha temple right in the center of the city and hopefully see its resident elephant (also called Lakshmi) who will kiss you for a coin.

Because of Hampi's religious significance, it is illegal to consume meat and alcohol within the city's borders. After a long day of touring temples with our guide Sado and his trusty auto-rickshaw (more on him later), Nathan and I were craving a cold beer pretty badly, so we paid 15 Rupees (about 30 cents) to cross the river in a motorboat to the city on the other side (known for it's more laid back atmosphere and several ashrams) where we could have one (although they are not listed on the menu). We also found out that some of the restaurants in Hampi do serve beer, but are extremely secretive about it. Last night our waiter made a special run out for a 6 pack of Kingfisher for Nathan and I and a table of 4 seated near us. He was gone for a while, so I assume he either crossed the river or went into Hospet (the closest train station town) to pick some up. They ended up costing about twice as much as they should, and we had to hide them under our table during dinner which made things interesting.

We leave tomorrow morning--back to Goa (staying right near the Vasco de Gama train station and close to the Dabolim airport) for one night before flying down to Trivandrum on Sunday. Trivandrum is right near the southernmost point of India and is the capital of the region of Kerala--supposedly one of the most beautiful places on earth-- jungles, beaches, wildlife preserves, and old british hill train stations.. We will spend two weeks making our way north through Kerala before arriving in Goa (again, but this time in the northern part) to see our friend from New York for a few days.

I planned on uploading some pictures today, but apparently, despite bringing 8 million different cords, the one that connects my camera to the computer was not one of them. Nathan's taken some pictures on another camera, but he uses it mostly for short videos (which I also tried to upload, but this particular computer will not accept). Hopefully he can try to put them up later, and I'll just have to wait until we get home to put up mine!