Back to India, Hampi

I've been so busy these past weeks that I've gotten a bit behind in the blogging. I've actually been back in India since Jan. 26th! I spent a little over 2 weeks back in Tiru, going to a spiritual intensive from my teacher Mark, and then another week catching up on things and waiting for my debit card to get mailed from the States. I stayed with another student of Mark's, Tom, who had a great house next to a rice paddy out in the country a bit. Other than the quick trip through SE Asia with Cindy, I'd been in this area for almost 3 months now and was ready to see some more. Moving on from Tiru, I made my way north, with the goal of making it to Dharamsala as the south of India started to heat up. It was already getting into the high 80s by the time I took off. I wanted to travel by land the entire length of the country to get a feel for it, as I had flown down last November.




On Feb. 16th, I took a 5 hour bus to Bangalore, and then immediately a train to Hampi, which is in the Indian state of Karnataka. Hampi is one of those places in India where you go to and then end up staying longer than you thought. I planned on being there for a couple of days and finally drug myself out of there after a week or so. It's a bit like India's Angkor Wat, with a huge number of old Hindu temples constructed in the 14th and 15th centuries, spread out over a large area. But it's also just a pleasant place to hang out for a while - a big backpacker destination. The landscape is a wild combination of huge boulders, rivers, along with rice paddies and palm trees. With a practically infinite supply of rocks, Hampi is the bouldering capital of India, which means that there were these people walking around with enormous mattresses strapped to their backs. There is an idealic area across the river from town (you have to ride a little boat to get out there) full of cheap guesthouses and restaurants. I stayed in this little paradise across a tiny path in the middle of a rice paddy (I only fell in once) called Manju's.



Manju, the owner, was one of those everyday saints that you just loved the minute you met him. He had little mud bungalows with thatch roofs, and a big gazebo restaurant where you could just hang out all day. The people there were wonderful, and I met some folks that I would run into later on in my trip. I rented a motorbike to go tour some of the local villages and a nearby reservoir, ended up taking a wrong turn, and found myself on this Indian highway with enormous trucks on all sides of me - kind of like a final exam for Indian driving. On the way back to town, I gave this Indian guy a ride to his house, and he invited me in for a drink of water. His entire family gathered around me and sat and watched me for about 10 minutes - very sweet and curious, and then it was time for them to get back to work and me to be my way. On the final day I went to the famous Hanuman temple up on a hilltop, supposedly his birthplace, and appropriately full of monkeys. Sunsets on the hills were a big event every day, with many people making the pilgrimage up for the amazing views.