Hampi

September 16th 2010

Most amazing day ever.

We arrived in Hampi this morning at 7am from Hyderabad.

A bit about Hampi
Hampi is a tourist hotspot, luckily we are here in the low time for tourists.

Many rock climbers come to this area because of the amazing round piles of rock. When I saw pictures of Hampi before I arrived, it didn't look special at all, but being here, it's really hard to not look at these huge hills without amazement. The rocks were formed by volcanic activity thousands of years ago, and have been shaped by water and wind since. It's incredible because, there are so many rocks that are balancing on top of each other. Many places there are 4 or 5 huge boulders balancing on top of the other! Apart from the amazing geology the ruins of the old Kingdom of Hampi are more than 500 years old. I've also heard of a village nearby surpassing that age by another 9,500 years!

The locals say that Hampi was the birth place of Hanuman, the Hindu monkey god. Hanuman is the devoted servant of Ram, and he is known for his selfless service.

Our day off in Hampi
When we arrived we drove through the old kingdom of Hampi, the ruins surround all of the present buildings and businesses.



In order to get to the eco-resort that we will be staying at we had to cross a river. We crossed the river on a small boat, with 8 foreigners, who were either tourists or backpackers.



From the middle of the river.



Once we arrived to the other side of the river, we ate a restaurant. It was the first time I saw eggs and toast on a menu! Definitely a bit westernized. At the restaurant I saw my first elephant!



I saw it across the river we just crossed. Apparently this elephant lives in one of the old temples, to benefit the tourist industry.

We finally made it to our Eco host site. Last year Rico built a wetlands for Bobbi, the man who owns the resort. So this is not so much a business visit as it is, a friend reunion and a bit of a vacation for Ameli and Rico.

After we arrived, Bobbi took us out in his jeep to see the wetlands. Rico hadn't seen the site since last year when everything was being worked on, and there was only dry soil to work with.

The following pictures are from the drive to the wetlands!





The drive to the wetlands was a crazy one! We drove up a stream, rocks and all!!



and these pictures are from the easiest part of the drive!!

We finally made it to the wetlands that Rico made a couple of years ago.



This area used to be completely dry! Now it's completely part of the landscape and we saw monkey's come drink and hang out by the edge of it. We kept our eyes peeled for leopards and tigers, but we didn't get lucky.

On the way back to the resort, we got stuck in the rocky segment of the stream. Rico and I had to get out and push. In the middle of a raging stream! However, no worries! We made it out alright!

Afterwards we saw a dog with a huge spike collar! It must have had 4 or 5 rows of foot long spikes!.. okay so maybe 6''.. but still the collar was huge! Bobbi says that it's to protect the dog against the tigers.



We came back to the resort, met up with a bunch of Bobbi's friends, and then we started the hike up to his cave home!

We hiked through the wild country of big cats and alligators.. First we rode a round basket boat across the river.







7 people per boat, one of Bobbi's servants took us across. We hiked across 2 creeks, in search of crocodiles.. we found the tracks of a small one.. but never saw it.





The cave was amazing! It was a maze inside layers of boulders. And the balcony of the home was the top of the boulder, a magical staircase from the inside of the cave wrapped itself up and around the boulder to the top!!

The view was incredible.

These pictures do not do the view justice. Just so you are aware! :)











Trying to spot crocs from the top!


On our way back to the resort, just as we were about to take the little round basket boat back across we spotted otters on the other side of the river playing! I didn't realize how huge they were! They looked about 5' long! There were about 7 and they were running up the side of the river bank and then sliding and rolling back down the river bank over and over again. It was so cute to watch it almost beat the cuteness of when puppies can't control how much they slide on linoleum floor. Okay so maybe just as cute. So cute!! :)

These creatures are said to be super shy. It was even the first time that Bobbi had seem them, it took 8 years!!! So, we felt pretty blessed!

We got back to the house/castle/resort.. beautiful area. Rested a bit, and went out to sit at the campfire, the barbequers made 'poppers' kinda tasted like a sardine but was a really thin crispy tortilla cracker. They also made these tasty spicy potato cakes with cilantro and lime.

A bunch of musicians came to visit, and there was a jam session involving african drums, sax and a keyboard!

Dinner was eaten at midnight, which is actually common to do!