rootlessdreams

Yeah, enough said.  This place has been amazing and horrible all at the same time.  After almost 2 days of traveling via plane, we arrived in Chennai around 3:30 am.  When we walked out of the airport, the only thing I can relate it too was when I took the Chinese Bus Line to NYC and was dropped off in China Town.  It was like that but on a level about 1000x more crazy.  We spent only 1 day there but somehow it seemed like 3.  Again after about 2 days of travel via bus, we arrived in Hampi.

Hampi is actually really nice.  There are cool temples and monuments to check out when you are not climbing.  The atmosphere is really chill and it is just a beautiful place to be.  Climbing is difficult.  You can get an hour or two around sun rise and again at sun set.  The rest of the day, you just hide away in your hammock to escape the sun.  I think we came at the wrong time b/c it is definitely extremely hot.  I’m sure around December it will get better. 

I haven’t done too much climbing because of a finger injury but I’ve consumed my time with my camera and hammock.  Life is not so bad……boring at times b/c I can’t climb, but I’m still in India.

We took an unexpected epic trip to Goa after about 4 days in Hampi.  I can’t go into details of that adventure but I got through it.  I made some new friends, learned some valuable lessons, and got see some beautiful things.  We only stayed 3 days and were back to Hampi after a truely epic departure.  Long story short:  no bus or train back to Hampi for at least 3-5 days.  We found this out after checking out of our room and heading to the bus stop.  We ended up taking a taxi at 11pm all the way back via dirt roads with speedbumps and potholes for about 12 hours.  Miserable doesn’t explain the ride at all.

India has been the best and worst experience of my life.  It’s like taking everything you love and everything you hate and cramming together for a beautiful experience leaving you smiling and crying.  It has only been 2 weeks but it has felt like 4.  I’m not sure if that is a good or bad thing. 

As of now, I will be staying in Hampi for a while.  There is talk of some traveling to some northern parts…..we’ll see what happens.  I do want to thank Glen and Gina for the amazing recommendation to come here.  It is just as you said…..

I’ll try and update again very soon.  Much love from India.

-Matt