February 3, 2024

Hampi Adventures

A little after 10:30 pm on Thursday night, GCIL students loaded a sleeper bus to make the 8ish hour bus ride to Hampi. I spent the first four-ish hours of the trip watching movies and trying to sleep. After a bathroom break at 2 am, we headed back on the road where I slept for at least part of the time, arriving in Hampi around 7 am. Stepping off the bus in Hampi half asleep was something out of a fever dream. The sun was just rising into the smoggy air over the rocky hills around us. There was gentle music blasting from the large gold temple at the end of the road as we walked to breakfast and dozens of people drawing chalk murals along the road.

After breakfast, we took a quick boat ride on the river nearby and then headed over to the temple. The highlight of the temple was the monkeys. One particularly curious baby monkey wrapped its little fingers around Ridgely’s phone, making it look like it was taking a selfie and then climbed up the bottom of my pant leg. Another outside the temple sneakily grabbed a bushel of bananas from an unsuspecting vendor and then proceeded to eat all of them on a pillar right above her head.

After gathering our shoes, we headed back to the bus, finding the two students who were not feeling well laying in somewhat unbearable heat on the bus. We quickly got the AC blasting and headed off towards our Zostel which because of the roads was closer to an hour and a half away instead of 45 minutes. This was a welcome rest for me and I assume a lot of the other students.

The Zostel is composed of a cluster of huts, a central indoor outdoor dining area and a wide variety of friendly animals including dogs, geese, bunnies, goats, and a cat.

After lunch and resting for a while, a group of us headed to a lake where “crocodiles haven’t been seen in years” for a pleasant swim at sunset.

We headed back to shower, eat dinner, and listen or dance to Bollywood music.

Now it is bed time, 9:30 pm, one of my earliest bed times in India to prepare for an early morning of visiting the Lotus Mahal and the Stone Chariot.

By Fiona