Another World Heritage Site
Several travellers that we met while in Goa recommended that we visit a place called Hampi in the neighbouring province of Karnataka. After having suffered the overnight bus ride from Mumbai, we were understandably less than anxious to repeat the experience but decided we really couldn’t miss it.
Luckily, our bus experience was considerably better owing to better seats, open windows and a direct connection. We arrived at this tiny place, which is mostly World Heritage Site, and had a couple of enjoyable days visiting the various pretty temples and hiking around the village and the river that flows nearby. It was very peaceful, a place where the power goes out regularly, the cows and dogs wander in the streets and the people still use the main temple and the 13th c. bazaar.
The rooftop restaurant of our guesthouse afforded a great view of the largest temple in the village but also had a view onto the patio of a family living on the top floor of the next building. It was interesting to see a bit of their morning routine as we ate our breakfast and they ate theirs. There was a small outhouse-style bathroom on their roof which we identified by the mirror tacked up outside it and the toothbrushes resting on a ledge of the ancient wall. One morning, we saw a woman carry a heavy bucket out of the bathroom and then noticed that it contained a small girl. It was her bathtime but she kept getting distracted by her older brother playing with a beach ball nearby. Eventually, the bath was forgotten as she stood up in her bucket and called for her brother to bring her the ball each time she tossed it away.
The next morning, we watched a troop of monkeys visited their patio. No-one was outside so the monkeys helped themselves to a bit of the left over food on the table and one of them couldn’t leave the mirror alone. It was funny, but we were helpless to stop one male from gently pushing the empty Coke bottles onto the floor and watching them smash. Finally, a woman inside came out with a stick and chased them all away.
That was our big entertainment as the village is “dry” and we won’t see any alcohol until we are back in Goa.
P.S. We just saw a pig eat a dead cat in the street.