Between a Rock...

from the beaches of goa, we caught an eventful overnight bus to hampi. apparently in need of sleep, i had little problem curling into the shape of my seat and falling fast asleep. i awoke to a nearly empty bus to find that we happened upon a head-on collision b/w another tour bus and a goods carrier (dump truck). i felt guilty that i had slept through the first hour after stopping - assisting injured passengers, first aid. not that i could have been much help, but i guiltily felt some sense of responsibility.

anyway, the driver of the tour bus remained trapped by the crushed front end. with no cell reception, traffic not moving and in the middle of nowhere, the passersby were forced to take matters into their own hands. they tied a rope to the crushed metal at the front of the bus and a truck and after a couple of attempts succussfully freed the driver. so with no resources available (ambulance, emt's, police jaws of life, etc) at this location in the middle of the night, the man was carried to our bus to be taken to the nearest hospital (2.5 hrs away). 5 hrs after crushing his leg and merely 400mg ibuprofen later (he wanted no more), the man reached the modest hospital for professional care. thankfully, no one was critically injured. i sort of made an excuse to peek inside of the 5 room hospital (including icu) and was oh so thankful for the systems we have in place. i have been known to criticize our healthcare system, but i was immediately humbled...for our facilities, level of care, and availability. ours are not flawless, but our tax dollars do more than a decent job providing such necessary services.

and we made it to hampi (sort of middle south in the state of karnataka). our first day was slow after a long night, and our second day stifled by illness. but the past 2 days have treated us quite well. it is an incredible place of vast boulder fields larger than i have ever seen, and many of which are perched atop another mysteriously defying gravity. interspersed throughout these massive boulders are many many hindu temples and ruins dating back to the 1500s. and beyond that are banana fields, rice patties and small villages. the sunsets and sunrises (we did actually get up early enough to catch one) are out of this world. it is a beautiful landscape and is keeping us here longer than anywhere else we have been thus far.

the monkeys are showing themselves a bit more, and the mosquitoes are horrendous but the friendly locals and the views trump it all...and it is exceptionally cheap!