Hampi, 2 days of rocks and temples

Hampi is very lovely! I took a group bicycle tour to more than 15 historic sites, each with jaw-dropping ruins, with still more to see. We saw columns, temples, statues of elephant and lion gods, palaces baths and swimming pools for the ancient queen (who was carefully guarded by eunuchs). The dry, hot, rust-colored granite boulders pop up out of the ground, with a lush river, green rice paddies and palm trees running through it all.

The town of Hampi is colorful and haphazardly put together in a fun grid. Mainly 2 story guesthouses, shops and rooftop restaurants, in turquoise, white and pink, it reminds me a bit of Capitola, CA only many local people live amongst the tourists. Hampi is a World Herritage site, and much of the land area has recently been marked by the state archeological government entity as historically protected, which includes an area of land with local housing, which is being demoloshed in phases, with a significant portion already razed, and rows of buildings standing as gutted shells. The bike tour guide, called Krisha, his family had lived next to the tall Virupaksha Temple for several generations. Their house is no longer there, and they were relocated to a rental house 4km away. Some families were given a small amount of relocation money, some were not. Some families were apparently given temporary housing in a currently opperating prison. I offered to help Krishna get his bike tour added to Tripadvisor and up on Facebook. I heard about it from other tourists in a restaurant, otherwise I never would have known about it.

Small children run up to me when I walk by, to say hello and practice their English by asking me for a "school pen". I bought a whole box of pencils yesterday, sharpened them, and have been giving them to local kids, along with "Happydent" gum.

I came across 3 young policemen at one of the monuments, throwing rocks up in a large tree to make mangos fall. They gave me a mango and I asked to take their photograph. They stood infront of a temple and proceeded to take off their belts and unbutton their pants infront of me. I made a funmy face at them and they realized what it looked like and turned around, just wanting to tuck their shirts in, to look their best for the photo. I tried to get an email address from one of them, but they didn't seem to have one, or know how to write it. I gave them some Happydent, and they threw the wrappers on the ground. I motioned and they picked them up. Even in this beautiful, natural, protected place, there is a lot of trash on the ground. I suggestes to Krishna that he organize a trash pixkup day, trying to convince him that the tourists would actually volunteer to pick up trash, and might even buy a "keep Hampi clean" t-shirt.