sacred.

It is evening in Hampi and we've just eaten our only meal of the day after traveling roughly eight hours from Goa by train. By now, we've become comfortable with public buses, at least in less urban areas where the buses aren't as crowded. Leaving the gates of Hampi Bazaar, we spot a rickety bus parked in a dirt lot, and eventually figure out that it will take us near our hotel in Kamalapuram for a mere five rupees. The bus has probably parked for a little awhile, as it is filling up, and within five minutes, the driver gets on and starts the engine. A uniformed gentleman begins to collect fares. The bus slowly creeps forward. All of a sudden, there is a commotion outside, dozens of people congregate around the bus, yelling, and a low, gutteral moan emerges above all the yelling. People on the bus scramble to the doors, and the driver backs up a few feet. Looking outside the door, we see what had happened. There is a cow under the bus, probably asleep while the bus was parked, and is now trapped underneath. Half a dozen or so men grab the cow by its ears and pull it out. Amazingly, it stands and walks away.

Sacred indeed is the cow in India; it was pretty amazing to see how quickly so many people rush to the aid of this cow under our bus. And among the sacred ruins of Hampi, the cows seem to have even more freedom than in the city. They own the roads, acting more aggressively, evidenced by our witnessness a cow trample a lamb on our rickshaw ride over.

Hampi is a World Heritage site, once the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire, and now home to nearly 100 identifiable monuments slowing decaying but still retaining a sense of magic and mysticism. Not only is the site of these temples emerging from the brown earth breathtaking, but the huge boulders that dot the landscape add another dimension to the awe one experiences from exploring the monuments. Moreover, the Virupaksha temple, towering over the center of Hampi Bazaar, is still an active place of worship. While tourists admire the beauty of such a place, for the devout, this place means much more, and it is truly humbling to experience it.

We spent about 24 hours in Hampi, and walked in the scorching heat to many of the temple sites, exhausting much of our energy and struggling to stay hydrated. There was a break for lunch, where a cold Sprite could not taste any better. And there was also a blessing by an elephant thrown in there (note: the snout end of an elephant trunk is moist and slimy, and the trunk itself is rough and hairy). By the end of the day, we were beat, dirty, hungry, and thirsty. And after some replenishment with "masala finger chips" (i.e. spicy fries) and water, we settled in for an overnight train ride to Bangalore, where we will now be enjoying a couple days of urban life before heading down to Kerala.