Falling Off The Radar Feels So Nice..

It's been a true holiday here in Hampi. Fred and I met a couple of very unusual German journeymen and we've spent the last week on the other side of the river swimming at the lake, climbing around the rocks, visiting the Hanuman Temple (579 steps!), eating loads of delicious bananas and coconuts, exploring ruins, lounging on the rocks at the waterfall and walking walking walking many kilometers each day to each of these wonderful places, shanti style along dirt roads and banana fields. Being in the nature is, for me, being next to God. And each spectacular sunrise and sunset fills me again with gratitude and appreciation that my life is of such high-quality. I can only conclude that my past lives were extremely virtuous..

These journeymen (wandergessel) practice an oral tradition going back to the middle ages. They travel solo with only a handful of belongings and look for places to practice their trade - one is a bricklayer and the other a roofer. At first glance they look like they might be Amish, or Orthodox Jewish, or old-style cowboys. I've never met or imagined people doing this and their simple lifestyle with it's many rules and guidelines inspires my respect. There is, of course, much more to the tradition but my brain is on holiday mode and the prose is not flowing whatsoever.

Last night we slept on the rocks at the waterfall, an eerie moonscape of a place that defies description. Away from the rickshaw wallas and electricity, we sleep at 9pm and wake at five. How I long for the solitude and inaccessibility of an island! I feel my most natural in this environment, and I'm much healthier, energetic, peaceful and natural now that I am far away from Delhi and the western pace of office life..

Fred left for Gokarna yesterday, a beach in North Karnataka, where I will meet him in some days. I still have another day at the lake and another day on the motorbikes before I'm ready to say goodbye to Hampi, a truly astonishing place that I could easily enjoy for several weeks more.

I had been a little sad that my holidays would be spent alone this year far from the islands, but now it appears my German friend (last seen in the village with Maria) may join me for a motorcycle trip through Kerala! This last week has reminded me again that I need to be very careful who I choose to spend my time with, seeking only those people who inspire me to be better, and through God's grace I am well-stocked!

In the last days it has occurred to me that I am concluding my first year of travel, and in many ways it feels akin to being enrolled in a graduate program - graduate school for "life." Mother India has many things to teach me, things I will carry with me throughout my life. Now that my first year is coming to a close, my introduction to life on the road is nearly complete. And next year promises to be an exceptional one..

hugs and kisses,
a smiling, sun-tanned, rock-climbing, banana-munching,
LMA

ps I got bitten by a greedy monkey!! At first I was quite annoyed, but I somehow managed to forgive and forget, and the infection was very tiny anyway.. :) I guess these things have to happen some time!