Hampi6 Nov 2009
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Hello from Hampi!
After a bus breakdown and 21 hours of travelling (for a 300km trip) we've finally arrived at Hampi!
But just to recap, on our last day in Mumbai we took a ferry from the Indian Gateway to Elephant Island, about 9km outside Mumbai. Arriving at the Indian Gateway felt a bit like walking out from the Big Brother House as suddenly we were swarmed by people, families, couples and kids asking to be photographed with us. It was funny and took us by complete surprise as we were bang in the middle of a busy tourist area. We wondered whether it might be because there seems to be quite a tiny flow of Western tourists in India at the moment. Most of the tourists on their way to Elephant Island were Indian and the photographing continued almost non stop the whole day. We saw some beautiful and majestic stone temple carvings and ended up decorating about a hundred family photo albums and Facebook profiles with our sweaty foreheads and au naturel travel look...
From the economic capital of India to the laid back beach paradise of Goa - our challenges suddenly took an animal form. On our first strokes in the Arabian Sea both of us shrieked - eeee jellyfish. We didn't get stung however and aren't quite sure why, but neither of us have ever seen as many jellyfish washed ashore as the following morning.
A few hours later, just before insect proofing our bed in the beach hut - and just after the electricity had stopped working after flushing the toilet - Elina spotted a frog staring at us from a pipe right next to our pillows. "Are frogs poisonous?" asked Karolina. Followed some frantic screaming, cross referencing the Lonely Planet guide, shining the torch at the frog and poking it with a two litre water bottle which was the longest item we could find in the hut (mis on mein yleishyodylliset kepit??!!) Finally it decided to move to more tranquil lodgings into our bathroom and we closed the separating curtain and went to a peaceful sleep. During the following days we got used to spotting the frog around our hut, obviously it had lived there longer than us. We stopped screaming.
One of the things to do in Goa is to go dolphin spotting early in the morning. We were persuaded that the most fun way to do this was to go kayakking so off we went to hire a kayak for two. After three hours of smooth paddling on the stunning shores of the Arabian Sea we had spotted zero dolphins, but had almost lost our kayak to the waves while taking a rest at the nearby Butterfly Beach. Lucky that Elina happened to open her eyes then not ten minutes later. We got a bit carried away trying to see the dolphins, and ended up paddling a lot further out than we'd realised. The way back was quite painful until we got an extra boost from singing Finnish sailing themed songs (and in the end any Finnish songs we remembered the lyrics to). So there we were, in the middle of the Arabian Sea in a kayak, two girls singing "R.A.K.A.S. kulta kultasein..." :)
On the beach we struck some unlikely friendships with the Indian women who were selling jewellery to tourists. After buying anklets and henna tattoos from them they sat down for the end of the day and chatted to us about their lives. Many of these women come from the north from Gujarat and sell self made jewellery during the high seasons in Goa. They can't read or write but they master some five languages each. How it is possible to learn a language without being able to read or write beats us and we wonder how far these women could go if they had the chance.
So we were delighted with the good news that we are able to complete the World Vision Sponsor visit that we have tried to arrange. Elina has been sponsoring a child in a scheme that supports a network of villages in Chhattisgarh for several years and it's looking like we will be able to visit the family and find out how the project works.
Now we're in Hampi for a few days and heading towards the south.
Until next time
Elliana and Kara
