how culturally inappropriate would it be to watch "superbad" on the train in front of this muslim family?

hampi is without a doubt a place to mark on your "places i need to see before i kick the bucket" list.

hampi is covering with mountains/hills that are composed of large boulders that look like they are about to fall off and end it all for you, but they actually have just been chillin' there for thousands of years. the boulders are supposedly some of the oldest exposed surfaces on the EARTH. one of the first things we saw when we stepped foot off our tiny motorboat, which took us to our island, was a bunch of guys with long-ass dreads and bouldering pads.

our guest house was filled with israeli, austrian, english, german, and many other tourists of countless nationalties. it was basically a back-packers paradise. the dining areas were open-air rooms with mattresses and pillows on the floor and low-lying tables to eat off of while you lounged on your mattress and watched the sun set behind the mountains and palm trees around you. not to mention the israelis and austrians would pass bongs around the tables before breakfast and dinner. they even passed them to our teachers (who look like they could be our age), who waved them off as some of the girls made puppy dog eyes at them, lips quivering and all.

at the houses around the guest houses people throw little get-togethers wherever there are ovens to make pizza and stoves to brew tea. people sell beer and pizzas out of their houses to make money and just lounge around. i spent one night at a spot across from our guest house and as we sat around by candlelight, people gathered with their drums and guitars for some jam sessions. it was probably the first time i got to hang out with people just my age and talk to others traveling around india. everyone was eager to share their stories and it was cool how people from england, israel, and also northern india found their way to hampi. one israeli guy sold remote control helicopters and other random toys in a mall in maryland during the christmas season for about a month or two and saved more than enough money to travel around india for like.. a year.

after soaking up the excitement of the social scene, i then went to the ecodaya wildlife sanctuary island. our group of 12 started out after breakfast on our third day in hampi, hiking about half an hour and crossing a river in a boat that looked like a giant, circular basket until we reached the main building run by a german guy named horst and his brother, uli (spelling?). the first thing we did was climb up a mountain of boulders to catch a nice, all-encompassing view of the island and form a better map in our minds of where everything was located. after climbing up and jumping between boulders that made some girls cry they were so high up, we reached the top and at that point i think the risks became worth it to all of us. it was so beautiful i started crying. i can safely say that it was probably the most beautiful place i've ever laid eyes on. all around us were huge boulder mountain ridges and you could see the city of hampi's main temple towering over the more developed part of the town. i just stood there, tearing up and trying to take in every little gorgeous detail of the rocks and trees that made the island so magnificent. i felt overwhelmed once again by india's beauty.

then we chose our caves. mine was called sunset cave and was on a separate ridge than a lot of the others.

that night i got sick with a stomach ache and a fever. i woke up and was totally dismayed at first. there i was on the first day of my solo and i was feeling like shit. after an hour of feeling bad for myself i downed some painkiller/fever reducers and made the hike back to the island. that night after eating a last meal of fruit salad we all set out for our caves, the sun setting as we made our mosquito net and straw mat beds. the first thing i did was place seashells in front of my cave- for some reason it was comforting to have them "guarding" the entrance to my cave, which felt so foreign to me.

the first night i woke up to monkeys running at my mosquito net. at first i was scared in the nearly pitch black darkness- what does one do when monkeys run up to their mosquito net and try to figure out what the hell is sleeping in their caves? after quickly convincing myself that monkeys are small and that i'd only ever seen them eating bananas and their own shit, i calmed down, made a raucous/some noise, and eventually they lost interest in me. i found some comfort in gazing up through the gaps in boulders above me, through which i could see the dark blue night sky and the bright little stars. after scaring off the monkeys and star gazing, i slept surprisingly well under that large boulder.

the next day i barely left the area in front of my cave. i watched the white clouds drift across the sky and imagined all the people i missed where looking up at the same sky. i sat on rocks that i thought represented different people in my life and thought about how much i appreciated each person. chris' rock was a medium sized one by the tree in front of my cave, mom's was a little ways out by the ravine, and dad's was by the edge of my cave's little "courtyard". i made little rock circles, watched the birds and lizards wander around, practiced chants i'd learned in auroville, and thought about stupid things and surprisingly significant things all day long. my mind was all over the place. at the end of the day i climbed up some boulders and watched the sunset on top of my cave. after the orange and pink faded out of the sky and the sun was completely swallowed up by the mountains in front of me, i made a small fire with twigs and grasses i had gathered earlier. then i slept through most of my last night in the cave- waking up to the occasional crash of thunder or wave of chills rushing over my body. in the morning i burned my last stick of incense in front of my cave, packed up my sweaty t-shirts and other essentials, lingered to watch the sun grow a bit higher in the sky, and then made my way back down the mountain. the first people i saw were alyssa and laura. they both were sitting on the covered rooftop of the island's one common space/building and we exchanged giant smiles of relief and happiness at seeing another human being!

the rest of my time at hampi was spent recounting more of my experiences with sheep herders, curious looking bugs, and dealing with being all alone during my solo and talking more with the people back at our guest house. even though almost everyone (save two people), including me, got terribly sick in hampi (the rivers are some of the most polluted in india apparently) i still look back at that time fondly. with that said, i think the couple of girls who are now covered in full body rashes may think differently. all in all, the island was beautiful, but dangerous.

i've been back in auroville for the past six days now and things are a bit of a mess here. a cyclone hit this week and tore down about twenty huge trees at our guest house. one smashed through our bathroom, tearing down the new walls, and another demolished the flimsy hut behind our library. luckily the storm has passed, no one was hurt, and the owners of our guest house are getting help cleaning the place up. for the next couple of weeks i'll be staying at evergreen- which is a community i don't actually know much about. mayana, crystal, and i, along with four girls from the other u.s. living routes group, will be helping with the deep ecology workshops and enjoying what auroville's "green belt" has to offer. solar power, wind-powered water pump, and more intense communal living- here i come!

some other things i've learned while traveling:
watching "superbad" on your teacher's laptop on an indian train is awkward and probably culturally inappropriate in most cases.
packaged "pineapple" flavored cookies in india are radioactive green colored and do not sit well on an empty stomach.
monks that live in huts on the top of holy mountains are quite hospitable. chai and bananas are to be expected.
if an indian women sits on your bed on a train in the middle of the night while you are sleeping to wait for the next stop- it's perfectly acceptable. move over. a little to left please.
the guy screaming through the aisles on the train is trying to sell you chai- don't be alarmed, even though it's like.. 6 A.M.
there aren't many american tourists in india.
most people think coffee only comes in a package labeled "nestle instant coffee".

i still feel like i haven't even scratched the surface of the what india has to offer. and neither have the backpackers who have been traveling around here for years. there is always something surprising around the corner- like a cyclone that takes out the power and water for several days or a huge community of hippies in the middle of nowhere. there is always a lot of hidden beauty to dig out amongst the sketchy shop owners and waste-filled roads (and i say that with a lot of respect for india).

but i miss the u.s. more and more! i can't wait to be back for the holidays!