YA-BA-DA-BA-DOOO (and a cappucino)

I know I have not written about places lately. Again, with Tricia here I have been both a bit less inclined to write, and super busy running here and there in South India. Anyhoo, a few days ago Tricia and I were thousands of kilometers, and several bus/train/rickshaw rides away in a place called Hampi. The idea to go there came after a suggestion by my friend Kalpana, as well as Lonely Planet. THANK YOU
KALPANA!!!

Hampi is a beautiful place with amazing temples surrounded by equally amazing rock formations. The region is made for discovering nature (rock nature), being in awe of the temples, and imagining of what would have been there before. For instance, the ruins of bazzars still exhist, thus allowing us to imagine the hundreds of people using shops everyday. You can still see simple, yet beautiful carvings on the sides of rocks, and tools that were once used for water or even a rock car with rock wheels-which actually worked! So

India, so Flistones. I found this entry in a travel site and thought it offered a good review of Hampi...

http://www.bootsnall.com/articles/04-04/vijayanagar-wanderings-hampi-india.html

For Tricia and me Hampi offered us a place to learn about how we like to travel, what we love to do, and how we like to experience another world. Hampi meant - the discovery of coffee, or better yet, the search for good coffee by any means necessary.

We started out at a place we had passed by on our way into the city. It boasted "cappucinos" and the site of little cafetera (the little
Italian stove top expresso makers) made our eyes twinkle with excitement. We ran to find a hotel, moved hotels, bargained, and landed in a place for R200/night. No hot water needed since Hampi's heat is like New Mexico's but in India. We showered since we had been in an DIRTY overnight train (worst than the one Tricia wrote about. Yes, there is such a thing) and got ready for our coffee.

We went to the little restaurant and ordered a pot and some puri for breakfast. We peaked to see how the coffee was being made, and suddenly the man appeared from the back of the restaurant with a tray with a cafetera, 2 glasses and hot milk. We were thrilled, but hesitant. After all, black coffee does not mean good coffee.

We meticulously measured the milk on each glass. Like brother and sister. You know, "I pour and choose the one you want." Then, slowly but surely we poured the dark, black, thick coffee into the milk and watched quietly, holding our breath, while the coffee mized with the milk. The milk turned a light brown, then it progressively turned darker until the process was over. We had the exact same amount of coffee on each glass, and we also have pictures to prove it. Then, we did a very important thing. We each held our glass, feelilng the warmth and power of the coffee between our fingers, and we closed our eyes, and we prayed. We prayed to Jesus, Abraham, Shiva, Moses, and even Juan Valdez. Then we slowly brought the coffee glasses to our mouths and took our first sip.

SCORE!!!!!!

It was so yummy. WOW. Sure it wasn't my mother's coffee, or Tonja's brew, but HELL, we are in India and we found one good cup of coffee. Beggers can't be choosers, and since we are choosers (we rejected many cups prior to this one) this was a true experience.

We drank that coffee like it was from the G-ds. This may be sinful to say. But that coffee was to us what I believe the waters of the Ganges are to Hindus - totally spiritual and washed away all past bad cups!!!

We celebrated that moment and we were so happy we did. We went back the next day and it was not so good. We then committed to trying every coffee place with a "cappucino" sign on it. Now, this is Hampi, little town in India, not LA. This mean 3-4 places. No made our cut, not even close. So, we settled for Nescafe for a while and then (because we are such hopeful souls) we went back to our place one last time and the coffee was good, not as good, but strong and with an attitude.

Hampi also marked the beginning of our swinging back into our addiction with a vengeance. Today, the mornings are tough and the afternoons hell. But we are managing. We now carry Nescafe, just in case. OK, while all the things on this last couple of sentences are
true we are also trying to slow-down. I (julio) have a goal to go back to tea between when Tricia leaves and Drew arrives. Tricia I am certain will go back to decaf. We'll see, but until then we are still in South India and somewhere we will find the "right cup."

Ooops, we gotta go, there is a place called Coffee.com around the corner and even though Tricia has been vomiting and I have had the runs for 24 hours we must have some joy in life...

"Into the Woods to Find the Giant..."
www.brazilbean.net