Heading Home

As I lay in a very cramped bed on a sleeper bus hurtling (at a maximum speed of 40 km/hr) down the "highway" from Hospet to Goa last night I wondered how it had come to this. You see, I don't do night buses, particularly those which negotiate roads with speed bumps so large that hitting them at 10 km/hr throws you out of bed. Instead of falling asleep I carefully went through all my long distance bus rides in my mind, and realised that I haven't taken a night bus since Palenque-Mexico City ten years ago.

But I found myself on a night bus because there were no tickets available for the train to Goa where I have a train leaving this evening for Trivandrum - the final destination before I fly home on Tuesday. I was feeling pretty low after having to leave Hampi, and all the great friends that I have made. It was hard knowing that it would be a long time before I saw them again, if ever.

Mind you, having a common interest in climbing make it easier to catch up. Conrad and I are making vague plans to go sport climbing in China this time next year, and Pete, Conrad and I have locked in plans for returning to Hampi in two year's time. Both trips will involve fireworks. Shitloads of fireworks. We have pledged to save our spare change over the next couple of years to fund an enormous fireworks war chest.

So, I am now at the beach in Colava, which is about five km down the road from the transport hub of Madgaon. I have to wait until 11pm for my train to Trivandrum. From there I have a flight home on Tuesday, though I think that when I arrive on Wednesday I will be spending all day sleeping... I will see the folk back home on Thursday.

A Hampi Day

On my third-last day in Hampi I woke up at a quarter to seven, which was good because we were meant to meet up at 6:30 to go to Sector E (with so many boulder fields, some of them are bound to get lame names). Pete (he puts the pump in Pete Pump) was looking a bit rough around the edges after a few too many beers with Duncan the night before, but he was there, leading the way with his brush stick (bamboo pole with brushes attached for cleaning hard-to-reach holds). Also in the group were Joana and Camilla from Switzerland and Norway respectively and Dean from Canada. Conrad is soft (don't let his 6'4", 200 pound frame fool you, his mother obviously hugged him too much as a child) so he rode is motorbike. We grabbed idli (steamed rice cakes) and chai for breakfast as we walked.

The first thing that you see at Sector E is the ninety degree arette, a 5 metre high 7a/v6 climb on the intersection of two flat, vertical faces that were formed when a large boulder was split for stone blocks. The climb is up the almost-square edge where the two faces meet, with a few crystals and small crimps on the faces being the only other holds. I had already visited the area twice to try and climb it, and this was my last chance before I left. I spent an hour trying with little success, before a group of Spaniards turned up and showed different approach to climbing it. By then I was tired so I took half an hour off to watch people climb some other things before returning to try the new approach.

On my first attempt I got very close to the top, past the hardest part, when my foot slipped and I fell quite a long way (apparently I made a very funny noise). I had a couple of holes in two fingers that had to hold a sharp hold each time I tried the climb, so I taped them up and finally pulled it together to climb my first 7a... which was a pretty big deal for me because I had been aiming to climb 6a when I arrived in Hampi. In the mean time Conrad had sent Kundalini Rising, v8, with a big flap of skin missing of his finger (I take it back big fella, you are far from soft). Camilla was suitably impressed, because she dropped us and got a ride home on the back of Conrad's bike.

To celebrate I had beer and baked beans for breakfast, and was seen wandering off to have a nap while muttering about sore fingers. When I woke I wandered over to "the lounge" (the hammocks between Conrad's hut and the girls' hut), where we watched a climbing movie (such things exist and would make no sense to anyone who doesn't climb).

Some Australian friends, Alistair and Katherine, who we met in Nepal had arrived in Hampi and were staying at the Goan Corner. So, for the afternoon I went out for some fun and easy climbing with them and Joana. We returned as things were getting dark, which made the crossing of the rice paddies a little treacherous. It was time for a shower then dinner and an early bed time (made earlier for me by a couple of extra celebratory beers), ready for the next day of climbing.