Hampi : Waterfalls & Waterholes

 Since there was so much to explore in Hampi there were tons of motorcycles to rent.  Our second day in Hampi we decided to rent one, find some water to swim in, and save ourselves from the heat.  We had heard about a waterfall to hike to but only knew the general direction it was in.  So Landon being Landon, wanted to be adventurous, explore, not ask anyone and find it on our own!! I was fine with it until a random man stopped us to warn us of alligators and said he will take us if we pay him... just like everyone else, we didn't know if we could trust him, so we declined and kept on hiking.  While we were going through grass as tall as us through swamps and rivers I was freaking out now knowing about alligators, but I pushed through for Landon because I knew how much he wanted to have fun and find the waterfall.  After about 1 1/2 hours of hiking we came across a waterfall amongst beautiful huge black rocks! I don't think it was the one everyone was talking about, but it was water and we were ready to swim.  The water was a bit orange and had lots of fishies (which give me the creepies), but it was refreshing and well worth the hike.  On our way back I was quite proud of myself because I don't necessarily think of myself as the adventurous-hiking-in-the-middle-of-nowhere type, but that was one of the best days and am glad for Landon in my life to push and challenge me! :)

Later that day we were driving a few miles outside of Hampi to explore some more!  As we drove past all these boys swimming in the waterhole, Landon was contemplating turning around and swimming with them.  Tossing up the option of having the experience with these boys vs. the thought of diseases in the water, Landon quickly turned around and hopped off the bike to jump in.  The boys were so overly excited and full of joy when they saw he was going to swim with them, I'm not sure how many whitey tourists have swam with them in their brown waterhole.  I loved watching the boys get so excited and seeing their mothers on the other side of the bridge with huge smiles on their faces.  As we drove off Landon told me that those were the experiences that make him want to travel more.