Hampi, India

Um, ok. Interesting day...not what I was hoping for since I have only been here less than a week, but here goes.....

Hampi is a very beautiful area with all the rock outcroppings that I mentioned yesterday, banana plantations here and there, temples popping up all over the place and stands of palm trees. I had a nice breakfast on the rooftop of the guesthouse today and then set out to walk around and check out some of the more prominent temples in the area. People don't get up too early around here, so it was nice and quiet along the sandy path that I followed along the river just a few kilometers outside of the village. I made it to Vittala temple after just an hour and then decided to just keep following the road and see where it would take me. The whole area is mapped out in my lonely planet book, and even if it wasn't it is impossible to get lost. I walked for another hour or so and any locals that happened to be on the road, whether riding a bike stacked with fire wood, or walking to the next village, ALWAYS walked alongside me for awhile and asked me my name and where I am from. I walked with 2 young men for about a half hour and they got a kick out of my age and the fact that I am not married. We stopped at a little hut for some chai- which is served boiling hot in tin cups the size of a shot glass. Another half hour up the road I came to a fork and a nice old man pointed me to the right toward Hampi, so I decided to cross over and walk where there was more room and all of the sudden this dog about 10 feet away growled at me and the next thing I know it lunged at my leg and bit me. Insert numerous, very bad expletives here. I was in such shock I still don't know what to say. I was in shock because there was absolutely nothing I did that would make a dog do that! Let me explain that all of the third world countries I have visited have dogs running around- Peru by far had the most dogs of any country, I would say 10 times what I have seen so far in India. I know it would seem like these dogs would be aggressive because they are trying to survive, but I have NEVER seen one act aggressively toward a human or another dog. They hardly even bark, they just lay in the sun and dig through trash and usually cower from people and animals. Regardless, it happened and I was so stunned that I just kept walking and my heart was racing and I was afraid to look. Some local on a bike must have seen what happened because he rode up behind me and pointed to my pants, so now I couldn't help it, I looked down and saw a big shredded hole in my favorite stretchy travel pants. dammit. but still afraid to see if there was an owie. There wasn't pain and I knew there wasn't blood. I walked for another 45 minutes before I stopped to take a look- not bad, but I could see the faintest scratch, which still means skin was broken and that can't be good. Insert more expletives here. So, I finally make it back to the guesthouse in Hampi where I spent the next 45 minutes scouring the internet about info on rabies and dogs and India. I got a Hep A and typhoid vaccination before the trip, but the travel consultant at Denver Health really didn't mention a whole lot about rabies. I found a statistic online that said that the chances of me actually getting rabies is only 20%. Then I read a statistic that said 70% of the world's rabies infections come from India. And of course, let's not forget that if left untreated, rabies is fatal. I was just in a huge city yesterday that would have a hospital or pharmacy! and I have a bus ticket to go to a city with a hospital TOMORROW, but based on all the other info I read, a rabies vaccination has to happen right away. And by the looks of Hampi, there isn't much in the way of medical services. But before I started switching my bus ticket to find the closest city with medical facilities, I decided to just ask around really fast to see if there was a doctor nearby. Turns out there was a doctor 4 km away in Kamalapurm, a village I had just walked through on my way back to Hampi after getting bit. I took a rickshaw back that way, and for some reason he dumped me off a couple kilometers shy of the town, so here I am walking again in the hot sun all nervous and wondering if I am making too big a deal, but I know I'm not, cause it is my health. The town is filthy and dusty and not listed in my guidebook, so i just start asking around for the doctor, hospital, pharmacy, any words that click. A very nice boy on a bike pointed me down the street and then led me all the way to one of the nicer buildings in town and I can tell by a sign painted on the wall that it is some type of business. The door was slightly open, so I peeked inside and it was just an old tiled room with a curtain, antique metal hospital bed, rusty sink, and a table with a bunch of vials and medicine bottles. Well, I found the doctor, but it was break time according to the sign (all businesses take a 2 hour break each day, kind of like a siesta), so I just waited outside on the wooden bench for about a half hour. Finally a plump woman probably in her mid-40s came from next door and I told her what happened. She washed the area with an antiseptic and then went and got the vaccination. WHEW. My guidebook says that rabies vaccinations are hard to come by in India, but the internet said that the vaccinations are quite readily available -and if I can get it in this crappy town, I'm sure it is available all over the country. Everything looked legit- the packaging was fine, the expiration date wasn't until next year, she kept it in the fridge, which is where it has to be kept according to the info I got online. She gave me the shot in my arm and now I have to get three more doses over the course of the next two weeks. That shouldn't be a problem based on the size of the towns I am visiting next. I think all in all, I am good to go. I washed the area right away with soap and water, and I got the shot within hours of the bite- there really is nothing else to do. Even if I had gotten vaccinated prior to the bite, it is still necessary to receive post-exposure vaccinations, the only difference is that you only need 2, not 3 shots. And my shot today was only $6. Good deal. AND, I did read that the severity of the bite has a lot to do with how many shots are necessary. I barely had a scratch- no puncture wound, no blood. I will even post a picture tomorrow so that any of you with vivid imaginations will know that I did not get mauled. All I can say is that I am now afraid of all animals in India and even as I was walking to dinner tonight I was sure that the water buffalo on the path was going to stab me in the face with his horns. And I swear if any monkeys get within 100 feet of me, I am going to cry. Ok. That is all for now. Mom and Dad, quit worrying.