Lazy days in rainy Sanchi

Finally after weeks of draining rushing about we have found a sleepy little town to relax for a few days. We came here for the famous Buddhist Stupa I studied at the Museum School, though we've been so relaxed that after 4 days we still haven't seen it! We hadn't anticipated spending so much time here but we met a truly friendly Indian man who befriended us and has been showing us around. He's lived here all his life and takes an interest in cultural things that travelers enjoy as well so he often befriends the travelers who come to this town. Most fascinating are the ancient rock paintings he took us to the first day. This region is somewhat covered with them though the famous ones are further South. But since these are minor ones we got to have the place to ourselves for hours just relaxing and enjoying the ancient paintings and trying to figure out what they all are. We also saw an ancient temple that was reduced to rubble but it currently being excavated and renovated. When they finish I'm sure it will be amazing, though for now it is somewhat of a secret apparently it's not known about by any guidebooks, just a local treasure.

The nights we have been spending with him and his large family in their home. It's such a treat to be invited into someone's home. The family is very sweet. He has 3 kids, his parents and sister in law and her kids live there too at times making a total of 10-12 people on a regular basis! His 18 year old daughter has been teaching Hernando Hindi and I've been playing with Annu his energetic 12 year old daughter. She's a total riot. The girls covered my left hand and arm up to the elbow with henna one night and it turned out beautifully.

The last 2 days have been very rainy so we've been taking it easy and reading a lot. Tomorrow we hope that the weather will actually clear up enough to let us see the Stupa we came for in the first place before we head off to Mumbai for 3 days.

We are on our way South to the beaches. Though large areas have been absolutely devasted by torrential rains in the past few days. It seems that the areas we want to go to are ok though. We'll see!

check out some photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/37516374@N02/