Two U.S. students trapped in a hotel in India by marauding monkeys have spoken for the first time about their nine-day ordeal and how they survived without being able to twitter, use facebook or text, due to their being no cell phone coverage or "wifi" on the premises.
Alec Grey and Erica Worthklint, both 19, returned to Wisconsin Monday after meeting up with US embassy staff -- socially ostracized but otherwise in good shape, police said.
The two students, on a foreign study program in India with University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, had planned to sight see in the city of Chandigarh for 2 days only and then return to Delhi. But the notorious spider monkeys, that wreak havoc in the Punjabi city, trapped them in their hotel for 9 whole days.
"Unfortunately the monkeys would just not let us leave," Alec Grey wrote in an email to The Associated Press Monday.
He said the nights were tough to take because they had no idea who was doing well on American Idol, if anyone had "LOLed", what was happening on Jersey Shore, if they had any "likes" on facebook or if anyone had updated their status or posted something important, such as maybe "heading to the store - LMAO, WTF!!"
When they realized they were going to be stuck for 9 days they started to do the unbelievable - read books and actually talked to each other!
Greys's mother Lisa, of Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, said she panicked when she first found out her son had no way of texting or getting online.
"It's too much for a mom," she told the Spoof. "Especially when they're that far away. I just felt so helpless."
She had faith that Alec, an environmental science major, knew basic social skills to survive, she said, adding that Erica, who is studying graphic design, is a strong woman.
It wasn't until Sunday, Grey said, that the monkeys finally left them in peace. "They just left, as quickly as they had appeared."
US officials say the pair are heroes and that it goes to show that American teens can be resourceful "They made good choices, particularly by not panicking, they had TV and they had books, they also wrote letters home and sent postcards. It isn't ideal but any longer than 9 days without texting facilities and internet, well, this could have ended tragically."
