We woke up late. Turns out that the alarm did go off, but Antoine decided to snooze it and no one heard the second alarm. Thanks, Antoine.
We rushed back to the rickshaw auto shop to get the parts that were supposedly shipped in today. Seems like the shop owner knew that a ton of people were coming in to buy stuff, so he raised all the prices. Some people noticed, some people didn’t. We grabbed our stuff and walked back to the hotel for breakfast.
After breakfast, we went to add some more stuff to the rickshaw. During our extra decorating, we got called to get interviewed, where some guys with cameras asked us why we are doing something this dumb. We gave our utmost genuine answers and went off to buy more things. We decided that we wanted more wood and bigger side mirrors. I learned that I cannot start this barely-vehicle. If I’m driving, one of the guys needs to help me. It’s pathetic. I’m also struggling with driving a manual. I miss my automatic Highlander so much right now. Not only is it difficult for me to start it, but it’s also very difficult to change gears every time I need to. We haven’t hit anything yet, but I’m pretty sure if any one of us is too, it would be Antoine. He thinks that this rickshaw can fit into any gap. After a very frustrating drive around Kochi, we switched off and I navigated. This way, Antoine went and bought wood to place on the floor of the rickshaw so nothing will fall out during our extremely bumpy journey. I sat in the back and took pictures of goats and cows.
By then it’s 4 PM and we go and bring back our rickshaw to its designated field. Antoine finds a way to attach the mirrors and we go and find dinner. Luckily, we drove past this crowded little food area, so we decided to go there to eat. Antoine got a sausage and mushroom with 4 cheeses pizza, while I had a chicken fried rice. Nothing was ordered to be spicy. Everything was a debatable « mild ».
After dinner, we showered and went to a Q&A session with the Rickshaw Run people. Cows have the right away. Ultimately we learned that we can take our time to enjoy the Indian scenery and still make the deadline, there’s no need to rush.
Tomorrow morning is when we start our 2500 kilometer journey. We will be as prepared as we ever can be.
-Jamie