Tuesday afternoon, after one last American cheeseburger, Ray, Robert, Jose and I flew out of Houston on a nine hour flight to Amsterdam, followed by a two hour layover, followed by a nine hour flight to Mumbai, followed by an hour wait for luggage, followed by a three hour drive to Pune, arriving at our accommodation just over 24 hours after we left Houston, at 4am local time.
The drive to Pune was an adventure in itself - traffic laws seem to have little meaning in India. Even at such early hours in the morning, the streets were clogged with cars, motorcycles, and trucks - mostly trucks - all of which were taking the path of least resistance without regard to traffic lanes. Thirty minutes after our driver picked us up at the Mumbai airport, someone commented that we had not stopped since we started driving. Stop signs were nonexistent. Red lights - decoration. Slower traffic - had better stay out of our way. The real traffic laws in India seem to be:
- go wherever you can fit through
- flash your headlights to tell people to get out of your way so you can pass
- if the guy in front of you isn't doing what you want, honk loudly and repeat until the situation is corrected
The main traffic was made up of trucks (not 18 wheelers, more like old army-style trucks) that had been decorated with colorful paint jobs and outfitted with horns that played melodies (a la General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard).
We later learned that these trucks have no modern amenities: no hydraulics, no power steering, not much of a seat cushion, no radio, no nothing. The decorations and musical horns are the drivers' compensation. On the back bumper of almost every truck was painted the handwritten message "horn ok please," indicating that they would like you to use your horn to let them know you plan to pass. Our driver expertly maneuvered around these trucks, sliding from lane to lane (and even in the shoulder occasionally), passing within inches but never touching.
[I've got a video, I'm working on uploading it but it's taking a while]
Weaving through traffic on the road from Mumbai to Pune
There were trucks and cars parked - along with people, some standing, some sitting, some even lying down and sleeping - all along the road. At one point we stopped at a small gas station / convenience store / market for a snack, where we discovered Maaza, a delicious mango juice drink (product of Coca-Cola). After a few more hours driving, we made it to our home for the next two months. We had two rooms, about the size of a college dorm, with two beds and a bathroom each. We made plans to meet our host/guide, Ajay, the next morning for breakfast and went to bed.
The next morning I woke up feeling surprisingly refreshed from just a few hours sleep. The beds are stiff and the sheets a rough linen, but they're actually very comfortable. Ajay had called to let us know he couldn't make breakfast, so we planned to meet him for lunch and set out to explore. The weather felt a lot like Houston - hot an humid, but not too bad.
We met Ajay for lunch at a nearby restaurant (we had actually passed it while walking around earlier), where we had an excellent buffet of Indian food.
I don't know what any of this is, except the bread.
After lunch Ajay had to head back to work, so we wandered around for a bit more, but a pre-monsoon storm convinced us to head back to the guest house, where the power was out. Apparently on Thursdays the power is sometimes cut off between 10am and 5pm to conserve energy. As a result of the darkness and heat (no power = no a/c), we all ended up taking unintentional naps for the rest of the afternoon.
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