We started our final two days by leaving Mangalore and entering the state of Kerala. We are a somewhat motley crew limping towards the end.
This morning we crossed into Kerala and the differences were obvious... the landscape is now thick and green; really tropical with wide waterways. The religion has changed from Hindu to Muslim. Gone are the colorful saris and the women are now dressed in full black.
The men wear skirts (long or short).
And the wealth has increased dramatically... no more squatters beside the road. Houses have become fancy, multi-floored and decorated. And ... in an obviously desperate need to still express their adoration of color (since they have given up the colorful saris for plain black gowns).. the houses are all painted bright, gaudy shades...
What a difference just a few hours on the road can make.. it's like we've changed countries.
We are all looking pretty raggedy by now... the guys all have beards and we're downright scary by the end of each day.
We still draw a crowd whenever we stop... especially of schoolchildren. This group of girls were full-out giggly about getting their photo taken with me.
We are starting to see a lot of other Tuk Tuk teams on the road as we come into the home stretch. I wonder how many teams will actually make it to the finish line? We have to be on the road by 5:30AM tomorrow morning to hope to reach the end by dark... then straight to the party... and we fly out at 4:30AM the next morning.. so this will be our last few hours of sleep for almost 55 hours... off to bed quick.
This morning we crossed into Kerala and the differences were obvious... the landscape is now thick and green; really tropical with wide waterways. The religion has changed from Hindu to Muslim. Gone are the colorful saris and the women are now dressed in full black.
The men wear skirts (long or short).And the wealth has increased dramatically... no more squatters beside the road. Houses have become fancy, multi-floored and decorated. And ... in an obviously desperate need to still express their adoration of color (since they have given up the colorful saris for plain black gowns).. the houses are all painted bright, gaudy shades...
What a difference just a few hours on the road can make.. it's like we've changed countries.
We are all looking pretty raggedy by now... the guys all have beards and we're downright scary by the end of each day.
We still draw a crowd whenever we stop... especially of schoolchildren. This group of girls were full-out giggly about getting their photo taken with me.
We are starting to see a lot of other Tuk Tuk teams on the road as we come into the home stretch. I wonder how many teams will actually make it to the finish line? We have to be on the road by 5:30AM tomorrow morning to hope to reach the end by dark... then straight to the party... and we fly out at 4:30AM the next morning.. so this will be our last few hours of sleep for almost 55 hours... off to bed quick.
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