January 21, 2016
To Kotturu: drawing a crowd
"I'm feeling beat up, but this still beats having lots of traffic" Rachel says.
We are on a secondary road with the surface of potholes and patchwork asphalt except for briefly joining highway 151 with a nice surface. We go through small villages, the shops are lean but we do find water and cookies.
As we leave town this morning, we see many pigs rummaging in the garbage, a few chickens on the loose, an occasional cow and goat. We wonder about the pigs, most Indians are vegetarian, Muslims don't eat pork, and we've not seen pork on the menus. Whenever we stop, more and more people come close to us, curious and respectful. Motorcycle drivers stay riding next to us asking "where are you going?"
India is on a big safety campaign with road signs like "Obey Traffic Rules, Make Life Happy" and "Always Follow Lane Disciplines". On TV last night, a character in a movie was smoking and there was a small gray box with "smoking is hazardous to your health" displayed. Along the roadside, we see stalls selling motorcycle helmets and had read in a newspaper that helmets were now mandatory.
We are not certain if there is a place to stay in Kotturu, but we hope for the best and happy to find as we enter town the Haripirya Landmark Hotel. For 780 Rupees (13USD) we have a very nice room. There is no restaurant nearby, and we are ready for lunch. The owner sent one of his staff to get us a Thali meal takeout and delivered to our room, nice room service. The food is in a collection of small plastic bags and delicious.
We take the afternoon to rest, our room has a TV with a movie channel and discovery channel. Tomorrow Hampi and we'll take two days off the bike and go see more temples.
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Today's ride: 62 km (39 miles)
Total: 11,832 km (7,348 miles)
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