February 8, 2016
to Rajapur: Off the beaten track
"Welcome to India", a man says as he stops his car, rolls down the window. "Thank you" we say. What a contrast of hospitality from when we arrive in Rajapur at the Fruitland Hotel and are told they are full. We'd heard from other cyclists about when off the beaten track hotels didn't want to deal with the paperwork for foreigners and would say they were fully booked. This is our first experience with difficulty finding accommodations.
We cycle through a few backroads out of Devgad to connect again to NH4. The scenery stays the same with mango groves and lava rock fences. At the junction with MH 115, we stop for break at a bakery. Our stomachs are still a little upset so instead of chai, we go for a sprite. Across the road are a lineup of tuk-tuks. When we crossed into the state of Maharashtra the tuk-tuks tops changed. No longer looking like bumblebees with the black body and road paint yellow top, the tops are now in pastels of purple, cream, white and peach. Another change the passenger can hop on and off on both sides, not just the left side.
After about 20kms we drop down and cross the Vaghotan River. A descent to a river is followed by a climb away from the river. We reach the junction to MDR 61 where the longest climb of the day starts.
Junctions are the predictable places to find food stalls, where buses stop and tuk tuks hang out for passengers, there are plenty of stalls, so we take a break. Rachel buys two lemonades. The women cuts a small lemon and squeezes the juice into a glass. Adds a few kernels of sugar then from a cooler dips a metal cup into a liquid that she pours into the glass. Then from another cooler, she grabs a cold bottle of water and fills the glass to the top, takes another cup over the top and shakes the mixture. Very refreshing.
Almost to Rajapur, we can see the town across the valley. To get there we drop down into the valley then climb back up to the edge of town. When the hotel said there was no room, we ask a tuk tuk driver if there was another hotel. They indicate the direction down the hill toward the center of town. And it was a steep long hill down. After several more inquires about a hotel, we finally locate it. Also, full. Until a guy who spoke good English intervened for us.
"You are away from the tourist areas and in a village" he says. First, we would need to go to the police station, but then it was OK to go the room first, and we needed xerox copies of passport and visa and they would call the police for us. A women mopes the floor to clean the room, and we settle in very happy that we have our own sheets! We used the sleeping bags stuffed into our pillowcases for pillows, and hung up the mosquito net. Surprisingly, for a room that was only 500 rupees, we had a hot water shower.
For lunch, we take a tuk tuk back up the hill to a restaurant we saw by the Foodland Hotel. Another example of India hospitality, a man talks with us and then when he leaves he says, "you're guests in India, your lunch is paid for". We relaxed for a few hours, our room has a TV with movie channel! At dinner time we repeat the tuk tuk ride to the restaurant for some of the chinese noodles we saw on the menu.
When we returned from dinner the power was out, so we read by our headlamps. Tomorrow Ratnagiri, a larger town and we'll decide if we need a rest day.
Today's ride: 55 km (34 miles)
Total: 12,548 km (7,792 miles)
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