So, we got up early as never before to try to make it to our goal for the day, Chitradurga. After some initial trouble with directions, something that would be the theme for the day, we made our way across the Western Ghats. Beautiful scenery and animals were plentiful, and we felt that we started our day on an incredible high note. Just as we stopped for a brief rest a gang of boys saw us, one of which climbed about 40 meters just to meet us. This of course deserved a June hat, which our sponsor had been kind enough to provide. We took a few more rest stops along the mountain range and tried to enjoy the nature as much as we could.
A few miles after the mountain range we joined up with team Teachers World Expedition, who had fallen a bit behind do to some engine trouble. We promptly drove on to the town of Chikmalagur, where Sebastian, Sofia and Andreas were invited in to a lovely Muslim family who made lunch for all of us. We ate the lunch along the way, and thus far everything was going according to plan, although we were slipping about an hour behind schedule.
The trouble started when we tried to make our way from our lunch stop to our proposed rest stop for the night, Chitradurga. No matter how much we tried to read maps, use iPhones or GPS, we could not seem to find our way there. It became pitch black, in a way you can only see in places without any electrical lights whatsoever. Having very little choice, we drove on to try to make it when mini-disaster struck. Our dearly beloved rickshaw blew a tire and proceeded to take a nose-dive into some well placed asphalt. This was all kinds of bad for the front suspension as it took the blunt of the force. After grabbing our spare and performing some low-level engineering we managed to get the rickshaw up and running. However, we had to drive the last 50 km at the manageable speed of 25 km/h since our breaks took a big hit as well. We made it to Chitradurga at 22.30, checked in to a hotel and the latest news is that Mr. Mechanic opens at 9.00 tomorrow. I guess we will know more then.
Also: You can follow our route at: http://bit.ly/9qrCES. We will try to update the map whenever we can, but our mobile Internet support does not extend that far quite yet.