Hello from Kochi!
Hello from sunny, hot, and mildly humid Fort Kochi!
After 40+ hours of travel by car, two planes, a bus, and countless minutes of lost wandering in Fort Kochi, we finally stumbled across the Rickshaw Run headquarters yesterday afternoon. And by "stumbled across" we literally mean "stumbled across" whilst fruitlessly searching for our homestay. After taking a turn into a back alley near a beach, we emerged and *queue angel chorus* the headquarters magically and miraculously appeared at the end of this particular side street. Backs sore from carrying our packs all around town and clothes soaked with sweat from the this-is-definitely-not-Wisconsin winter heat, what a welcome sight it was.
At registration we checked in, signed waivers, took a look around and had an "oh my god we're actually doing this" moment once or twice. Okay, maybe most of my afternoon was spent alternating between "Holy cow it's really hot here", "We could use some snacks", and "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod I can't do this. Hannah, yes you can. WHY? Why did we sign up for this? THEY DRIVE ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE ROAD ARE YOU CRAZY?! Breathe, Hannah, breathe. You're good. We're good. It's all good." The boys (Noah and Joey) seem unfazed by the task at hand.
Now for one of our blog features called "Three people answering questions about stuff", where your three favorite Book Tuk members answer made-up questions about stuff. It's pretty straightforward.
**Now that you're in India and you've seen the lay of the land and your rickshaw, what's your biggest worry?**
Hannah: Driving on the left side of the road in a country that doesn't really believe in traffic signals (i.e. everything is done by the "(s)he who honks the most, wins right-of-way" system). *Don't worry Mom and Dad, it'll be toooootally fine. No really, I mean it.*
Noah: Contracting malaria. Nicknamed the Malaria Mobile, our rickshaw was parked in a shaded area in the lot, making it a mosquito heaven. Don't worry folks, we've all got malaria meds and we're taking them religiously.
Joey: Nothing. His confidence in our team is astounding (some would say foolish) and he thinks we'll be (mostly) unstoppable. Not knowing how to drive a rickshaw? No problem. Overwhelming jet lag due to an 11.5 hour time difference? Bring it on. Side mirrors that don't work? We didn't need them anyways.
And that concludes our blog post for the evening. Many more to come. Thanks for reading and best wishes from Fort Kochi! Love, Hannah, Joey, and Noah - your Book Tuk family
