There are days like today when the heat is fairly intense but there is little sweat arising from humidity. You can ride along on the motor bike and feel the dry heat like sand paper.
Either way, hydration is a constant demand which you cannot judge by how much you urinate. Too much is lost through sweat. You just need to keep drinking water – 3 liters a day is a minimum. Sounds easy but you can get involved in doing things and not realize that you haven’t had any water for an hour or more. Not good.
The other challenge here is dust – a red dust that arises from the roads like a fine grit that covers everything. When you go to wash, you discover that the tan on your feet wipes away – it was just a coating of the dust.
Between the dust and sweat, clothes need to be changed and washed quite regularly. It is not unreasonable to go through two sets of clothes in a day.
The dust is insidious. Even though the computer has never been away from our room or the courtyard which is nowhere near the roads, the screen gets covered in the red dust. Your eyes need to be cleaned each morning and you can imagine that there is really no orifice spared.
Those who have travelled in warms climes will know that heat also sucks energy. What you might get done in a day in a more northerly climate may take 2-3 days here. Working hours are different which is typical of hot climates – early morning starts; siestas and working more into the evening as the day’s heat lessens.
Last night, after a concert of India Ragas, we drove the scooters into town around 8:30 p.m. The temperature had dropped to the mid 20’s. It is hard to believe that I was actually chilled while driving along. It is a temperature back home that would be most comfortable.
We have been rather lucky with most taxi drivers although we have found a good one, Chakripani, and have stuck with him. They often work strange hours. For example, most planes in and out of Chennai (the nearest major airport) come and go from offshore between midnight and 6 a.m. The ride is some 3 hours away. Thus, taxi drivers are often up at night taking people to and from Chennai. They then grab a few hours and are on the road for day trips. Our driver manages to get sleep whenever possible. Here, in this photo, he is catching a couple of hours while we visit a heritage park.
Friends (newly and temporarily acquired during travels) found themselves stuck with a driver whose view of safety bears no resemblance to anything we might consider in North America. He had driven them to a town some 2.5 hours away on a day trip flat rate. When he found out what time they would be heading back, he then accepted another trip departing from back here – the only problem was when he needed to be here. He did the trip back in 1.5 hours venturing through towns at speeds, passing with narrow holes and generally causing our friends to fear for their lives. Frequent pleas to slow down were given cursory and fleeting attention. They were sweating for reasons other than heat. They were unnerved even the next day.
The taxi game here is a crap shoot. Short hauls are one thing but when faced with a long haul, it requires nerves of steel at times.
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