Friday, Feb. 23, 2007
Location: Kumta, Kanataka, India
Will be here until Sunday (Your Saturday)
Deistination: South

10) Palolem Beach > Aversa, Ankola Beach 66.9km
Aversa, Ankola Beach
Feb 21, 2007 – Feb. 22, 2007

11) Aversa, Ankola Beach > Kumta 53.3km
Kumta Feb. 22, 2007 - Feb. 25, 2007

Total bicycle km = 468km

Ankola Beach

Stayed a night on Ankola beach. A beautiful harbor with a very small fishing village. My tent was 200 feet from a school house, so I was visited all day by children, fortunately, there were plenty of fishermen around to keep the children in-line. The villagers helped me pitch my tent, and stayed with me for 8 hours, until 9pm when they had to sleep to prepare for early morning fishing.

Sometimes I want interaction with locals, and sometimes I just want to relax on the beach. I don't always get to choose. Some school children spoke English, but when they weren't around, the other children just sat around my beach towel and stared at me. I thought the children would get tired of this, but they don't bore easily. I was surrounded by children, inches from my towel, for hours. When I went into the water, the kids would get into everything and try to get into my tent. One local fisherman warned me to watch out for mischievous kids, and some locals who have bad habits may steal. When I left, nothing was missing.

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Kumta City

Kumta is 5km from a beautiful beach that nobody uses. Plenty of local shops and a relatively nice hotel on the highway named Sanman Lodge, which has a restaurant and is next to an ATM, so there's always a guard out front. The guard walked over to keep an eye on my stuff when I was on the 2nd floor checking in to the lodge. That's usual, especially when children are around, and children are everywhere. India's population is lower than China, but their children outnumber China's, and their growth rate is staggering. India will outnumber China in another generation.

Little Visitors

Concerning a high-priced hotel up north in Daman, I learned what most seasoned travelers probably already knew. Find out where the kitchen is and get a room far away from it, or you'll be visited by lots of little critters.

My computer is working okay, I didn't fix the problem with my power converter, but my computer didn't need it, so there's no problem. The only electrical equipment that can't handle 220V is my Garmin GPS, but that's not essential.

-Rick