February 2, 2016
to Panjim: two hills to the city
"One of the wisest decisions made has been stopping yesterday in Colva Beach" says Rachel after the first hill climb and we are figuring out the crossing of the busy NH 17B to keep on a secondary road. Then the second hill back to NH 17B and the busy traffic into Panjim. Traffic is easier to deal with when not at the end of a long day.
Cycling on the sidewalk of the bridge over the Zuari River, we head to an area that has some recommended guesthouses. The first one was 2900 rupees ($45), "it'll be hard to find something under 2000Rps," says the owner of the guesthouse. Patrick walks around the area checking other guesthouses while Rachel watches the bikes. He found a decent room at Orva's guesthouse on the 31st of January street. The room is clean, fan, self contained bathroom, small balcony for the bikes, TV and a good location, for 1000Rps. More rupees left to spend on good meals.
Our sim card is still not activated, so a priority is to find a Vodaphone Office, not just a shop that sells data. Patrick asks at a random cell phone shop where a Vodaphone office is located, also to have the man check how much data is on the sim card. The complication is our tablet cannot make phone calls which is how to activate the card. He checks by putting the sim card into his phone, yes the data is still there. We walk on with the directions given to the Vodaphone Office, needing to ask a second time for directions. It's hot in the sun. We walk and walk, finally within sight of the office, Patrick turns the tablet back on....and there we have it, we are connected.
Tomorrow is a rest day and time to plan the route in to Mumbai.
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Today's ride: 36 km (22 miles)
Total: 12,353 km (7,671 miles)
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