We cruise the waterways for about an hour in the morning, and we take in our last views of this remote life. Hard to believe that they bring in all the material to build nice houses, as well as all supplies other than seafood. I forgot to say before that beyond the riverside line of houses and stores are huge rice paddies.
After breakfast, the captain steers us back to our starting point and we rejoin our driver. 4 hours to our hotel for an overnight before departure to Male, the capital of the Maldives. Our driver is pretty much a maniac, honking more than the usual bear and trying to pass ever single vehicle we come up to. And I mean every one. It’s a real test for me not to yell out “we’re not in that much of a hurry” or, “need a lower gear when you’re trying to pass” or “what exactly was that honk for?”
Along the way, we notice lots of signs as well as little vans with huge speakers mounted on top for the playing of political speeches. Evidently either elections soon or some big convention for the communist party of India. There are red streamers along the roads, as well as hundreds of the good old hammer and sickle on red flags. Occasionally there are posters with pictures of Lenin and Marx, and I comment out loud when I see Joseph Stalin on some. These people must be in the dark about what that monster did to his people,otherwise I can’t believe they’d have him up there as a role model. Even say old Fidel on one, and a hand painted sign that said something about how the whole world wants the communist system. Do tell.
We arrived at the spot to catch a small speedboat to our hotel – the Estuary island resort. We stop to have a snack, play a few games of cribbage during. I won game #2! Watch out, now. Pretty nice surroundings and we settled into a couple of hammocks to read when we’ve finished lunch. Matt was determined to finish the Kite Runner, which I’d just bought him in the Delhi airport.
We ate dinner in the hotel restaurant because nothing else around, unless we wanted to try out a floating restaurant in the little lake) and had a quiet evening of reading. He’s read five books and I’ve read four! Up early in the morning to reverse transportation and get to airport around nine. Our rep wanted us to be there three hours early, but I put the kabosh on that idea!