We spent several evenings of the first and second weeks of placement deciding where to go to for our first weekend off. We decided on a dream vacation by the sea at Mandermani beach. We made a reservation at Dream Hut resort, right on the beach. Dream Hut advertised a pool, a restaurant and air conditioning. We reserved a car and driver through IICP and packed our bags the night before so we could rush off after work for our four hour drive to our destination by the sea.
Half an hour into our dream drive, we got a flat tire. No problem, our spirits still up, Chelsea, Shereen and I stood by while Meaghan helped get the tire off. Now with spare tire, we were on our way singing “On the road again”, making jokes about how awful it would be if we got a second flat now that we no longer had a spare tire.
Ten minutes later we got another flat tire.
Spirits still high we sat in the car wondering what our driver (who spoke no English whatsoever) would do. He got out, removed the tire, sat on the trunk for a while hitting it with his fist, spoke with some onlookers and left for a bit, came back, fiddled with the tire some more and left again. At this point it seemed the word got out that four foreign girls were sitting in a car by the side of the road and slowly the crowd around our car got larger and larger as people stood around staring in the windows, some of whom were eating snacks like one might do at a movie theatre. We took pictures of them and showed them, took video footage to commemorate the moment, ate some awful fruit and masala flavoured freezies that someone bought for us, sang ‘Oh Canada’ for them (for which we received applause) and broiled in the heat of the car. So this is what it feels like to be in a zoo. Luckily no one brought peanuts to throw. Two hours later and our driver returns. Through the help of our friend Atul in Kolkata, several phone calls and text messages later, we find out that the driver has no money to replace the tire and we drive, literally, two blocks to the tire store and purchase two new tires with the promise that the cost would be deducted from the cost of our trip (in his defense this was not his car. He was merely the driver).
On our way, we half-heartedly sing “on the road again”. It is now dark outside and our four hour trip will now take three hours longer than anticipated.
We make it quite far this time before our next mishap. Tires in one piece we pull over in this tiny tiny town on the edge of nowhere. I look up to figure out why everyone is yelling “oh no!” to see steam billowing out of the engine. It seems that radiators need fluid in hot countries. Who knew?
I’m not sure how long this stopover takes but once we resolve this new issue and we are on our way, no one is singing “On the road again”. Meaghan and Shereen are about done by this time, the three of us smashed into the back seat of the car in the heat, our thighs and shoulders glued together with sweat.
We do eventually arrive at our dream vacation spot, nine hours later.
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