Source: Mid-Day

Vishnudas Chapke, 35, a former journalist from Mumbai, had set out in 2016 hoping to be the first Indian to travel around the world by road. He seems to have had no idea how tough it was going to be, because today that record stands to be abandoned. Chapke has found himself stuck in Costa Rica for the past 47 days, struggling to get a visa for Nicaragua, which is his next destination.

Chapke said the Nicaraguan visa will take six months to arrive, while his Costa Rica visa expires in the next two weeks. "I have been following up with the authorities for a month-and-a-half now. Unless I get help soon, I may have to compromise my record and take a flight to the next country or return to India," a dejected Chapke told mid-day. "If I had taken a US or European visa from India itself, I could have directly entered Nicaragua. Now, I have to take the long route," he said.

Chapke has a visa for El Salvador, his pit-stop after Nicaragua, but needs to pass through Nicaragua to get there, or he will have to fly there, defeating the purpose of his trip. Costa Rica is surrounded by Panama in the south, the Carribean Sea in the East, the Pacific Ocean in the West and Nicaragua in the north.

Chapke has already tweeted to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, the local Indian embassy and even the Obama Foundation, but has got no response yet. He said the Mumbai Press Club has helped arrange for letters of recommendation from the state government and bureaucrats.

Chapke said, "I was to complete this trip in two years but am running way behind schedule. With the current speed, I will not be able to complete this even in five more years."

Chapke said he has been volunteering at a hostel in Costa Rica to keep expenses down. "I help in the kitchen or with housekeeping for five hours a day in exchange for a bed," he stated in an email to mid-day.

He said, "India has a record for circumnavigation by sea by Captain Dilip Donde and Commodore Abhilash Tomy. The Navy women's team Tarini is trying to accomplishing the same feat. If I complete my journey, India will have a second record: circumnavigation by land," he said.

Read more >>