Really nothing to report, apart from a totally jammy day. For once, nothing went wrong, all connections were made, everything worked out.
First off, (and this wasn’t luck), Virle had spotted a booking number for a proper express coach company – air con ‘n everyfink – and it worked! I rang, found myself talking to a guy whose English wasn’t all that, but when I was half-minded to give up, he talked me down and calmly confirmed seats 13 & 14 on the 12.40 to Columbo, which stops in just the right place for us.
Then we went to town and got a nice curry, at the place we’d used the other day. With an hour to kill, we went to the Juice Bar at the bus station, where they actually had juice. And very nice it was too. While we were there, a bloke rang us and said we should go to the bus, which we found really easily. Then the guy came round selling tickets, which proved to be half the price we’d been guesstimating – about £2.50 a head.
The bus proved to be comfy and quick – quite a relief after the long-distance local bus riding we’ve been doing lately – and we arrived in Palavira in plenty of time. Half an hour or so before the bus google said was the bus departed. Then the bus stop proved to be just round the corner – close and easy to find. I went off in search of roasted bread, which we’ve been told is the best thing since sliced bread, and while I was being given instructions to somewhere that did sell it by a nice baker man who didn’t, my phone buzzed and Virle said a bus had arrived. I belted back, and in two minutes we were on our way.
An hour or so later, and via a quick trip to the wine shop to get my fix, and a bakers, where we got some roasted bread (quite nice, but hard to see what the fuss was about, TBH), we got a tuk tuk ride to our hotel, which has turned out to be very nice – all low-slung huts with reed-topped roofs for the tropical feel, plus air conditioning. And friendly dogs, one of which seems to have adopted us, and parked himself on our mat.
Without wishing to tempt fate, nothing has gone wrong all day.
Not a lot of restaurants round here – it’s kind of a strange area, very much wind-surfing oriented, with dedicated resorts, and other facilities pretty thin on the ground – but Virle found a well-reviewed ‘Family Restaurant’ five minutes walk down the road, where I had some tasty chicken noodles. Very unspicy though, despite specific request…we think sometimes the locals just don’t take you at your word, and produce what they think tourists will be able to manage.
