Our driver, Burta, is an amazing young woman (of 55). A mother of two and grandmother of four…a taxi driver and caring for her mom…she set off from Perula to pick us up in Melaque and then return to Perula; despite the major tanker truck accident and warnings the highway was closed. True to form, she convinced the chap holding back traffic on her end of the closed portion, to send her via a rough path down around the accident and back up onto the roadway…and she arrived at our address within 20 minutes of when she had predicted she would arrive. We loaded all our stuff, including two suitcases, two backpacks, one styrofoam cooler and two grocery bags with the dregs of liquids (of the sipping sort :-) into her trunk and settled in for the drive. Burta is an excellent driver and good conversationalist and when we got to the spot where the journey fizzled to a stop at the end of a very long (like a km long) line of big trucks and a few cars…our euphoria slowed down too. The head of this very long line of stopped vehicles was, of course, the accident scene where the bridge was damaged and impassable. Dusk settled in as we sat, telling stories and learning more about each other. As time dragged on and the daylight began to wane, I worked out how we could take turns sleeping in the back seat and how, if we opened both front and back doors on the passenger side (which was handily on the brush and gravel side of the road)…well we could probably relieve ourselves with some semblance of privacy. I even had a collection of tissue and serviettes in my pockets (necessary for my old lady runny eye (another story) that we could use. This may sound like over-planning. Trust me; it's not. Anyway, just as we finished the serious planning on how to survive an overnight stay, the cars in the lineup started pulling out of the line and into the oncoming traffic lane…and ever so slowly, off we crawled past the trucks, past the fellows directing traffic and past the accident scene. Then we slid off the rough road, down and around and back up on a very rough path and….voila! Back onto the highway. We were on our way again!! It was, by this time dark and we were all pretty chuffed that we didn't need to spend the night. Not too long later we arrived at our new digs and Burta got to head home. She had even stopped at a store for us so we could pick up some ice (necessary for a well deserved night cap before hitting the sack). Suffice to say… we have arrived safe and sound at our new address in Perula. Our suite is very nice and we're looking forward to meeting up with our friends and touring this new to us town and beach. There is even pickleball here although I think we are both kind of tired and may just leave our paddles in the suitcase. We're only here for a couple of days and need to rest up for the journey home. This is me wishing you… a good day and safe adventures. Adios for now. CJ
www.cjdaley.ca
svshannon.blogspot.com
