A bus tour around the island

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July 19, 2017 - Today I left around 9:30 am and talked a bit to Claude before getting out to the bus. When I got to the road, I saw the bus pull away. Such a bummer. No way to know when it will come. It took half an hour for the next one. I took the bus to Victoria and then asked the drier which bus to take to Port Launay, where I could see a waterfall. He told me to stay on the bus, drove a few feet forward, then pointed out the place to board the right bus. And the right bus was just pulling up. The bus drove through the San Souci area, a lot of that within the national park, and there was a lot of beautiful forest to see. When I got to the end of the line, I got out and asked at the ticket window where the waterfall was. She said to follow the road back to the church and it was there. So I walked over, asking a German family along the way if they had seen the church. They said they had seen it, but didn't remember exactly how far back. Someone else told me it was about ten minutes. I wanted to see it, but I also wanted to make the 12:00 pm #9 bus, and it was already 11:30 am. The #9 goes around the south of the island and is hourly, and I didn't want to get stuck waiting.

When I got to the church, I walked over to a lady across the street selling things, and asked her where to go. She said to follow the road behind the church to a gate, pay 25 rupees, and it's a close walk from there. She said to ignore any boys that follow me to try to tell me it costs more. No boys came, and I got to the gate quickly. I paid my unofficial, sketchy dues and walked a bit more to the waterfall. Not super impressive, but still nice. And who was there? The German family. I had given them an idea of what to do. They apologized for not picking me up and driving me there, but didn't offer to take me anywhere else. Oh well. I took a few pictures and then walked to the closest bus stop to await the #9.

While waiting for the bus, I asked someone where it went exactly. It didn't go all the way south, to the prettiest beaches, but pretty close. The weather had turned and it was raining again, so I was ok with not actually going to the beach. Instead, I spent 90 minutes on this bus taking peeks out the window, and a few photos, making my way around most of the island. Not bad for about 30 cents worth of entertainment.

Back in Victoria, I ran over to the same take-away spot I had been to the other day, ate some beef and vegetable curry with rice, and then made it back to the bus station, all within 25 minutes, to make the 2:00pm bus back home. Except it never came. And the 2:20pm was late. But, I still got back and there was no rush. I went straight to the Bliss hotel, chatted with my friend and then sat out on a lounger reading Stephen Hawking for an hour or so.

At 4:30pm, I came back to my place to start to pack up a little, as I'm leaving tomorrow. I also planned to get on another bus at 6pm to go to the bazaar in Beau Vallon, but as I was waiting, the girl from the Bliss hotel was at the bus stop and told me her friend there said it looked like rain. I decided it wasn't worth it, so I came back to have a more relaxing evening. And it rained a little right when I got back. Will do some packing, make some pasta, and if the internet holds (which it usually doesn't in the evening), maybe have a skype call or two.

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