Up early, left the table & chairs out & off. 1 hour later the Dyson said we have arrived – next to field outside Santiago, jolly good. Idea – get phone, switch data roaming on, try Google maps....eta voila, sorted. We were only a few kilometers away.
Go into the hospital, find the office location on the ground floor, go to reception first to make sure; no, he took us outside, gestured round the building. Off we go, into an other office round the back. No, she took us outside & pointed to where it was. Next to the mortuary, complete with hearse & coffin outside. Into office to be told that there are no doctors in the morning, he starts at 3pm, very sorry. Oh Joy. So, we were going to go back home & return but decided to head for the coast & see what was what at Vila Nova.
We found a fantastic beach, miles & miles of deserted beach, except 3 or 4 men, on their own. Cathy thought we had stumbled into something if you catch my drift. Anyway, gas on, fridge on, we walked down with towels & enjoyed the sunshine.
I wandered off to look at the shells & nearly stood on a little snake. I went to get Cathy to show her & picked up a long bamboo pole that had been cut so it had a pointy end. As I did, 4 smallish dogs like beagles came charging towards us barking! The owners had brought them onto the beach on leads but had let them off, they were sat a good 100 yards away. I shouted, the owners stood & shouted, 3 dogs turned back, 1 kept coming. Well, I thought, sorry little dog but if you come near us this pole will get used, pointy end first. The owner went apoplectic because even from a distance he could see what was going to happen, but as his voice was now louder, the dog turned back. Little dog was 15 yards away from another police incident. One of the owners held his hands up above his head which I assumed to mean sorry. I held my pole up which he may have thought, OK. He’d be wrong...I have decided from here on in, I’m going to carry a stick wherever I go, wherever we are,
we’re both now so very wary. Pure chance & bad luck we know.Back to little snake & he’d gone, Cathy now bothered that we might stand on him & get bitten; we found him & he headed off up the beach to the dunes. Sorry to use the masculine but I can’t tell the sex of a snake & I wasn’t about to try find out. We had lunch in Billy & passed the time before we left for Santiago, hoping that the doctor turns up. He did, but late. Still, we were first in the small queue & away in 20 minutes. We followed a car out of the car park, stopped behind him at the junction, he set off so we pulled forward. He realised cars were coming up fast so jammed the brakes on & started to reverse! I leant on the horn which made him jump out of his skin (it’s quite loud) & he stopped 6” from Billy’s bumper. He clearly has a problem seeing large white objects behind him. Cathy had mentioned earlier about this being a holiday of accidents & incidents... Home to sit in the late afternoon sunshine. 4
loose dogs roaming about, I’ll be complaining about that for sure.Anyway, a good incident. Cathy went into a cupboard to find a bag containing insect repellent & she found her missing bag of jewellery! It had been missing for weeks & given up for lost as we’d turned the house upside down. I had even checked the fridges at home & in Billy – readers of our last blogging trip will understand. So to say Cathy was ecstatic would be a gross understatement. Yippee!
Lie in tomorrow, washing, find the WiFi at the bar area & a walk down to the sea. Still very sore.
David
non-member comment
Dogs
It is a real problem here and in Spain, most dogs are off leads. Some owners kick their dog out in the morning and don't let it back in until the evening, we have just acquired Max (a German Shepherd) we are taking him training to a K9 instructor and whilst he is in control and I always walk him on the I am always weary of the loose dogs..... Sorry to hear you had a very bad incident and hope things get better during your trip. Dave Griff