The
surf still has not picked up, aside from one day where it maybe reached
1M, but still wasn't worth paying the exorbitant cost (about $50 US) to
rent the equipment to surf the couple hours on a long board and thick
neoprene. So we now hear a swell may be on the way, so we bus it back
to Lagos to pick up a car.
Renting
a car here is a frustrating experience. We book it online, only to
find out the rental agency is closed the day we want to pick up the
car. Local holidays and Sundays come frequently, and it's hard to know
when you make an online purchase, if it's really an effective deal. We
correspond with the car company's front end eCommerce guy, and they
give us the address of a hotel to pick the car up at. Of course, it's
not on any map we have, so we request directions, and the guy says it's
a new office and doesn't really know where it is. Tells us to call
them. We call them, and they also can't explain how to get there. So
at the bus station arrivals platform Darrin heads off into town, and I
sit with the bags. Armed with just a couple words of Portuguese, he
hopes to find something, otherwise we'll head on back to Spain on a
train tonight.
Darrin
shows up at the bus station an hour later with a brand new, shiny
Opal... It's one of those tiny, almost a smart car, death mobile that
you see all around the tiny streets of Europe. Good thing for fuel
efficiency because the cost of petrol here is much higher than it is in
the US. Hitting the roads, Darrin is now "one" with his Opal, driving
back on the right side for a change, and loving the freedom to go and
stop where we please. They have crazy warning road signs here that
show a car hitting a stick-figure person and the stick figure flying
off the windscreen of the car. Nice warning. Warnings are needed,
however, as Portuguese drivers are crazy. The Lonely Planet guide
terms it like Civil War on the roads here. Truly, they speeds they
take both on straight-aways and on curves are excessive, and they blow
past pedestrians on main roads, I can only imagine what would happen if
someone accidently steps out in the road in front of the car - hence
the graphic warning signs. We're also instructed by the car rental
agency to remove the antenna and hubcaps on the wheels when we park the
car, as they will quickly get stolen. Well, the antenna is easy, but
we'll take our chance with the hubs.
The
car is our ticket to freedom. After months and months of being held
captive to trains, busses and crazy local transport, we are now feeling
a sense of freedom as never before, and the best thing, Darrin still
remembers how to drive!!!
