A pretty good night’s sleep, especially after our recent privations. And no trouble at all making a fire this time, so we were able to have a splendid breakfast – coffee, bread + butter… + porridge. Wonderful. After which we made our way into town. We had to walk a good deal of it, but a couple of Rasta-looking guys in a beat-up jeep helped us considerably. My feet have been causing me problems. I have sores on the outside of my little toes, caused by my new plimsolls, + on the insides of my big toes, caused by my flip-flops. (All 3 of us have managed to put together a pair of these from the discards we’ve found in the street.) And of course these sores have festered, + are now incredibly painful. All 3 of us are ridiculously unhealthy, + are all so unused to it. Anyway, I at least decided to visit the infirmary, since it’s free here. The doctor was very nice, didn’t seem to think there was too much to worry about, but said I should call in for the next couple of days to have them dressed. Dave + Val went off to the (real) Bora Bora Yacht Club in the afternoon, to check things out + put up a note, while I stayed in town to nurse my wounds (+ catch up with my diary.) Also I chatted with a Scots/Australian couple for a time – the usual exchange of traveller information: where to go, where it’s difficult to enter, etc.
When D + V returned, we decided to split up to make it easier to hitch back, + we rook it in turns to sit out. Val + Dave got a lift first, but I didn’t have to wait long, sitting with Paul, + we all arrived back at more or less the same time. I attacked my old plimsolls with a knife, + was able to fashion a sort of cut-away sandal from them. Then I lay in the tent + wrote, while D + V got on with the chores of making a fire + preparing + cooking dinner. And excellent it was too – soup, then stew a la Rob, then peaches. And we rounded off the evening with wine + vanilla creams over a few games of Yum chez Dave. We’d improvised a sort of candle lantern, which worked remarkably well, so for once we didn’t have to endure the tyranny of darkness. Dave thrashed us every game, but that was alright.
More medical issues, but at least our fears about having to pay considerably to have them treated seem to have evaporated. Dave is very much a part of our party by now; if I were a jealous man, I might have had my suspicions, but there was very little time or opportunity for that sort of hanky panky. No idea any more how to play Yum, though I know it was a dice game.
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