We’d promised to go see Manate this morning, but we were appallingly remiss. Once we’d finished a long +leisurely breakfast, then showered, then taken care of some washing, + generally just messed around, it was already midday. We received our punishment tho’, since being lunch-time there weren’t any trucks running up the hill, so we had to walk up the hill. Not too clever for Val, especially since her ankle has swollen up with a couple of sores, + she really had to hobble. And then, when we arrived, Manate wasn’t there. However, his wife was, + after some initial confusion, since she didn’t know who we were, she was very nice. She invited us in until Manate came back, but we decided to head back to town, + come back later for a meal.
She was nice enough to drive us down to town, but it was an appalling exhibition of driving… tho’ very entertaining. First she reversed into a wall, then scraped the bottom over a speed bump, + all the way she hammered the clutch. Yet every little mishap was announced with a giggle – she was clearly having a great time.
Back in town, Val + I sat on a bench to read, while Dave went out to the Yacht Club, which was where the Buenavista, along with some of his gear, had been moved. He found out nothing good tho’ – he hadn’t been left a note by the owners (they’d flown temporarily back to the US), + it was moored out + locked up. He didn’t enquire with the Yacht Club management, but has to hope they’ve been informed of his situation. He then went off to the boat yard to enquire about a particular boat, while I went back to the camp-site to pick up some gear we hadn’t brought. Unfortunately I didn’t know the time, + by the time I got back (it was quite a walk) we’d just about missed the last truck, so once again had to walk. After all, we had more or less invited ourselves to dinner, so we pretty much had to get up there somehow. But it was a real struggle. We were all pretty tired by this time. I had an unhealthy blister, + Val was pretty ill by now. Still, we made it, in not too bad a time – only nobody was home, so we just sat around, recovering, + waited.
Eventually, Manate, + then later his wife, turned up, + as we’d anticipated they expected us to stay. It took quite a bit of general, gentle thanks yet persuasiveness to convince them we were quite happy where we were. In the end, Manate seemed to accept it tho’, + later cooked us a meal of pork, a white coconut sauce called Mati Tui, + some taro root. Unfortunately, I could eat virtually nothing of it – my constitution seems to have weakened considerably recently, so that I can eat very little I am not used to.
After the meal, Mapu, Manate’s wife, drove us into town again. Just as well, for our sakes. So we were back at the camp-site quite early, but all hit the sack pretty early too – the camping life has made us all become pretty much early birds.
Though we are not unhappy about having time to kill, things do seem to be rather flat, with things for Dave just not going his way. And messing Manate about does not sit too well either, especially after his kindness and generosity to us.
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