April 14: Good Friday: Not Gushing: In Debt

I am so secluded here that I finally had to take matters into my own hands. Why oh why did I not find a way to get a rental car before all this? So, long story short, the nearest town is 12 km from my little village of like 20 houses. I’m thinking I need to find a) a moped or b) a rental car especially before all this Semena Santa stuff starts, which is basically why I chose to be in this remote area to begin with. That and the free place to stay. Otherwise, literally, all I can do is look out my window or sit on my porch, look up at the mountains and say: oh nice. No point in being only 13 km from the ocean: I may as well be in Saskatchewan. Chances were I wouldn’t be able to get a rental car or moped in this town so I was hoping to get a bus from there to the nearest tourist location, Mojacar.

Ok, I’m boring myself already with the details and I can only imagine how enthusiastic you must be reading this…but here’s the end result: after having to hitchhike once more as a result of it being the lesser of two evils, then paying an enormous amount to get a taxi from this nearest town to Mojacar because it turns out that a bus and train only leave this town ONCE a day, I get to Mojacar. Can’t find a darned car to rent because the tourists have already grabbed them up for Semena Santa. Finally find one. I’m elated. I get into the driver’s seat: oh, people drive standards here. So luckily they guy who rented it to me hasn’t driven off. They have like no automatics here. I was so desperate, I almost took it, thinking that I could teach myself standard…as I drive up and down the hilly, congested, chaotic, TINY lanes of the towns around here….WHAT was I THInking!?? But I couldn’t have left the city that day otherwise and there was no place to stay.

So the rental guy feels very sorry for me and finds a way to hook me up with an automatic from another company. But…whahhhh!!!!.... I ended up having to pay…..mmmphhhh….nearly 400 CDN to have it for a week. I got insurance on it but….I scratched a side mirror going up a one way “street” the size of a sidewalk with cars parked on both sides that I could not get out of. So now I am anticipating having to pay something for that too. And the whole idea is that I’d be living skimpily until my second student loan instalment comes in on May 15^th. This sucks!

Plus, there is no one I can talk to here and I am feeling extremely lonely, really. All this stuff would be fine if I had someone else here with me. If I hear someone speaking English any time soon I cannot promise that I will not throw myself at that person. But I don’t think it’s going to happen. I’m trying to be a good sport but I’m generally scared and depressed.

Bonus: having the car has allowed me to see some beautiful landscapes and some really remote and very traditional Spanish cities. Also, starting tomorrow I am planning on numbing myself to my sorrows and loneliness with the heat of the sun on one of the many beaches now at my disposal.

Demerits: Blew the fuses on my hair dryer and….my battery charger last night, right when I needed new batteries to capture the Semena Santa processions. Don’t know how I’ll get batteries on Good Friday here. At least my laptop’s working fine with the adaptor I have and I can do some writing.

So, all in all, note to self: pack a travel partner when you are going to an obscure area of a foreign country that doesn’t speak your language or you will nearly die of loneliness. Also: with increased power comes increased responsibility (ie. Would I have had to stress out about scratching a rental car if I were still stranded in a mountain village with chickens?)

I’ll try to give you good news next time.