Ferry across the Sal

We had a bit of an easy day today and we had promised to take Dilli for lunch on his day off. Last night we were quite knackered and so decided to stay in our restaurant for dinner there and ended up sitting next to a Yorkshire couple that are staying in our room. This is the large rooms above the main house where we stayed in for one night March 2009; they are staying for 5 months but it still feels like our room. Claire had already been chatting to Hilda the previous night and really liked her so after we had all eaten we joined their table. Jack is a great character with a crack for every occasion, even though he had a heart operation in Benedorm just before they came out here. They have lived in Spain for 12 years now but like to get away to miss their winter. Jack is not only funny but really interesting with a life time of experience like few others and I liked his company. Anyway, today they go on the ferry over to the other side of the Sal for lunch in one of the little local places were few tourist ever venture and the prices are closer to the real price. They invited us with them and we told them that we were taking Dilli out so they said bring him too. We were picked up at 12.30 by an eight seater limo to the ferry where we waited for 5 minutes for it to arrive. We started out at a place that they hadn’t tried before called MillMar and had a couple of drinks but decided to walk back to the other one called Starlight for lunch. The first one was a bit of a dump but he has only just started up and I guess it will be a bit better next season; it already looks like they are building an extension to it. When we all met Jack and Hilda already knew Dilli but as Ramen his sir name and they have known him for a few seasons. Hopefully it would have made a nice change for Dilli as he had never been on the ferry before and I guess not a limo either. Trouble is, as his Mother died earlier this year he can take no alcohol or any kind of meat or fish, not even eggs or milk until after her first anniversary of her death next March. Dilli ordered plain rice and dall, stressing that he wanted no stocks made with meat or anything. They are very used to this diet over here as many people are total vegetarians. When our meals arrived, Dilli was only a couple of mouthfuls in when he discovered a small fish bone and a piece of fish in his dall. He complained but it wasn’t worth asking for another one as they couldn’t be trusted so he made do with plain rice and a couple of rotti’s. To add to his disappointment they had neither fruit nor ice cream, the part he had been looking forward to the most.

When we had finished our drinks we headed back to Saajan so he could get his just desterts. Dilli knew a few people on our trip from the years that he had been working down here. Last night we noticed that Saa who’s name is actually Santiago had special pies that you had to give a days notice for so that he could make them so I am sitting in the restaurant writing this under the fan with an ice cold Kingfisher. We also noticed that they have an email address, Saajanguesthouse@yahoo.in and I asked him if they had internet on site. They have wi-fi so maybe I can post this from here in the morning while we have breakfast.

Tomorrow, we head back to stay in Colva for 4 nights and we will leave one bag here so that we can carry everything ourselves on the bike in the morning. We intend to come back here for one night on Friday as we have arranged a different boat trip for that day. We had been recommended a different one close to Betty’s but they couldn’t remember their name and suggested, Jack’s, Jake’s, David’s, Chris’s and Dave’s. We asked Hilda if it was Jack’s, the one we had remembered from somewhere else and she said, “no, don’t go on that one its crap, go on Chris’s it’s even better than Betty’s”. From what they have said, it sounds just like Betty’s except they have live entertainment and dancing, so Claire will be happy. I will be happy too, as I like just watching the birds. If anyone else wants to try Chris’s boat trip you can book tickets from Mikes Place in Cavelossim and tickets are Rs800 each which include drinks, 3 course lunch, entertainment, and of course, the boat trip.