Last night we stayed in a KOA type of campground. We had a two room bungalow that sleeps 8. It came with a kitchen and utensils so we could cook our own food. The place had a mini store so we bought the fixens for spaghetti and some lemon Fresca soda which I have found to be quite addicting.
We didn’t check out the sites as I was still feeling the effects of the time change and the three hours of driving. They had some awesome Wi-Fi so we depleted all the battery life out of two iPhones, one Netbook, one iPad and one portable DVD player.
A simple request to anyone reading this who is a part of the United Nations. I know world peace is a pressing issues, but I think much could be achieved if you all could get together and decided on a common electrical system which would allow for only one type of outlet? Is that too much to ask? We did bring with us a universal adapter but for some reason, the adapter for Spain was not included which meant that we were unable to charge our equipment. I did have my car charger for my iPhone so I am able to recharge it while driving from city to city.
With all the batteries depleted the t.v. mysteriously came on. Not much to watch since every channel was in Spanish. If you ever get a chance to watch Simpsons in Spanish, try it, it is hilarious.
Around 2 in the morning, everyone started drifting off to sleep which sounded like a good option to me. I slept until 10 am and probably would have slept longer if someone hadn’t been banging on the door. Turns out it was my wife who had gotten up earlier to wash some clothes and locked her self out of the room. Since I was awake I took that to mean it was time to pack everything up and move on to our next destination, Fatima Portugal. Of course, before we headed out we needed to get refueled at the local Mac & Don’s Potato and Steak House.
After a short trip to get the kids their happy meals, it was off to the gas station to get the van refueled. Sounds easy, and in theory it should be a no brainer. Oh, but one little problem, everything is in Spanish and the process of using your credit card to get gas in the US is not at all the same at in Spain. After about 10 minutes of trying to figure how to access the pump, my wife was able to get it to work. After a quick fill up we headed off to Portugal. Oh, crap more roundabouts! These things are going to be the death of me. I think I’m doing pretty well with the small ones that have 3 exits, but some of them have had as many as 6 exits which means I end up looking like the Griswalds driving in the movie European Vacation.
In probably one of the most uneventful portions of our trip, we passed from Spain into Portugal. Uneventful because, well….. nothing happened. It was like driving from California to Oregon – you get a sign welcoming you and that’s it.
There was a portion of the drive that did provide for an interesting story. Not sure whose ideas it was to put huge trees next to a small road, leaving barely enough room for two sub-compact cars to pass. But I assume it was the same person who vetoed the request for placing signs on either end of said road indicating how narrow the road was. So, you can understand my wifes alarm when I brought the van to a quick halt. She looks at me and wondered out loud why I stopped. In true Filipino fashion I pointed at the road with my lips to indicate that maybe she would like to see what was headed our way. About 1/4 of a mile down the road was a bus, not just any bus, but a huge tour bus that took up the whole frickin’ road. Luckily I was able to find a small space in-between two trees and pull over before the bus passed us.
Another note to anyone who takes a toll road in Portugal, don’t forget to get a ticket when you enter the toll road or it’s gonna cost you $46 Euros on the other end.