so, where were we? ah yes, just having watched the amazing folk dance we then went on to dinner. the food was once again magnificent! after dinner we went and sat at the bar where we chatted until the wee hours with a fantastically funnygerman couple staying there!! after a good few romanovs for me and honeybees for the o/h we headed to bed!!
the next day we got up and headed for breakfast where one of the english couples said that we had just missed the guide and our english friends go on the waterfall tour, so we promptly headed off in their direction to try and catch up with them! we had no idea we were going to go on it and so were not really dressed for the part but we soldiered on and they were kind enough to give us one of their bottles of water as dehydration has set in (nothing to do with the previous nights antics i assure you
)so we tramped through the jungle at a ridiculously fast pace until we got to what would be the river bed in the rainy season and it got a bit hairy so we slowed right down. now, when we were told that we were going on a waterfall tour we had envisaged a rather magnificent spectacle. what we were greeted by was, what can only be described as a trickle! sue, pete and i sat there feeling a little let down all in all but had to laugh when mark and the guide took a coracle over the small puddle that should have been a lake to the other side. once mark turned his back the guide pushed the coracle back to us and they had to scale a little bit of the wall to get back.
once we got back it was time for sue and pete to leave and we were really sad to see them leave. even though we had only met them the day before, we just seemed to click. we then had to say goodbye to the german couple as well so we were feeling a bit deflated so headed to the infinity pool to cheer ourselves up. we stayed there most of the day and then i went to have henna put on my hand which was lovely!!
that night we were taken with another couple to the sister resort 2 km away for a bbq. the food was lovely and it was really interesting to sit and get to know the other couple who were on their honeymoon from hydrabad.
after that we sat for a little while at the bar and then decided to call it a night!
we left wildernest the following day and headed back to Mapsa to sort the money problem out.
once we had paid the guide from wildernest we wandered along one of the main roads in mapsa looking for a taxi to take us to palolem which we had decided would be the final place we stayed before having to leave for home.
we arrived in palolem and got a room in one of the guesthouses. as we came out of the guesthouse to go for a walk we bumped into one of the long termers from baga which was great!!
mark was determined to reached at least 90% of his tanning capability and so ploughed all his energy on the final 2 days into some serious sunbathing! i was quite content sitting in the shade reading and drinking alot of tea!! i got talking to another couple who were staying in the beach shacks of the bar we had become attached to and they were lovely enough to let me comandeer their hammock when they went shopping! they even bought me my very own hammock to put up in my little flat!
on the final day we went out in a kayak to satisfy marks need to feel like a pirate! it was nice to sit there and bob along with the tide whilst watching the sun go down, but it was quite difficult to make it a romantic moment as they are not the most stable of vehicles!!
so it came to the last night, we had planned to try and get some shut eye as we had to leave at 3am so we went to see our new found friends to say goodbye. some honeybees, g&ts and kingfishers later, we suddenly had 1.5 hours before the taxi was due and the packing wasnt finished! we reluctantly said our goodbyes and walked back along palolem beach for the final time.
we had arranged the taxi through the lad who enticed us into the guesthouse. it was one of his friends, he said. so he arrived and we packed our stuff into the back and got in. about 10 mins later we still hadnt left and there seemed to be some fervent conversations going on!! the next thing another guy came out of the guesthouse and got into the front of our taxi next to our driver. we knew full well that this guy clearly wasnt going to be chipping in for the fare but we were too tired and upset about going home to care!!
the airport was as to be expected, with passport checks every 10 metres - quite who they think i will have morphed into within the previous 3 feet is beyond me!!
so we got on the plane non too pleased at having been seated at opposite ends of the row but to be fair, we were so upset that our holiday had come to an end that they could have put us in first class and we would have been miserable!!
so i think that about covers most of the important aspects of our holiday!! we had an absolutely amazing time, loved every single day and now thinking about our next trip there!!
from being there i can now see why my auntie loved it so much!! from being on the forum i know that bad things can happen out there and i count myself so lucky that we didnt have any negative encounters at all (other than the bugs but i'll let them off!!)
thank you so much for taking the time to read our posts and for the lovely comments about our photos xx
