Sevilla to Lagos

Alarm at 8.30 (ah, another sleep in). I got up slowly, packing up as I went. I realised that it made more sense to have three nights in Lagos and a day trip back to Faro, so rang the Lagos hostel. The man there was lovely, but asked me to ring back after 10.30, closer to check-out. I went downstairs to have coffee and toast for breakfast, packed up a bit more, and waited to ring Lagos back. I tried them at 11.45, and the woman told me that she would take my name and if they couldn’t offer me a bed they’d find me one. That was enough guarantee for me. I checked out, and made sure the guy had me down as coming back on Saturday (sure enough he had me as Sunday).

I walked to the Plaza de Armas bus station and bought my ticket for the 1.30 bus (€36 return – the woman didn’t speak English but we somehow managed – I checked with the woman at the information desk that it was right). I sat for a time waiting to find which stand the bus was coming in on, then got some lunch. I found the bus and got on – there were no allotted seats and the driver spoke English. I got the front seat (leather) and settled in for the very comfortable trip.

There were a lot of orchards as we got close to Portugal. Over the border the country got more hilly and dusty and undeveloped. It was as I imagine Mexico to be – red dust and car bodies everywhere. Faro looked awful. The driver stopped at Lagoa and put us on another bus (technical difficulties?). We arrived in Lagos and I tried to get a map from the man on the info desk but he was very rude. I saw no other way but to ring the hostel. The man there gave me directions but I ended up lost again. I rang him again (I was actually close) and he got me almost to the door. They had no beds, but he had me go across the road to see Olinda, who would help me for the same price as the hostel. I found a man who didn’t speak English, said Olinda’s name, showed him the name of the hostel, and then said ‘room’. He had me wait in front of a TV until she arrived. Seems she was running a bedsit-style accommodation business. She found me a bed in the entrance to the room of two Estonian girls. I asked her whether I could have it for three nights and she agreed - €16 a night with a €10 key deposit. I finished my lunch, met the Estonian girls on the balcony, then went out to buy stuff and get cash. I got a map from the nice hostel man who said I could use all the facilities of the hostel, which I thought was nice.

I bought the red dress I’d seen on the way, from an extremely savvy 8-year-old, and raided the supermarket. I knew I’d made the right decision – Lagos was amazing. In my travels I saw a bikini I wanted to buy, and some bracelets. All good. I heard a lot of annoying pommy accents on the street. Back in the rooms I scoped out the kitchen, but didn’t like it. I went over to the hostel, but theirs was worse. Back over the road I found the matches and everything I needed – cooked dinner and ate it on the balcony. Then I rested. It was very noisy – I wasn’t sure I’d be able to sleep.