I am in week 7 of 8 in Turiscampo and 54 days sur le route. Monday, I took your advice and treated myself to a beautiful catamaran trip to the west of Lagos. On board a lady approached me to admire my camera and we fell into conversation. Jo was a social worker from Cork and her husband Mark was 17 years in PayPal – so much to chat about. Coincidentally they were staying with their two kids in a lodge in Turiscampo. They invited me for drinks Tuesday evening and the chat went on until 12:30 am! Jo could talk for Europe. She was very interested in my story about Sandra.
Thursday night they invited me again and told me that they were on their balcony about midnight and saw a streak of flames in the sky moving slowly to the east. They videoed it and showed me. It was amazing. I googled it and found that it was the remnants of a Chinese rocket entering the atmosphere and breaking up.
Wednesday, against better advice, I drove to the equestrian centre and to Alex’s neighbouring Equijump. I texted Alex (I had not told him I was coming), and he met me at his stables. He said that he was certain that Jose and girlfriend were not there and had vanished more than 2 years ago. He said that his friend Vasco had made a cash offer for Jose’s place and he was negotiating with Jose’s lawyer – who was struck off for life and given a suspended jail sentence for fraud. My fear is that the lawyer will falsify ownership papers and grab the money and go. I hope to meet Vasco next week.
Then, against further better judgement, I went shakily to see our villa. This was my first visit in 7 years and 11 years since building stopped. By coincidence, building had started in the last few weeks to finish it and using Google translate, the workmen told me Veronique, a Dutch lady was the new owner.
My writing picked up apace this week (yay!). There were two new shows on at the campsite; Music Stars and The Magic show. My two lovely German neighbours left for home today. They were such a lovely couple with very little English but they took part in everything.
Today I had lunch in Luz Beach Cafe and spent time reading and relaxing. xx