Day 15, Rates

I slept alright, could've used another blanket and/or a heater. I woke up several times because of howling wind and pounding rain.

It wasn't raining when I woke up and I decided to go over to the cafe for some tea and me time. JH woke up and grumpily asked, "where are you going?"
"Cafe"
"Why can't you wait for us?"
"I thought you'd liked to sleep more."
"I'll meet you there."

CJ's parents were working, a very chatty could with British accents. JH and Gyueon came 45 minuets later and we had scrambled eggs and toast.

Lara dropped off our laundry. Dry! Too bad our boots were still a little damp. We were set to go, and got a sudden downpour. We waited 10 minutes for a slow down and made a break for it in just a light rain. Downed trees and branches were everywhere, like a hurricane had had struck. There were lines of dead leaves down the high parts of the road, marooned by the receding water.

Ponte Dom Zameiro, a beautiful medieval stone bridge looked flooded. We couldn't see much yet but JH was already acting like Bill Paxton's character in Alien, "Game over! That's it, man! We're history!" What happened to the JH I fell in love with all over again last night, she of the positive attitude?

As we got closer, we saw several cars parked at both ends of it but, a distinct lack of cars driving in it. Some had turned around. We got even closer and saw the drivers of the parked cars standing and just staring at the bridge, which looked intact to me. "Game on!", I cried silently to myself.

We walked across, dilly dallying on it, taking pictures, pointing out the roofs of several flooded stone buildings. Just past halfway across, a man from the other side waved at us, imploring us to hurry. We didn't rush but we didn't linger either. Through gestures, he claimed that the bridge was moving and its collapse was imminent. Obrigado. So, all those guys were just waiting to watch the bridge fall.