Day 19, Ponte de Lima, 0 km

Do I even need to write that it rained? And it was still raining? And it was going to rain? JH feels even worse, like food poisoning without the relief of vomiting and/or diarrhea. The medicine she bought yesterday seems ineffective.

We went out for a very breakfast and tried to do some sight-seeing but the rain was too much even for us. We scurried back to the room like cats afraid to get wet. We stayed inside all day, tending to drying clothes, napping, reading, basically nothing. I was bored.

Finally hunger forced us to leave and find dinner. JH didn't want to come but she'd only eaten a couple pieces of bread and some soup in the last few days.

I don't know why dinner I'd always such a production. My usual rule applied: closest and cheapest. I appreciate fine meals but hate running around looking at a million places. That's what we did because the sick person who wasn't going to eat anything dragged us all over town to look at identical menus and prices. Finally, we walked into one across from last night's.

I ordered the equivalent of fish and chips. Gyueon ordered "barbecued pork, with potatoes and plain rice". JH ordered plain rice. The English speaking waiter left, presumably to his home.

The owner served my order and it looked good. Then an order of plain rice. Then an order of blood rice. We refused it, insisting on plain rice. She took it away. Then the pork came. A pile of it, mixed with blood pudding and stuffed intestines. Uh-oh.

For the next five minutes we tried to explain that we did not order the local delicacy. The owner pointed to each item then to the menu. "Si. Si. Si. Es certo."
Then we realized the mistake-- the Portuguese and English on the menu didn't match. We spent five more minutes trying to explain that. She gave up, made a phone call and the waiter came back.

Eventually we got the correct order but dinner was ruined. We scurried back to our room and I was wondering when we'd be leaving Ponte de Lima.