Tuesday 28th April

I wake early worried about catching the ferry in time. There are messages from my friend offering for us to stay at her partners town apartment till Sunday. It's very generous! We pack and check out. It's only about 10 min walk to the terminal. We check in and go through customs. Then 50 min wait to board. The ferry ride is very rough. Lots of adrenaline rushes and lost stomachs. We learnt in the tour yesterday that the water is brown because it's actually a river; Fresh water. well partially anyway. I'm sure pollution too. It's nice with no sea brine.
It's a short walk to the hostel where we pay and give details, then drop off our bags and get maps and directions. The ambience of the place is lovely. Quaint old homes, ruins and cafés and shops. We wonder along the streets and rest at the end of a break wall. I fall asleep I'm so tired. We have a light lunch of puffed grain crackers, jam and a mandarin. We continue to hand craft markets. There are some beautiful things. On the way back to the hotel we stop for dinner things: tinned lentils, rice, garlic, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes. Can't wait for dinner! Back at the hotel we make our beds. I'm a bit worried about bed bugs... Saw some reviews about them in this room- and we see a man with a pump/pressure contained don a mask and go into one if the rooms. Hmm.
We meet our room mates. A couple from uk and Australia. They have lived in NZ for a while and also on a big trip. We prepare dinner and Malcolm thinks avocado might go nicely, so zips around the corner and buys one. We have yum guacamole with broken corn chips added. Really good. An amazing dinner, and really cheap! We will be doing more of this. We go for a walk and it's really windy. We see an ant carrying a large stick. It's amazing, but it doesn't seem to have a plan. It goes backwards and forwards. Malcolm gets some lovely photos of the town at night.
It's slightly awkward staying with just one other couple, but we shower and get into bed. We leave the light on. I fall asleep before the others come to bed.