Aug 28-29 The Long Journey Back. Part III – Trying to find buses in Algeciras

At this point, it is finally confirmed that we are in Spain. It is well into the afternoon (5ish) and we have lost an hour due to the time change. We don’t know whether there are any buses running to Sevilla and Granada. We don’t even know where the bus station is. It was no longer a question of me arriving at Sevilla while it was light out, but a question of getting there at all. (I have no pictures of this part of the journey, I'm including some random pictures of Spanish buses to make it more visually appealing. Don't they look sort of like bugs with their rearview mirrors mounted at the top like that?)

The bus that had brought us from Sevilla had just dropped us off at the port, but it did not appear that we could return right from there. I had written down the name of this company (Linesur - still have it in my little notebook) and the times for the buses back to Sevilla (1, 2:30, 4, 6:30, 9), but where was it??? The Spain guidebook comes out – the phrase we want is ‘estacion de autobuses’. We walk away from the port area and try this new phrase on a policeman. He gestures across the street and says some Spanish words we have no hope of understanding.

We find a bus company, but it is not the one which had brought us here. This bus agency seems to go to everywhere but Sevilla and Granada. Problem. Our next plan of attack is to go to the train station. We hail a taxi and somehow communicate this to the driver. We end up about two blocks away – at the train station. There are no trains until the next morning. I have to catch a plane from Sevilla the next afternoon.

We start walking back to the road with the first bus agency and I forget whether it was when we tried asking at a hotel for help, or whether it was the guy who happened to talk to us on the street, but we suddenly discovered another bus agency on the same street as the train station which did run buses to Granada. Not only this, but he knows the name of the company I’m looking for to get back to Sevilla, and it is only a block or so past the first bus company we had stopped at. I hurry back to this place while A and K perform their transaction – there are still the two more buses leaving day (the 6:30 and 9)! I have not yet met back up with A and K so I cannot take the one departing right then.

It turns out their bus leaves at about 10, so we grab some food at the nearest restaurant we can find. It serves… wait for it… Moroccan-ish food. Out came the guidebook with its single page of Spanish food vocab. I order some harira and some sort of potato with mayonnaise. I’m too stressed out to eat much, but this is my first meal since breakfast, so I force some down.

Finally, we part ways at my bus company. Two weeks living in closer proximity with A and K than I’ve ever lived with anyone in my life, and it’s down to the goodbyes. The bus pulls up shortly after and I get on, hoping to get some rest to prepare me for when I finally get to Sevilla (it will be past midnight). This isn’t the end of the bus adventure yet. Apparently we have an extra person on the bus and he refuses to get off. I drift in and out of sleep as the police come and go. I don’t understand any of what is going on, so I sleep until we reach Sevilla.

Next - The Long Journey Back. Part IV – Trying to find a taxi in Sevilla