We got off the plane at Tenerife – South Airport shortly before midnight. In front of us was a long bus journey to Puerto de la Cruz on the other side of the island. A bus had just left and the next one wasn’t due for another hour. When planning the trip, we had thought of renting a car but found out that when one of us didn’t drive and the other had a driving license only for three months, it was not possible. I became reconciled to depending on buses.
Ben had not.
As I began nodding off in the middle of our luggage he disappeared and then reappeared triumphantly waving car keys above his head. It appears he had simply walked up to the nearest car rental desk, presented his driving license and ID card, and waited to see what would happen. What happened was that the Spanish official was not able – or could not be bothered to decipher Czech documents. So Ben, after narrowly preventing the man at the desk putting the name of Ben’s place of birth down as his surname on the form, scooped up the car keys along with instruction telling him to leave them on the desk by the closed window when leaving in the early morning a week later.
And so we drove.
Outside a terrible wind blew but the air was warm and the night darkness smelled of sea and flowers…
When we woke up in the morning, this view from a window welcomed us. Long live eternal spring!
No Comments