Expect the Unexpected

What was about to happen during the coming day made me truly realize that something deep was going on here. It’s difficult for me to comprehend, even to this day.

The man driving the bus must have had a thing about sitting in a pool of his own sweat. He was not about to turn on the A/C, regardless of whether it was 90 or 100 degrees inside that rolling sauna. For that reason and that reason alone, I got absolutely zero sleep that night. Well – if we’re being perfectly honest – the girl sitting in the seat next to me did have her legs strewn across my lap, which did little for my comfort.

However, I had told Amanda to stretch her legs if she needed to. So I’m not complaining.

Despite being tired and dirty and hungry, it was nice to pull into the bus station in Granada. Excitement filled me inside in anticipation of seeing Jeremy and Bridget. Seeing a new city. Introducing them to Amanda.

Amanda and I separated to hit the restrooms and freshen up. It reeked of urine. I splashed some cold water on my face; brushed my teeth; changed my clothes.

We met back out in the lobby and made our way outside to the bus terminal. Pulling out the money necessary to get us to downtown Granada – a look of trepidation came over Amanda.

“What is it?”

“My money belt – it’s not here.”

“What all was in it?”

“Everything.”

That one word meant big trouble. Euros. Credit Card. Passport. I led the way back into the station, down the stairs. I asked her if she had it in the restroom. Maybe it had fallen out in the bus?

No, she remembered pulling it out while freshening up. She went back to the restroom and looked around. She walked back out. Nothing. Well, this was obviously a problem and Amanda was freaking out. Rightly so.

We looked around some more and checked if there was a lost and found – nothing. We had someone radio out to the bus that we had taken to Granada – zilch. Giving up on actually finding her money belt, the girl borrowed some money to call her sister and parents. They would know what to do. Things were put in motion. A temporary passport would be available, but in Madrid. Credit Cards were cancelled. Money would be wired. Today was Saturday, so nothing more could be done. She was with me at least until Monday.

One problem – money could not be collected from the wire service without some sort of official identification. And as we all know, the passport was gone. So the money was wired to me.

Now the girl was dependent. Whether she liked it or not – fate had dealt her a hand that meant she had to totally rely on me. One can only wonder whether or not there was a deep lesson being taught here. A girl who wants to rely on no one for anything – was now reliant upon me for everything. Without me, she has no money. Without money, she can’t rent a bed for the night. Without money, she can’t get to Madrid to replace her passport. Without her passport, she can’t get back into England. Without her passport, she can’t get money. Without me, she has a problem.

I assured her I wouldn’t leave her. I would take care of her. At the time, I think I had already realized the point of the situation.

We had some troubles finding the hostel, but were pleasantly surprised when we did. A very relaxed and fun-going atmosphere gave us some ease. Jeremy and Bridget showed up and were informed of the situation.

No worries – we quickly made plans for the night. A bar that served 1 Euro shots. A wild dance club. And to top it off, a relaxed pub where the beer was waaay too thick. This was exactly what Amanda and I needed. Curiously enough, I got no positive vibe from her. No flirting. The question of why she was here started to creep in my mind.

On our way back to the hostel, we stopped off and got a schawarma to eat. I was disgusted.

Amanda and I had a little tiff outside the hostel. Upon walking into our room, I asked her what was wrong.

“Nothing.”

“Right…well why did you get all weird outside?”

“I didn’t.”

“Whatever.”

She knew I was irritated – rightly so or not. She walked up to me and lightly touched my upper body. Her lips kissed my cheek. Whatever it was that I was upset about – it was erased from my mind.

We got ready for bed. The day had been full of excitement and surprises. But it had been long. Rest was needed.

And this was getting interesting.