32:44.50N 16:43.17W
Whisper
Noel Dilly
Sat 15 Sep 2012 17:54
|
"On The Bus -
14 September"
Quite a day today, we traveled into Funchal, Madeira's capital, for a somewhat mundane business reason. We decided that we would go by the local bus which took the long coastal route rather than the Express Bus which would have taken the more direct Autoroute into the city. Coastal routes are inevitably long slow narrow winding roads, to be driven with some degree of caution. This route was no exception in description, but I would add that the nature of the island having many high peaks and long narrow ravines stretching down to the sea separating the peaks means there are many narrow gorges with tight hairpin bends inland of the outer curves of the headlands. The inner gorge bends are so tight and narrow that it is impossible for longer vehicles to pass any oncoming traffic. These bends are not under any form of traffic control so one is at the mercy of fellow road users. The bus drivers indeed earned their pay as they skillfully negotiated, not only the contours of the road but also all the parked cars and delivery vans in the towns narrow streets at speed! It is one thing for the passengers to have to hold on as the bus cornered, but it is another to see the driver also holding on with one hand as he steered the vehicle round the bend with his other hand. Thank goodness his mobile phone did not ring! I was reminded of our local 78X as we rattled along, these buses were single decks but urgency was the order of the day. The town streets narrow and full of obstacles, road junctions where market stalls were in danger of being pulled down as the bus tried to turn the corner should the wing mirror catch on the faux leather handbag dangling from the rough wooden poles lashed together making the stall. Passengers hailing the bus were picked up from the various stops with a screech of brakes, sometimes they had to fight their way under bushes to the open door. Likewise having rung the bell to stop the bus, the passenger would find that stepping from the bus was not onto a pavement but often onto the very edge of the tarmac with a drop downhill only inches away. I believe that there must be a very good market for brakes on this beautiful island, all the three buses we traveled on today had very dubious sounding braking systems which certainly were under constant friction. Funchal itself was very busy, our destination was in the main shopping area but we did not plan to be tourists today. However, I did notice that the many tourists were obvious with their rucksacks and water bottles tucked in the side pocket in contrast to the locals with their rather elegant large leather handbags! When we had finished our business we walked back to the bus stop, the time table confirmed that we could catch the 113 at 3pm. It arrived at 3:10 and on requesting two tickets to our marina we were told that he was only going to Canical, we needed to catch the 3:30. We jumped off again and watched the world go by peering at all the buses for the magical number. At 3:45 along came the 113 on we jumped again. I asked for our tickets, "No, no only Canical, you want bus 4:30" came the reply. I swear it was the same bus driver! I did not like to tell him that he WAS the late 3:30 that he had told us about! We quickly decided this would do, it was the village before the marina and in the event that the "4:30" should never arrive in Canical we could take a taxi the few miles to the marina. In the event we were pleased to stop off in the small fishing village the people were busy decorating the streets with flowers for tomorrow's festival, the church was adorned, as was the small shady park surrounding it. The people were excited about the coming weekend of partying, the band stand was decorated and a large stage in front of it was being erected for the weekends music activities, stalls lined the waterfront selling anything from popcorn, doughnuts, handmade crafts to fresh meat etc. We stopped and had a cool drink before walking back to the bus stop to await the 113 departing from Funchal at 4:30. Did it arrive? It did, roaring up the narrow street only to screech to a halt at our feet. We were the only passengers to travel onwards from Canical! |