Day 16: fate takes, fate gives


Yesterday evening I was pretty nervous about losing my guide book (in case you didn’t notice). I knew it was a mistake of mine and not a case of “bad luck”.

I was ready to go on anyways, and take my chances without it.

Eventually, the Latins are always right: audaces fortuna iuvat. Fortune favours the brave.

My ass was unexpectedly saved by a German man, Sven. After hearing my problem, he left me his own guide book at the hotel, after dinner. As a matter of fact, yesterday was his last day of walking along the o-henro, before going back to Tokyo.

I mean, what were the odds?

We had a nice talk for quite some time and also a beer. It was actually the first alcoholic beverage I have drunk since I arrived in Japan. I’m not abstaining completely, but at the same time I don’t really feel like drinking these days.

Yesterday, however, I made an exception: the situation truly deserved a toast.

A ferret and two bunnies were also at the hotel. Don’t ask me why.

After saying goodbye to Sven, I went to sleep feeling relieved. I could plan my next day.

When I woke up in the morning, it was clear that the weather was going to be bad. Big clouds were approaching from the ocean and I could see they were already deploying a serious amount of rain.

I wanted to take a longer, more scenic route along the coast, but with that thick rain and fog it would have been completely useless. The only way left of taking some “new” pictures was to take a ferry to the other side of the bay, where I would then begin to walk.

From the ferry.

I played some Pokémon GO on the boat, hoping to find some rare beast. Needless to say, that didn’t happen. What a waste of precious mobile internet data that was.

After landing, I bought some food and started to walk under the rain. It was important to have a field test of my rain gear, and everything went fine. I was a bit worried about the bag getting wet, but the water-proof cover did his job well enough.

Approaching the city of Susaki, under the rain.

There were no temples today, and to be honest I didn’t miss them.

Tonight I’m sleeping in the small village of Awa, hoping that the good luck I had yesterday will walk with me for another few days at least.

I will still need it, big time.