Chickens - waiting - freezing

Our first change of station is today. Our battle plan for today: drive to the new hotel, ask if we can store the suitcases and explore the Piton de la Fournaise volcano through a short hike.

After the first bad news of the day (the first dropout due to cold symptoms) and another delicious breakfast (this time with new jams and crepes), we say goodbye to Isabelle and Patrick (Villa Galabe te Tafia in Saint-Marie).

A short detour to the airport to finally get the correct insurance papers for our rental car, then we drive towards Le Tampon, to our next accommodation, the Hotel Les Geranium.

Facts:

The renovation work on the hotel initially classified as a 2-star hotel was completed thanks to the financial support of the European Union and the Reunion region. After this renovation, the facility was reclassified as a 3-star hotel.

I don't know the standard of completed renovations on Reunion, but I suspect that there is still a small, but fine difference between reality and what was planned.

We drive for a little over an hour through endless sugarcane fields,

we wind our way through cute villages and get closer to the sky.

In addition to plenty of sugarcane, they also have a lot of traffic circles and speed bumps for traffic calming. Those things are really annoying. Every evening, you're blinded when a car approaches.

I noticed yesterday that the French are a bit different in traffic. They use the left turn signal when entering the traffic circle. That doesn't make any sense, where else would they go. And on the highway, on the left lane, they constantly use the left turn signal. Thank goodness for Google - what did we do in the past with our ignorance.

Facts:

Traffic Circle: Most traffic circles have 2 lanes, but the lanes are not always marked. When entering the traffic circle, use the left turn signal if you want to drive more than halfway around, and when exiting before the desired exit, use the right turn signal.

Highway: They don't want to tailgate, like some of our countrymen. Drivers who are using the left turn signal while overtaking a vehicle on the right lane keep the turn signal on for the entire overtaking maneuver.

Different countries - strange customs.

Our sick bunny is getting worse, so only three of us will go hiking. But our second car starts to behave badly. Battery light, emergency braking, at some point the lights went out briefly, the battery shows empty 

and with some effort, the car barely made it to the hotel parking lot before it completely stopped working and the ignition didn't even turn on. That was at 1:30 PM

Thank goodness the rooms are already ready.

Called Europcar, who said they would send someone within the next 20 minutes.

In the meantime, I try to see what else we can do with the rest of the day. Disappointingly, there is not much left for us to do. No matter which tour we wanted to take, the drive to the starting point of the hike always takes almost 45 minutes, and no hike takes less than 3 and a half hours. It's already 3 PM. If we start now, we would only be back here at 8 PM at the earliest. Hiking is out of the question. So let's do wellness instead. After all, the hotel has a pool, a jacuzzi, and a sauna.

Schatz calls Europcar again. They tell the mechanic where to come a total of 3 times.

However, the mechanic only speaks Creole French and couldn't call us back.

Then after another phone call with Europcar (where we get a new phone number again), a nice German-speaking hotel employee calls this number and is asked for the address again (this time it seems like the hotel name was pronounced correctly with the right emphasis) and the mechanic arrives within 10 minutes. He tries a spare battery for a short time and then exchanges the vehicle for a Peugeot.

It is now 5:10 PM, the sun is slowly setting.

Schatz goes to the pool, unfortunately you can't get to the jacuzzi from there without walking through the hotel, past people who are enjoying their wine in the fireplace room.

So no wellness either. After this eventful day, we find a wind-protected corner, because the wind is very cold, and treat ourselves to a sundowner dodo.

Facts:

Officially, the beer is called "Bourbon", but everyone calls it "Dodo". It has been awarded seven gold medals for the quality of its purely natural ingredients and is still undisputedly the queen among the beers of La Reunion.

Clouds cover the sea and the sun quickly disappears behind the mountain. 

As soon as the sun is gone, icy coldness spreads. I think we'll have to buy a sweater. Gloves, hat, and scarf would be great too. It's so freezing cold.

Yesterday, I made fun of a job application at booking.com

"It was only 13 degrees outside. That's why it was great to have thick blankets and a heater."

We are glad about that too. Tonight we will definitely drive out the bacteria with rum 😜 and the rum also gives a warm feeling in the stomach.