Feb. 22

After having hot baths, eating as much ice cream that we wanted, and indulging in food that one would find at a State Fair, we slept well.( That doesn’t include the 30 minute massage chair that almost put us to sleep while in the chair.) In the morning we headed down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. It was a feast that was included with the Hotel stay. We probably ate enough food to last us for the day. As usual there was plenty of rice. The hotel had arranged for a taxi to pick us up and take us to the ferry at 9:00. Knowing that punctuality is a virtue, we decided to be ready 15 minutes early. Sure enough the taxi driver showed up shortly after we arrived to the lobby. We continue to learn new things everyday. Today we learned that you never open a taxi door. The driver has a control that will open all the doors. I am glad that we did laundry and took baths yesterday. The taxi seats were white fabric and the seat backs were white lace. Not to mentions the driver wore white gloves and had a suit on.

It was a 15 minute drive to the ferry. After entering the terminal, we were tasked with ticket buying. The ticket machines aren’t always self explanatory, but the clerk showed us what was needed and soon we had our ticket in hand. The ferry had arrived from Tokushima and after the passengers had disembarked, we were given the go ahed to board. It was a colorful walkway to the ferry.

There was also a sign with the word Henro.

Pilgrims on the 88 Temple route are called Henroes or Ohenroes.. Many people doing the pilgrimage use the ferry to get to Tokushima Soon Don and I will become known as OHeroes. We are getting excited.

The ferry was spotless. There was a playroom for children.

There were seats in the front of the ferry, but most people headed to the carpeted area where one could stretch out. Of course there was a place to put your shoes.

Don and I took advantage of the carpeted areas.

We have quickly become accustomed to vending machines that are found thru out Japan. The ferry had ones that sold hot noodles, coffee, cold drinks and ice cream. No need for a cafeteria.

It took us about 2 and 1/2 hours to get to the port on the other side. Fortunately the ferry ride was smooth. After arriving we needed to find the bus stop that would take us to the town of Tokushima. Unfortunately for us all the signs were in Japanese.

Sign for the bus. We were in luck when some English speaking Japanese showed us where to stand. The bus arrived within 10 minutes and took us to Tokushima Station.

We will be coming here tomorrow to get the train that will take us to the first temple.

Now though we need to find the hostel that we have reserved for the night. According to the directions that was sent to us, It is only an eight minute walk away. We are using AT&T for our cell coverage and we are impressed. We put in the address and using Google maps we find our way to the PAQ hostel. Our room isn’t ready yet so we drop our packs and head off to do some exploring.

I am not sure what we expected, but this is a full on city.

Our first stop was to check out a store that was known to have some items for pilgrims. The selection wasn’t great so we decided to wait until tomorrow when we go to Temple One. There is a store next to the temple which should supply us with all of our needs. Walking the streets we came to a small store that had a variety of fruits. We soon purchased some that looked quite tasty. Further down the street was a pastry shop .A good number of sweets found their way in to our bag as well. We are hoping that the strawberries, oranges and fruits will balance out the sweets. We headed back to our room to organize our gear. We plan to leave a small bag here of items we won’t need till the end of the trip. One of PAQ’s services is keeping your extra gear till you return. We have brought a second pair of shoes knowing that over 800 miles of walking will wear one pair out. We debate about taking both pairs in our backpack or leave one here at PAQ. The way the route works is that in about a week or so we will pass thru this town again. We learn that the hostel will be closed for several days when we pass thru. That helps make the decision for each of us to bring the extra pair of shoes.

We head to Lawson’s tonight for an evening meal. I have a feeling that this store may become one of our favorites.

There is too much adrenaline surging thru our bodies. Sleep may be hard to come by.