Portarosa and getting some cash

Yesterday the first day in Portarosa was a national holiday and I couldn't do anything in the way of getting some money wired over. Everything was closed. so I spent the day sleeping late, riding around town and at the beach. It was a resort town and packed with mostly Slovenian but also Austrian and German tourists on holiday.

There was no huge beach, only a few small sections of sand which were very crowded, but all along the shoreline people would come and find a spot.

I found a nice spot under some trees and relaxed, napped and watched all of the activity. The water was clear, clean and crisp. Not at all warm as I had expected. Not really cold like Maine but cool and for me, perfect.

........ and very clear and clean. No real seaweed like in Maine.

But unlike yesterday when I could relax and hang out at the beach my mission today was to get some funds transferred. So first thing, I went to the only bank in town that would do a Western Union money transfer and learned how it would work and emailed the information home to my son Harry,

Sarah had left for France so my fate was in the hands of my young son Harry to make the transfer. But there is no one in the world that I would rather have handle this than Harry. He is the most reliable and competent person there is. Though just turned 21 he is very smart and it is just his nature to be good at this type of thing. 

With the 6 hour time difference we only had a short time window with 2 hours between when my bank in Stockbridge opened and the bank in Slovenia closed. But up early and right on time Harry went to the Lee Bank only to learn that they did not handle Western Union money transfers and that he had to go to Price Chopper in Great Barrington. Resourceful and quick on his feet this is what he did and by 3:30 I had what I needed to get the money. 

But in Slovenia things were not so simple. Although I had everything .....the correct 10 digit ID, Harrison Wesley Wilken's full and correctly spelled name and my passport matching the name on the transfer. In GB Harry had been told and attached a message with a security question. Something common in GB when immigrants transfer money back home to Central America. But in Slovenia they don't use the security question and would not process the transfer with it attached.

Frantic for time because I didn't want to wait 2 more days over the weekend with no money I emailed back to Harry to cancel the security question. As always, reliable Harry, competent and quick on his feet got to GB in time and cancelled the question. ....... but still they would not give me the money!!!!!

We also, which they didn't tell me, had to cancel not only the message but that there was a message. This all this makes no sense and sounds ridiculous, and it is, and was and those who know me know that I have no patience or tolerance for things that make no sense!! Especially in my state of desperation. I was not a happy camper!!! And I must apologize to the people in the bank, although they were pretty clueless and refused to plead my case to Western Union. They acted like docile sheep and refused to question something ridiculous that made no sense. I saw it as a real cultural difference that makes American's who we are.

Faced with spending the weekend stranded with no money I asked around and found a place in a town 15 miles back the way I came that I had just come that was open Saturday morning. so I went back to see Dona the incredibly nice lady at the information/booking agency for another nights room and loan for food and went to bed.

As with so many people I have met on this journey Dona was so incredibly helpful and generous to me, a complete stranger, that it really gives me faith in the human species. And it reinforces my belief that if you trust people and are patient and nice to others the same will be returned to you.