This week’s adventure wasn’t castles or coastal trails — it was a crash course in driving. When Tom broke his shoulder blade on Wednesday, the car keys landed in my hands. What followed was a string of wrong turns, bumpy backroads, and unexpected lessons — with a little help from friends and more miles than I’d planned to drive.
And no, there was no grand adventure behind the injury — just a routine ride to the library, a well-worn path, and a slippery curb.
Level 1: ER Boss Battle
Our first stop was the Centro de Saúde in Tavira — wrong turn number one. Definitely not the place for a broken bone. As we sat waiting for an Uber that crawled its way to take us back to the apartment, it dawned on me: the next move was mine. I’d be the one behind the wheel.
Now, our car isn’t exactly beginner-friendly. It’s a manual transmission, and while I’ve driven stick before, this was trial by fire: clutch work combined with foreign signs, endless roundabouts, and unfamiliar roads — all while my co-pilot nursed a broken shoulder.
The final stretch to Faro’s private hospital ER was narrow, winding, and endlessly bumpy. And instead of a neat parking lot at the end, the only option was a spot along the road, half-paved and half-claimed by weeds. Challenge accepted: full concentration mode on. My only goal was to finish quickly and with minimal embarrassment. Somehow, against all odds, the car ended up straight and tucked in.
🎯Victory: parallel park under pressure.
Level 2: Late-Night Side Quest
It was after 11pm when we left the ER with prescriptions in hand because the hospital pharmacy was closed. Wrong turn number two. The new instructions: find an all-night pharmacy.
So there I was, clutch foot twitching, headlights bouncing down unfamiliar streets, treating Tavira-to-Faro like Level 2 of a driving video game. Objective: locate the glowing green pharmacy cross before Tom’s pain meds wore off.
With our group chat pinging in tips like a real-time strategy guide, we quickly found an all-night spot, where the pharmacist even fitted Tom’s brace on the spot.
🎯 Achievement unlocked: late-night armor equipped.
Level 3: Ortho Speedrun
By morning, it seemed prudent to head to the nurse at the Tavira Clinic and make sure everything was properly stabilized. Another gamble, another challenge.
Luck was on our side: an orthopedist happened to be in town that day (they only come once or twice a week). The nurse worked some magic, and Tom was in. The doc did a physical exam, confirmed things with an ultrasound, and then prescribed the next quest: an MRI.
Now it was Tom’s turn at the controls. Task: figure out where to get an MRI and schedule it. When the clinic said there were no slots available, he explained he needed one before Wednesday, and suddenly — poof — there was an opening.
⭐ Achievement unlocked: negotiation master.
It felt like a clean win — the kind where you clear the level, collect all the loot, and get pointed toward the next big boss. The only catch? The MRI meant another drive, this time to the medieval streets of Loulé. Cue ominous music.
Level 4: The MRI Dungeon Crawl
Loulé was the next quest: an MRI appointment tucked inside a medieval town where the streets were clearly not designed with cars in mind.
First challenge: a traffic light. I was in pole position, the first car in line, with only one job — go when the light turned green. After several long minutes, green finally came… and I promptly stalled the engine. Panic. Silence. And then, miracle: the car auto-started itself.
⭐ Achievement unlocked: new feature discovered.
The easy way out was blocked by a sign reading desvio. Detours are a whole different skill level. Instead of forging ahead, I looped through a parking lot in the wrong direction — no one around, so no harm done. Tom noted my “creative” navigation, but I had a plan: follow a Portuguese driver through the maze of narrow lanes. Sometimes strategy > rules.
🎯 Victory unlocked: sneaky shortcut.
Bonus Round: Can’t Keep a Good Man Down
Back home, the game shifted. Tom had to play the role of observer while I wrestled with constructing the new guest bed — no lifting allowed. Cooking? Off-limits. Cleaning the litter box? Also off-limits… which honestly felt like a win for him.
The enforced downtime came with unexpected space for reflection. And while he couldn’t do the heavy lifting, he found ways to keep moving: joining our East Algarve Clean Up crew for a safe stretch of picking trash and taking walks into town for exercise.
⭐ Achievement unlocked: patience (and the art of handing over the keys).
And because not every level has to be a boss fight, we rounded out the week with a bonus stage at Tavira’s youth festival. Food trucks lined the square, friends filled the night, and plates piled up: arepas, churros, a fartura (basically a churro’s big cousin), and the star of the show — a hotdog stacked with mayonnaise, shredded carrots, kernels of corn, bacon bits, and crowned with batatas fritas.
✅ Victory: finishing the hotdog without dropping half of it.
Wrong Turns for the Win
Sometimes the smallest missteps send us on detours we didn’t plan — and somehow, they still move us forward. The Take Two Sardines (and call me in the morning) blog post was born because we thought we knew what to do in an emergency — we didn’t.
And just because, here are the cats loving the new bed and furniture rearrangement.
More Portugal
Read more about daily life, the embarrassing moments, and the process for having a long stay in Portugal. If you are more of a picture person, follow me on Instagram.
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