to read - Jaltemba Bay Life

language. Half the fun is finding out youinterpreted something wrong and thenunderstanding where you went wrong in yourinterpretation. Another challenge is realizing thatbecause you might know only a few words, theother person will assume you know more thanyou really do. This is why I often ended upreceiving long explanations in Spanish andactually understanding just one or two words andguessing the rest. The key is to forge ahead,keep trying, and learning.Anyway, after several minutes ofcommunication attempts Manuel said he wouldtake us to a mine. So, Manuel, my father, and Idrove off in our camper toward an opal mine.About 10 kilometers down the road Manuelpointed to a nondescript farm road and told me tofollow it. I would never have found that turn-off ina million years. There were no signs or anythingwhatsoever indicating that this was an entranceto a mine. As I looked up the road I saw a largecut into the mountainside indicating some sort ofevacuation. “La mina, la mina,” Manuel said. Theroad started winding up the mountain and I wasconcerned that our old motor home might notmake it up the hill. With sign language andbroken Spanish I asked Manuel several times ifthe motor home could make it up the hill. “Noproblema, no problema,” he replied each time.Although slightly worried I continued to drivesince the motor home was doing well and theroad remained passable. Eventually, we cresteda hill and entered an excavated plateauoverlooking the valley below. It was a beautifulsite; the rock in Magdalena and particularly opalsin this region has a light reddish, rust color.