The bus arrived in Tokushima, on the island of Shikoku, about 2pm and I managed to find a loose thread on my backpack to investigate until the Henro got off the bus and I could accost him with questions. Unfortunately he was resuming his pilgrimage at Temple 18 and was about to catch a train but he helped me find the Information Centre, which was so easy it was embarrassing, and I caught the lift up to the sixth floor where it was located.
I would have bet that Claire San, the Canadian woman at TOPIA, would be rich if she got paid 10 Yen for every Gaijin whose jaw dropped with amazement to see her smiling face behind the counter. I would have happily paid that 10 Yen myself right then! To say she was a miracle would be like saying I'm quite fond of Eddie Vedder's voice - a GROSS understatement!! She rang and booked my next four nights accommodation, gave me maps, phone numbers, a news article and a list of accommodation places for the entire 88 Temples. I was speechless (and I knew people who would pay good money to see that!)
The reason I asked her to help me was because it was Golden Week which is comparable to our Easter in that there are only two days or so work in amongst a week of public holidays - and I had already experienced Koyasan on a public holiday so knew what madness it could be.
She admitted she hadn't done quite so comprehensive an itinerary before and was looking forward to my feedback.
The Miracles of Saint ClaireEach of the places cost more than I had budgeted for but in order to even start the Pilgrimage, after wanting to bail, I came to terms with the fact that I was going to run out of money anyway and decided not to worry about it till it happened.
I said goodbye to Claire San, not being able to express my devotee like gratitude adequately enough and almost skipped the 200 paces to my first lodging.
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