After a seemingly short 2 hour drive to Bela Bela we stumbled gratefully into the resort’s air-conditioned reception. I made eye-contact with Jasmine who had our checking in details but she was busy with someone else, and so she handed us over to a colleague to give us our keys and gate pass.

Almost drowned by the hum of the air-conditioner and the babble of the other voices in the room, she mouthed a question which sounded to me to end in “da silva.”

Thinking she was confirming my surname, I responded with, “No, Martins.”

Husband behind me thinking: “How the heck did she know we were Portuguese?”

Indignant me thinking: “Humph…does she think all Portuguese people are called Da Silva?”

Checking-in person looks at me with a puzzled expression, looks down at the sheet of paper in her hand and asks: ” D’you have the silver Hyundai?”

Ah…!

Almost lost in translation, this interchange had me and husband giggling to ourselves the whole weekend.