Travel mishaps; lost in translation

So every trip is bound to have it's glitches, and we experienced one of ours yesterday when attempting to get to the Kumano river for our traditional boat tour. We stood at the right bus stop, at the right time, and when the bus pulled up, we asked the driver- "going to Hitari"? He nodded yes, pointed to the ticket machine (so he can determine how much to charge us) and we innocently sat down. 23 minutes later Adam says, why aren't we in Hitari? I ask the bus driver this same question and he looks at me and shakes his head no- and streams of Japanese pour from his mouth. In 95% Japanese and 5% English- both he and a female passenger helped us off the bus in the middle of nowhere, after we had to pay about 1200 yen, (about $10) and explained in 1 hour another bus will come to take us in the direction we want to go. Although, of course, our traditional boat tour had left its shores by now and other than giving the bus driver angry looks,  there was nothing else we could do but wait. 

Eventually we got to Shingu and then to Nachi and hiked our way to the Nachi shrine and waterfall. We climbed many more steps, passed the impressive Meitosugi, husband and wife cedar trees whose roots are entwined beneath the path. 

We made the rest of our buses that day and found our way to Kii-Katsuura and of course, had some black sesame ice cream as a treat for a long day. 

We took the ferry to hotel Nakanishima, a huge ryokan hotel located on its own island. 

We got situated in our rooms, which were plenty and was taught how to appropriately tie our obi's (sashes for kimono) and headed down for dinner. All being said, I think we've had our full of extravagant meals. 

Our leftovers are many, much to our chagrin. 

We slept well, awoke, had a buffet breakfast (thank the gods) and took the ferry back to the JR line which we are on currently heading to the last stop of the trip, Hakone.