Hello all!!! I am sorry I haven't written in a while. Thus, I'll give you an earful this time. Thursday night my friends Hannah, Joel, Justin, Emma, Andrew, and I got on an 11pm bus to San Sebastian. For some reason, I got stuck by myself sitting next to a rasta with dreadlocks that went at least past his knees. Luckily, he smelled okay. Meanwhile, my friends in the back "botellon"ed. Look it up on the internet. It may be in Spanish. Prize goes to the first person who can tell me what exactly my 5 naughty friends were doing in the back of the bus. Like they say "Party's in the back of the bus." Anywayyy....
We get there at about 5:30 am. We get there. Look at each other and everyone is asking everyone else what the address of the hostel is. Basically, we went to San Sebastian and that was it. Had no idea what we were doing once we got there. Thus, Justin calls his mom in California and she starts to have a mini panic attack because she thinks all 6 of us are going to get kidnapped. We finally get the address and tell the taxi drivers. By the way, we got off the bus and it was about 4 degrees Celsius. That means 39 degrees Fahrenheit. So it's basically tropical. Especially since we are used to the 75 degree with humidity, go to the beach in the middle of October, that is Valencia.
It's 5:30 am. We find the hostel (it except reception supposedly does not open until 10 am. We ring the bell and thanks to The Lord Baby Jesus in Heaven one of the girls who works there wakes up and let's us in. We got lucky again and all got put in the same room. We take and nap for a few hours and wake up. We put on almost all articles of clothing that we brought because it felt like the Arctic circle outside. We head out into the little street that is filled with blindingly bright sunshine and air that bites your throat when you breathe. It was so refreshing and I'm not being sarcastic this time. We head to a cafe for coffee and pastries. The pastries were so beautiful you didn't want to eat them. I had a fleeting whim that I should be a pastry chef.
We then decided to hike up to the top of the mountain that had the statue of Jesus on top. Emma studied here one summer so she has some ideas as to what we should do. The views were incredible and my pictures do not do it justice. We spent the rest of the day exploring, walking around, and enjoying the experience.
That night, we did a pub crawl with all the people staying in the hostel. The hostel was so awesome. The owner doesn't live there I don't think but he has two Australian girls working there who are our age and every weekend they do pub crawls with the people staying in the hostel. A pub crawl is a deal that hostels have with bars and discos where we get in free or get two drinks for the price of one when we go or something along those lines and you go to a couple different bars/discos. It was great fun!
Saturday was warmer and we woke up a little later, had some breakfast and headed out again. Hannah and Justin needed some sunglasses because it was so bright out. Thus, they decided to buy matching heart shaped sunglasses. Needless to say, Justin got some strange looks but we had a good time laughing about it. After that, we walked the other way to the sculptures attached to rocks called the Wind Comb. The walk was something I will never forget because it was stunningly beautiful, I had no worries, and the only thought I had was how lucky I was to be here and get to experience places like San Sebastian. The beauty of the place was overwhelming and it didn't wear off nor will it ever. It was enchanting. Magical. The people were warm and polite. The streets were clean, the water clear, the air fresh. The view was breathtaking and the city romantic.
As we were walking back from the Wind Comb sculptures, there were a TON of people walking slowly through the street waving a Pais Vasco (basque country) flag. They don't fly the flag of Spain in the Basque Provinces because they are itching for independence. They speak a Nordic language and from what I have been told, it is older than all the Roman languages. So, they were protesting the recent deaths of 5 Basque "terrorists" from what we heard.
For dinner, we went out and tried "pinchos" which are the Basque equivalent to tapas. In essence, they are appetizers of all sorts. You go through the bar with a plate like a buffet and pick what you want and order a drink at the end. It was 2 euros a "racion" or a piece. My favorites were the artichoke hearts wrapped in ham, the french bread with bleu cheese on top, the red bell peppers stuffed with something, and the "tortilla" on bread. Remember that tortilla here is basically potato omlette with spices.
This morning, we had a 9 am bus ride. Three of the 5 of them that went out (I stayed in as I wasn't feeling too great) did not come back until about 8 am. Discos in Spain are open all night. So we almost miss the bus but make it just in time, get reprimanded by the bus driver who tells us "you should not party so much!" and make it home in one piece. San Sebastian.
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