Pais Vasco etc.

This weekend was my last weekend trip with friends. It was kind of sad but it was a great one to end on. Thursday I went to class all packed for our weekend. After class, I headed straight to the bus station where I met the other 4: Andrew, Erin, Michelle and Nicole. We got on our bus to Salamanca which was the most windy and weavy bus drive i've ever been on. Mom, you would have been sick multiple times. To get to Salamanca from Caceres you have to cross a large mountain range with some of the peaks still having snow on them. We arrived in Salamanca where it was raining. Not lightly, but cats and dogs. And we had quite a walk to our hostel. So we made our way through the rain which let up some on our way...and then turned to sleet. SLEET!! IN SPAIN!! I was getting pelted with ice IN SPAIN!! We finally made it to our hostel soaking and cold. So we took some time to warm up and eat some snacks. but we needed some food for the morning and our train ride to San Sebastian. So we headed to the closest supermarket...which closes at 9. We got there at 9:10. So we headed to the next one that supposedly closed at 10 but was closed at 9:50. So we asked directions to the 24 hour store (i didn't even know that those existed in Spain but in Salamanca there is one). They pointed us 10 minutes in a direction. We still couldn't find it. So we asked someone else, who pointed us down another 10 minutes. We still couldn't find it. So we asked someone else who pointed us in the opposite direction. By this time we had been walking for an hour and a half. We were cold, hungry and tired. We encountered a movie theater and decided to warm up, get some food, and enjoy a movie. We went to Slumdog Millionaire which was fantastic. The best part was that 3/4 of the way through the movie, I realized that it was in Spanish. It in no way felt like a foreign language. That was a cool thing. So then outside the movie theater, an older couple kindly directed us in the correct direction where we found the 24 hour store which was more or less a hole in the wall with some shelves of food, but we didn't care. So we bought some nourishment went back to the hostel, and climbed into our warm dry beds.

The next morning we got up and went to breakfast at 9 (that's when it started). Our train left at 10:30. The others wanted to go to a supermarket on the way to the train station. I didn't think we had time but we went. Erin and I waited outside because we didn't want to buy anything. It gets to be a little after 10 and they finally are done buying things. So then we head to the bus stop, which the bus had just passed meaning we had to wait too long and wouldn't make the train. There was no way we could make it walking there. So we almost panicked but we said TAXI. So we sent Erin into the store for the taxi number, but then i realized that it might be on the map we had...which it was. So we got 2 taxis thanks to an older lady who helped with describing our location. We made it with about 4 minutes to spare. But we made it nonetheless. So we began our 6 hour journey to San Sebastian.

When we arrived in San Sebastian, it was beautiful. No rain, no wind, just sun and ocean. We got to our hostel which was right in the middle of the old city. It was very clean and felt like a home. After we settled in, we walked the beach and back, and stopped a supermarket BEFORE we would have to worry about closing times. We then headed back to the hostel to prepare for a meal at a local restaurant recommended by our hostel manager. We went into this very small bar/restaurant with 2 tables. We got one of the tables somehow. One of our few lucky moments. It was a very crowded place. We orded exactly what the hostel manager said. The first round was bread and a tomato salad made with tomatoes, sea salt, oil and vinegar. It was fantastic. The next round was fried peppers in sea salt and oil. Then we had these 2 massive steaks. All of this was split between the five of us. It turned out to be pretty pricey but it was worth it. We hadn't really eaten a real meal all day. More or less just pastries so i didn't feel too guilty. We then took a night stroll around the mountain along the ocean. The air was fantastic. We passed some fishermen, and it made me want to fish. I resisted the urge. When we got home, we talked for a while. We then slept like babies.

Andrew had mentioned Friday maybe just crossing the border to france because Andrew hadn't been there before. So saturday morning we took 2 trains to a city called Biarritz on the southwestern french coast. It, like san sebastian, was incredibly beautiful. We had some time between trains in the town of Hendaya, just across the border. There we sat and relaxed in a park. Then we found a beach with tons of shells. We couldn't believe how many there were. So we climbed over the rails and down the stone wall to the beach. I found some very cool shells. As I climbed up the rocks on the other side of the beach and made it to the top, I saw a sign that said "reserve" which is the same word in French as in English. No wonder there were so many shells. So i have illegal shells, but we didnt' know at the time. When we arrived in Biarritz we headed down to the beach where the waves were fantastic. I laid out on the beach and fell asleep. then I was awoken by Andrew all excited because the surf shop we had passed rented out surf boards and body boards for very cheap. I was all for it. So Michelle, Andrew, and I rented wet suits, 2 body boards and a surfboard. I definitely am glad we got the wet suits because that water was cold. They are very effective. So for about an hour and a half we rode waves on our boards. Andrew even got up on the surfboard once. I was exhausted after that 1.5 hours. Swimming against waves requires a lot of energy. So we changed and returned the equipment. We had about 45 minutes to get to the train station, which was plenty of time. So we went to the bus stop and realized that the buses had been rerouted due to construction and the bus we needed didn't go there anymore. So we had to find the next bus stop. Well we went the wrong way first because spain is anti street signs apparently. We eventually found it but had just missed the bus. There was no way we were going to make it. Luckily I remembered that there was another train 30 minutes later. We could just use our same tickets because we validate them before we get on the train. So after a bit of panic we realized it would be fine.

We made it back to Hendaya with about a half hour before the train to Bilbao. So i went a got a coffee at a bar where the old bartender stared creepily at me the whole time i drank it. So i got out as soon as I finished it. it was good coffee though. We had already gotten our tickets so Erin, Nicole and I got on the train. Michelle and Andrew were waiting for their pizzas to get heated up at a cafe. The train started the warning beeping and they were no where to be found. With a minute to spare they came running up. We made it through another scare. We then could relax on our 3 hour train ride to bilbao. When we got to Bilbao, it was dark and cold. The hostal didn't give us very good directions. To be honest they weren't really directions. So we got off on the metro stop recommended to us by the metro worker. And then read a map in the metro to figure out where to go. Well again Spain hates roads signs and after walking back and forth on the road on the river 4 times we realized that the road we needed was further down on the other side of the Cirque du Solei tents that prevented us from see it. So we made it to the Hostal at 11:35 and the check in closed at midnight. So close. I literally fell into bed after we got our keys. Breakfast didn't open until 9:30 so we had an excuse to sleep a lot.

In the morning, we filled up on breakfast and made sandwiches and put them in our bags for lunch. Guess what? it was raining. Luckily a very nice Spanish girl helped us figure out the best ways transportation wise to get to the 2 museums we wanted to see. We went the the Guggenheim museum. The first floor was interesting and the second was amazing. It was featuring a japonese artist that did gunpowder drawings. It was incredible. The third floor...was well...hmmm...anime. For those of you who don't know what that means, it's japonese cartoons that some people are obsessed with. Pokemon was somewhat of a precursor. Some of it is made for young adults and therefore somewhat inappropriate. We skipped half of that floor. We then walked to the Pais Vasco museum which was just a museum about the Basque people. It was very interesting to see the ancient technology for fishing, sailing and such. We then gave ourselves ample time to get to the train station. We got on our train without any problems. I had a nice little nap, and I got some homework done.

When we arrived in Salamanca, there was a cultural market going on so we walked through that. Andrew got a pair of sunglasses. Then we decided to head on to the bus station so as to ensure we wouldn't miss it. Starved, I got a hamburger with 2 fried eggs and french fries at the cafe in the bus station. I devoured it. We then cut it a bit close getting to our platform but it wasn't there yet. Which surprised us. So we waited and it was really getting close to when it should have been leaving. Andrew, doing his usual wandering, wandered down a couple platforms and realized that the bus was parked in the wrong platform. It almost left without us. That was not our fault though because the platform said caceres and the screen inside said that that was the platform. But we made it. I tried to get some sleep on the bus which worked for a while but then I couldn't. The bus got in around 12:30am and I was home by 1am.

Today after 3.5 hours of sleep, I am extremely tired but don't regret any of it. while it may sound as though we ran around missing busses and trains most of the time. The actual things we did were amazing and totally worth it.

Pais Vasco