I slept in again today until about 10am. The bed was all warm and snuggly, and I couldn't possibly give that up in any hurry! Got up, dressed, and went into the kitchen and made a nice pot of Yerba Matte. Super strong Argentinian tea–yum. After that I Rebekah and I played around with the IKEA kitchen creator program and assembled their future kitchen which will be in the bedroom I'm sitting in right now. It's not a huge room, but we managed to cram everything necessary in and still have a decent sized space open. It's going to look very nice.
Sebastien came over and asked me to pop over to The Alamo and help him with something he was doing inside the house. Holding a board while he drilled into it... that took about ten minutes, then I headed back here to hang out with Paddy, Rebekah and Una. We read some, then Paddy decided to start making lunch, another tasty concoction in which he managed to include all the leftovers that were in the fridge. It was deemed the sweet, tangy, zesty, hearty, spicy soup.
After we finished eating I cleaned up and then went and chatted with Sebastien for a bit to get his recommendations about places to see along the Camino. Shortly after we finished Rebekah, Paddy, and I went out on a walk with Una, along the road toward San Nicolas. We walked past this property that used to be used as an electricity mill, but is now in shambles. It's a really nice piece of land with some excellent looking structures–despite their falling apart–on it. The only thing is it's between two expressways, though there's a sound barrier in the back and the one it faces, N-120 which Moratinos is on, is hardly used.
There were all kinds of anoles running about and sunning themselves on one part of the building. It was neat, as I've never really seen reptiles other than snakes in the wild. Along the path there were also some really great plants including small yellow and blue flowers, a vibrantly red moss, and these bushes which grow seemingly along every road here that Reb calls horse tails. I call them the “We don't take no crap from nobody” shrubs as they seem like they might withstand a nuclear holocaust. Very sturdy plants indeed. I found a cool shell on the path too that is solid white with a dark brown or black spiral following it's natural shape. I'm thinking of trying to make a necklace with it.
We got to San Nicolas and stopped in at Barrunta where we had a beer and some tasty cured ham. We also got a brief lesson on umlauts ( ¨, usually found over u's, as in über) used in Spanish words that begin with “gui-” from our friendly bartender, Raoul. We left after a half hour or so and let Una run through the hare fields as we made our way back to Moratinos. It was a truly gorgeous day today with interesting cloud formations and really gusty winds, nice winds though. The rustle of different kinds of plants along the terrain really appealed to me. Also, on the way home I found the rock–or pebble I guess–that I'm going to carry with me on my Camino. Traditionally people carry a stone from the place they begin the Camino to a point about ¾ of the way to Santiago, just outside Astorga. There you'll find a huge cross surrounded by an ocean of stones, left behind by other pilgrims. The stone is supposed to represent your sins, and as you pass you cast it away, and are absolved. Really I'm following tradition more than any formal belief system that I have, but the stone I discovered seemed incredibly appropriate as it has a crude cross formed on it, created by it's natural expansion and contraction between the hot and cold weather.
We got home, Paddy took a nap, and Rebekah worked while I read a few issues of The New Yorker that Libby gave her while she was in the States. There was this fantastically funny article posing as an advertisement for a system of health pills called Mr. Goodbody's Health System, or something to that extent. I couldn't stop laughing at the “testimonials” they ran. Good stuff. Libby called and talked to Reb for a while, then she and I chatted for a few minutes. It was good to hear from her. It seems she's lost 7lbs. since being home from Spain. Go Lib!
Paddy slept until about 7:30, then he and Rebekah decided they were going to take me out to dinner, it being my last night in Moratinos (tomorrow really is, but because of Holy Week here I guess things will be closing early). We went to the big hotel in Sahgun, Peurta de Sahagun, which Paddy and Reb call Hotel Posh. Their restaurant wasn't fancy per se, but was nice, and we had a great meal. There was a large party of seniors dining just after we arrived, presumably in town for Holy Week. They finished eating and then brought out these huge bottles of champagne, which got all the grandmotherly types quite happy. We also watched the futbol match between Valencia (Spain) and Chelsea (England). It ended up being a draw, though because Valencia was playing away from home their goals will technically count double in the case of a tie breaker after they play the next game in Valencia. Such an interesting sport. I find the more and more I watch it the more I seem to enjoy it. It's too bad America hasn't caught on quite yet to soccer like the rest of the world has.
After dinner we headed home, and now we're all heading to bed. The stars here tonight are absolutely brilliant. You can easily pick out so many constellations, I just wish I had a chart so I could remember which are which.
Anyhow, I'm headed to bed. Sleepy Ryan.
No comments:
Post a Comment