 |
| Gijon, Asturias |
 |
| The harbor in Gijon |
This weekend worked out so perfectly! I got a weekend off because Carmen and Carlos had a wedding in Santander (north of Spain). The girl´s grandparents were to watch the girls for the weekend at their home in Madrid, so I took advantage of the time and went to Oviedo, Asturias. Nick highly recommended that I go to Oviedo to see his friend Eva and know Aturias. I woke up super early Friday morning, got in a taxi to the bus station, a bus to Madrid, a metro to the train station, and was greeted after about 7 hours of travelling by Eva and sunshine! We immediately drove to Gijon, a coastal city, to share a cafe con leche, a walk on the beach, more walking through town, and lunch. Eva could not stop telling me how rare it was that this was a sunny weekend. It has been a hot fall in Spain and everybody is talking about it! Many people were in their bathing suits and swimming or kite surfing! Our walk and talk was beautiful because I brought my english-spanish dictionary and through many attempts we communicated :) It was a really beneficial weekend for me because I felt truly forced to speak in conversation in spanish with someone. We left Gijon just by sunset and went back to Oviedo. The landscape looked like Ireland if I could guess or maybe northern California (Petaluma, perhaps?). We took a great walk around the old town of Oviedo, I saw clean sidewalks, buildings made of wood and stone with balconies, and many flowers. Kids and families were out playing fútbol and talking loudly. We bought some vegetables to make dinner with and made a stirfry. I was pretty tired from the day despite sleeping many hours in the train so we watched a movie in spanish. During the movie, Oscar, Eva´s friend, came over. He was super interesting and we stayed up pretty late talking about the crisis or TV or Spain in general.
 |
| Plaza de la Constitución, Oviedo |
The next day I woke up, borrowed Eva´s keys and strolled around old town Oviedo again. I saw girls walking home, shop keepers opening their stores, and street cleaners (yes, they water the streets here, too) cleaning up the glass and trash from the night before. It was almost dangerous to walk because the water on the slick ground made for a very slippery walk. I stopped by El Fontan, a market just around the corner from Eva´s place. The building was filled with different vendors selling bread, fish, jamón, fruit, veggies, you name it. I bought some tea for Eva as a thank you for having me for the weekend and by the time I left the building there were more vendors on the street selling belts, CDs, rugs, and more! The flower stalls were my favorite part because they masked the smell of cigarette smoke expelled by the vendors. I went back up to Eva´s apartment and we eventually met her friend Alvaro to go to the Asturian coast. Alvaro played U2 really loudly and I looked out the open window at the amazing landscape. If he didn´t drive so fast maybe I could have snapped a good picture. After about 20 minutes we were in a small town called La Isla to enjoy some bomb fresh seafood! We ate calamari, pulpo, and rape. The view was spectacular and unbelievable. The beach was precious to the north and to the south giant mountains about 1 mile high. The sun was pure, the air was fresh, and the wind was light. We walked along the beach and sat for a while to soak it in. On our drive home, we took the scenic route and listened to Tracy Chapman. Once again we were able to communicate and I suprised myself with how much I knew how to say. With Eva´s help, we talked and had a marvelous time on the coast.
 |
| Eva, me, Alvaro in La Isla, Asturias |
 |
| The market in Oviedo |
That afternoon Eva and I went to the musuem of Bellas Artes and checked out a Picasso, a Dali, and some beautiful Sorolla paintings. We only had 1 hour before the museum closed so we went through pretty quickly, met up with Oscar again and they showed me more of Oviedo. We checked out the Woody Allen statue, saw the young spaniards going out on the town, and got some dinner. We spent another evening talking about deeper issues, which again was difficult in spanish. The next morning I literally ran to the train station because my direct route had an event which closed the street. Thanks to Eva´s generosity and wonderful friends, this weekend was unforgettable!
