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As the bus pulled up, the half second glimpse of red hair was my signal that she had arrived safely. After nearly six months in Spain, I was positive that the only red head arriving in Santander was mine. Tee (Theresa, for those of you who don't know) mentioned last night that she was going to Ireland, where she would finally fit in and someone would like her. Except for fact that in reality, I think most Irish people are brunette. We'll hope that isn't true, because Tee will be returning to the Motherland soon and if she shows up and doesn't encounter multitudes of redheads, she might cry. She might also cry if she doesn't meet her hot Irish husband when there, so we'll pray for that too.
Thursday morning we went and got pizza bread and mango tea for breakfast and then walked around so I could show her the center of Santander and the port. Then I had class so we walked up to the university through Lung Cancer Tunnel. In the parking lot at school we encountered a line of caterpillars marching along at a steady pace of one foot an hour. National Geographic is really missing out on this:
After class we headed to the beach so she could see why I am obsessed with it here. I had planned on 65 degrees and sunny weather, but I think Mother Nature missed that memo, because although we had 52 degree weather, the wind was "going to give you pneumonia" as we were told by an old man as we attempted to tan on the beach regardless of the freezing breeze. Lucky for us we had a Spanish grandpa reprimanding us for a lack of clothing when our fathers are not here to do so.Tee had her first patatas bravas experience after we failed at being pushy enough to get a table at the restaurant by the beach. Each Thursday they offer a 2x1 Menu del Dia, but after half an hour of waiting and two tables being given to people who arrived after us we bailed and headed into town to find food. The only problem is that unless you want to drop a small fortune on a meal, you are going to be hard pressed to find something for lunch. So we settled for Regma ice cream and bravas. Thursday night we went out and played Trivia at the bar the group goes to each week. This week was a first for me: I knew two of the answers. The first was "Who is the voice of the donkey in Shrek" which is Eddie Murphy, and the second was a name that song question, which was Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve. Let's just make it clear that I will not be on any game shows, playing any sort of random fact game, or winning at anything like trivia in my lifetime.
Friday morning I gave a presentation about the revolution in Egypt, after which Tee and I headed into town for a bit of shopping-- that of course resulted in purchasing slightly unnecessary but really fabulous makeup. Back in October I was quite proud of myself for not spending a small fortune in the makeup store Kiko in Milan. We went into about six of them and I didn't buy a single thing. But then Santander has one open downtown and within a week I am suddenly a loyal customer who can't control herself with samples and shiny colors. Add makeup to the list of things I can't resist buying. Makeup, shoes, undies, jackets, food, and things with cows on them. What a mature life I lead.
After our little shopping extravaganza we headed home to have lunch with Tete. Tee (that's going to get confusing isn't it?) is staying with us, which is a total miracle because Tete was kind of on the fence about it. This basically means that Tee and I spend excessive amounts of time together eating, giggling and sleeping. Heaven in the form of a weekend and redhead. After lunch we hiked out the coast and had conversations about bitterness, God, friendship and food. Having Tee visit just reminded me why I love the people in my life: the conversation is always so rich and hilarious.
Friday night we went out and attempted to make Spanish friends, and are proud to report that not a single person talked to us, save for the British kid that I helped a few weeks back. He did, however, promise to trade me my paella recipe for his British scones recipe, so wait for that, it will be coming along soon. Tee and I had an adventure walking home, doing Colorado proud with a bit of squatting like a pro.
Late night bravas!
In true Spanish form (okay not really but let's pretend) we slept in until 10:30 on Saturday and lounged around until noon when we headed out to find La Gaviota: a popular restaurant in the fisherman's district. Going to find it virtually meant wandering around until an old man stopped us and lectured us about how we should always just ask someone for directions since the people in Santander are really nice. He also said that everyone was always asking for La Gaviota, which I took as a sign that either lots of people read the same guidebook that I have, which recommends it, or it is just really famous so tourists go hunting for it. Regardless we did manage to find it, and upon walking in thought we had gate crashed a wedding. There was a huge table of elaborate desserts and massive wine bottles. By massive I mean an eight inch wide base. The tables had fancily folded napkins and really pretty wine glasses. We ordered wine with the Menu del Dia; normally I can handle pretty foul wine but this was a shockingly nasty white. That was a bit of a nerve turner, because if the wine was anything like the food we would have been carried out in body bags. Outside the paella was cooking in a massive pot next to huge grills where the men were cooking crabs, fish, shrimp and the rest of the daily catch. Our paella came first, and it was not quite as good as Tete's but the shrimp was the best I have ever had. Tee ordered squid for her second plate, and I ordered cocido montanes. I was fairly sure it was a stew, but commented to Tee that I was a little worried it was pig ear. When the waiter brought it out, the curled and slightly hairy ear floating in the stew told me that I was not entirely wrong on either assumption. I ate the beans and potatoes but those ears went right back to the kitchen when the table was cleared. Trying new foods has been a goal of mine, but there are some things I just can't do. One of those is cutting off a piece of pig ear to eat with potatoes and beans, let alone actually putting it in my mouth.
After lunch we walked over to a bakery we found on our walk to lunch... yes, food is kind of a major theme in this weekend story. Tee got some cookies and we headed to the center to wait for siesta to be finished. On the way we found a store that was selling nesting dolls; the window was full of all sizes of dolls and lots of Russian looking souveniers. We went inside and expected to find some sort of tourist shop, based on the window display, but with the lights off and lots of movies all over I half expected to find lots of adult videos under the disguise of trinkets. All the labels were in Russian, or a language that looked like that. We escaped quickly and ended up going into another store where I bought a cow mug to take home. The next half hour was spent talking to the woman who worked in the store about traveling, about students she had live with her in the years past, and about her daughter not wanting to be friends with a fat girl from Michigan. I ended up getting her name and number to give to Gloria so that maybe the woman can host students again, and as we left she said "If you need anything, now you have my phone number, anything at all!" and I was reminded who I love Santander. Belin, the random shop keeper, made my Saturday.
After our Belin encounter we headed to the bus station because Belin told us that she got tickets by bus to Santiago for 11 euro each way. Sadly, I think that is only if you have an Alsa bus card, which I'd have invested in if I'd known about it a while back but I missed that boat. On our way out, God smiled down on us and we discovered a yogurt store. Yes. A yogurt store with fresh Cantabrian milk and fresh made yogurt. After sampling the free types of yogurt we each bought a little jar to have as a snack, since we were obviously famished after our Menu del Dia. I'm surprised Tee and I survived, we were practically starving ourselves all day.
After our snack we went shopping... I heard once you should never shop on an empty stomach because you'll be more impulsive. I have two things to say about that: I shopped on a full stomach and bought more than I should ever have, and I felt fat doing so. Therefore: shop on an empty stomach so you feel skinny and great and then don't buy things because you already feel awesome and don't need new things to make you feel good. Shopping when you are full is like running on a treadmill while inhaling chocolate and ice cream. You feel fat and it is not productive, and then because you feel bad about yourself you consume more. That may be my number one International Marketing lesson since coming to Spain: feed your customers, make them feel like a beached whale that Japan should come an whale hunt, and they will buy more.
However, I have been hunting for the perfect leather jacket since I got here. That was the one thing (okay so really like one of fifteen things) that I really wanted to buy when here. And yesterday I finally found Mr. Right. After all this time of hunting, I found a jacket with an extremely long torso and long arms made probably just for me. So now I just have to stop thinking of things I "desperately" need and I might get home with a little bit of money left to buy lots of tamales and Starbucks with.
After we went shopping for two hours we went to Valor Chocolate to get their famous churros con chocolate. As usual, they were delicious, and we were reminded once again that food is the true meaning of love.
After having our fiftieth snack of the day we got on the bus to head home; our conversation consisted mostly of how nothing ever goes as we plan and about how we would eat a really light dinner to make up for the four thousand calories we each consumed. When Tete called us to dinner we saw a huge bowl of tomato and cucumber salad, a corn and pineapple salad, and a serving plate of peas and carrots. It was the perfect amount of food... enough salad to fill us up while being really light and healthy. But then Tete took out a tray of a dozen eggs and progressed to use the entire thing to make us two huge omlettes and one tiny one for her grandson. Then came the loaf of bread and the vanilla pudding for dessert. And as usual, our idea of what would happen was completely thrown away. As was our ability to stop eating when food is put infront of us. But let's be real: we probably never had that ability.
After dinner we spent two hours playing Rummi with Tete and then climbed into bed to finish Leap Year. Perfect day done :)
This morning we slept in a bit and then got up, had breakfast, and went on a two hour walk around Magdelena Park. As usual it was spectacular and all the trees were budding with spring green leaves. Don't you love spring green? It looks a bit like green that is on steroids, only for a few weeks before it fades to the summer green which is pretty but just not as vibrate or special. Maybe it's just my obsession with anything green that is created by growing up in a place where you see white for seven or eight months a year. After our walk we came home, did some Ab Ripper (second time for the weekend, gotta work on that paella belly) and then had lunch with Tete. The post-lunch studying/procrastination/packing was a little sad, and dropping Tee off at the bus station was definitely my least favorite part of the weekend. Now she will be landing in Madrid before possibly eating some Doner Kebab before getting on her bus to Granada. And so ends our fabulous weekend of bringing Steamboat to Santander :)
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