After little sleep and a hostel breakfast of weak coffee and bunch of muffins, it was adios Hervas and hello bike. Ohh... how my butt hurt the first ten minutes. It took us 5 miles of back tracking to get back on the Camino de Plata. After that, it was a several hours of a up hill climb. Expecting to find my legs a complete mess after day two, I was pleasantly surprised to find my legs strong. Around 2 in the afternoon we made it to a small village and found its only bar. There a lady cooked us up a huge portion of pasta that was just what the doctor order. A few more hours of bike riding we made it our destination town Fuenterroble. After a sad good-bye to Victor, Edu and myself had the best dinner of our bike trip.
Once again it was the only place to eat in the village, making the only option the best option. After entering this modest bar we were shown to our table in a small side room. The room was full of French and German retires drinking wine and chatting merrily, many of them from the same hostel that we were sleeping at. Edu was the only Spanish person besides the waitress, me being a close second. The waitress, also the principle cook at the restaurant, tired but happy, sat down with us and read us off a list of food options that you would except to hear in a 5 star restaurant. I picked the pig nose dish. In Spain they say the eat every part of the pig and I believe it. The pig nose was surprising tasty and luckily for me it was chopped into chunks and not presented as a whole nose as it is typical presented. (the waitress/chef explained that she once had to take back 10 dishes of pig nose because tourist can't handle the fact that they are eating a nose, but if she chops it up they think it is delicious. )
The nose had a texture of well.... a nose, fat and soft. hehe
After we polished off our pint of red house wine and had some flan for desert it was off for a quick walk around the quiet stone buildings to listen to the frogs and be bewildered by the stars. Good-night day 3!!
Number 8, our sleeping arrangements. Unfortunately, or fortunately, all the beds that I slept in during my bike trip are softer and better than my bed in Caceres, which seems to be made of metal springs and designed for ultimate back pain.
The little bar we ate lunch at.
Always time for foosball. Victor and Edu put on their game faces after several hours of being on the bike. Foosball is very popular in Spain and you often find foosball tables in bars throughout all of Spain.
Me in action.
"Hunger is the best salsa." <--- a literal translation of a cool Spanish quote. )) This pasta tasted delicious after a day of riding.
Hello all!! After five weeks of being in Malaga I finally had an extended weekend and was able to make the 7.5 hour bus ride northeast to my former home town of last year, Caceres. It was a much needed trip as seeing old friends and reconnecting is one of the finest joys of life. Caceres was cool and windy, but I found myself to be in one of the best moods I have been in since being in Spain this year. The only bad news of the trip was that our free hot air ballon ride (courtesy of Caceres) was cancelled to bad weather, so much for waking up early to get in line.
What is this you ask and why does Leif post the most random photos? This my friends, is cloth grocery bag meets grocery cart. This little gem can be seen everyday and anytime you go out to the street and is a must have if you plan on walking to your local market or grocery store. As supermarkets can be found within several blocks of most downtown areas, this thing is used to tote home your fine Spanish ham and cheeses and in my case, canned Tuna.
I was walking home one day from the shore and stumbled upon this tree. I have no idea what kind of tree it is, but it definitely is one of the most dangerous looking trees I have ever seen. I imagine beavers don´t like this tree, just a guess.
Hello all! I just wanted to give a quick update on my life here. I have finally started to find the grove of life and feel more comfortable being back in Spain. I have found my local market, where I buy my fresh vegetables and meat, I have a workout routine, I have money in a Spanish bank account, I know how long it takes me to walk to the bus station and even have a barber. This things seem trivial but it is the day to day activities that make up our lives and make us feel connected the world we live in.
Spain never seizes to amaze me. With my fingers crossed I left my apartment at 7:30 p.m with hopes that my local post office was going to be open late. To my surprise post offices are open until 8:30 p.m. I was shocked of course and thought this is great news!!!! Of course things are never has they seem and Spain is notorious for its laid back approach to customer service . I was less surprised when I found myself waiting 40 minutes in order to send my one little package. Next time I'm buying stamps and dropping it into the nice yellow drop box.
I went to Lagos with the idea that I would spend time reflecting on life and my seven months in Spain. As it turns out, you don't go to one of the most touristic places in Portugal to do this. Traveling to me means trying to connect with the locals and in a beach town filled with northern Europeans this is hard to do, but still possible. I am impressed by how kind Portuguese people are.
If there is one travel trip I can pass on, it is bring ear plugs. I slept great, but Edu did not thanks to a group of elderly snoring Germans and loud early talking Spaniards. Both bars of Fuenterroble (where we slept) where closed until 10am so we each ate a granola bar and got on our way. Me without coffee is a bad idea and the next town turned out to be 12.5 miles away. After an hour and half of riding in the crisp morning air we found a tiny pueblo. We entered the first bar we found only to find a man in his 80's behind the counter and another man in his 70's at the bar drinking some sort of shot of liqour (yes it was 11 in the morning). Of course there was no coffee, so we headed to the next bar and bought an overpriced but much needed cup of joe. (Picture above-> first glimpses of Salamanca.)
