luns, 28 de outubro de 2013

A Memorable Weekend

Thursday marked my 1-month since the adventure began. Lauren and I went out with the Spanish gang, and stayed out til 6 AM. For people in Spain, this is no grand feat. Most of my friends have probably stayed out even later twice a week for the past month. But I like to go to bed “early” by 2 or 3, so finally staying out late was an accomplishment. I believe it was due to the music selection, because this time with our Spanish friends’ wisdom, we were able to go to places that play rock music: songs that I actually want to sing along to.

 Friday I slept and relaxed in preparation for the pulpo (octopus) dinner with the teachers of my school.  It’s an annual tradition among groups of colleagues, friends, and families, because along with the fiestas of San Froilán come the casetas. Casetas are simple, little restaurants only put up in the month of October; next weekend they will be taken down. Restaurants from Lugo open them, and they only include long tables set for big groups to come feast on octopus. Outside of the temporary building is a a type of 3-sided shack where you can watch them cooking the pulpo to a deep-red/violet color in great big pots. It’s served on wooden plates, because they soak up the water from the freshly prepared pulpo. Because it’s Spain, dinner started around 10:30. First were plates of sliced ham and other meats, and tasty bits of pork (with bread and vino tinto, of course). Then was the main course of octopus and potatoes. It was quite salty, but overall good. This time I couldn’t feel the tentacles as much.  Everyone was really curious as to what my reaction would be, or if I would even try it. There was dessert afterwards, but I was honestly a bit full to sample everything. After the meal we walked around (at a Spanish pace, might I add), and the other teachers went out for a drink around 2 AM. Unfortunately I went home because Saturday was an early morning for me, but I had a swell time eating pulpo with some swell teachers. Here we all are laughing at something: 


Saturday morning, a group of 15 internationals (and a few Lucenses) left on a minibus to explore some Galician towns. The first stop was a mirador, with awesome views of the ocean beating against a green rocky coast. There were even wild horses! Then we went down to the little town by the coast, San Andrés de Teixido. The architecture of white with rocks was simple but interesting. From the town we walked down to a supposedly lucky fountain, and even further down closer to the coastal cliff. Past the fountain we encountered hundreds of bits of cloth or plastic tied to fences. Apparently after you drink from the fountain, you wipe your mouth with something and tie it so your wish will come true. 

The next stop was another mirador. Rather than the rocky coast, this one emphasized the limitlessness of the sea. The blues of the clouds, sky, and sea become indistinguishable at the horizon. After this we went to the small city of Cedeira. Here we all had lunch, including squid, croquettes, spicy meat, and plenty of fresh French fries. Afterwards, Lauren, Estefanía, Diego, and I went to the town’s port (pretty sad, but appropriate since it wasn’t a big city). Then we went to the beach for about 5 minutes. It was covered in dried algae which reeked like lawn clippings on a hot summer’s day. At least we can say we went to the beach in October (although it wasn’t warm enough to nap, like I did 2 years ago in Donostia :P).


After sea and mountain, the next natural feature was forest and river, at As Fragas do Eume. We walked along in the woods for a while, which reminded me of home. Except that our mini-trek ended in a centuries-old monastery built to include the very rocks of the hill it was on.  There was also an old mill. The final stop was Ponte do Eume, a big town on the same river, Eume. We all meandered up a hill to have a coffee. And so ended our excursion of northwest Galicia.