Man, is it good to be back in Donostia-San Sebastián. It's just as wonderful as I remembered it. While I'm happy with my life in Lugo, it doesn't even come close to the glory of San Sebastián. And my awesome familia donostiarra, which welcomed me back with open arms (and tomorrow--lentejas, my favorite!)
I arrived early yesterday morning, just in time for the festival of Santo Tomás. It's one of the two big holidays here (that and Tamborrada in January). The tradition comes from when the farmers came to the city annually to pay their rent, and took advantage to sell their wares in town. Now the day consists of lots of people dressed in traditional Basque outfits, booths that sell traditional Basque food like taloak (corn tortillas made by a group of women in front of your very eyes), txistorrak (a spicy sausage), and sidra (the fermented apple drink). Also there is an enormous pig-- as long as a person, and two or three times as wide-- which is auctioned off. The sad part is it's on display. Does it realize all of these visitors mean it's imminent death? Who knows.