Still San Sebastian

It’s been a very eventful weekend. I’ve found myself in bars until 2 am the last few nights, due mostly to my befriending of four British university students who are here in San Sebastian on vacation. It’s taking a small toll on my liver, but I’ve been careful to keep myself under budget by taking only as much money as my sober self decides I should be spending. After the euros are gone, the Canadian heads home to bed, despite often persuasive advice to the contrary from my young British friends. Using this dull but effective tactic I’ve been able to keep liver damage to a minimum; considering last year’s insanity in Ecuador (I hate you El Poeta), my liver should be up for the relatively benign challenge of San Sebastian with four Brits.

I went to the market the other day and bought food for a few meals, and also a bottle of local wine for those cool, breezy evenings when a well sized glass can be used to warm you up quite effectively. The bill came to around 5 Euros, including the wine which cost, mind bogglingly, only 60 cents. And you know what – it’s not even all that bad! But the best method of attack is to avoid tasting the wine at all, by mixing it with some coca-cola. A strange brew, but all the locals do it and it seems to do the trick, especially if you’re 2 beers in and your brain is already too lazy to run your tastebuds. It’s called Kalimotxo (pr. Kah-lee-mo-cho), which I’m sure translates as “teenaged rocket fuel”. The sad part is that the coke cost more than the wine… or is that the best part? I remain undecided.

We went on a kind of pub and tapas crawl last night, led by the American fellow who works here at the hostel, which was a great time. My favorite morsels of the night were the “Carrillera” (can’t-even-pick-it-up-with-a-fork-it’s-so-tender braised pork cheek in a red wine reduction with French bread), the “Duo” (Lana prepare yourself – creamy delicious goat cheese and sweet pepper wrapped in bacon, grilled and served on a croquette), and the goat cheese with tomato preserves dessert tapas. We went to a bunch of local bars and met a ton of friendly locals, and proceeded to drink heavily until the wee hours of the morning, by which time I had about 5 new facebook friends who, truth be told, I can’t remember all that well now that I’m (mostly) sober. I took my leave as the Brits headed into a pub with a 20 Euro cover charge, which would have eaten up my entire night’s drinking budget, had I not already converted said budgeted Euros into beer and whiskey.

Today I woke up to the sound of music wafting in through the window, and as I assessed the severity of my hangover, the music began to get louder. There was a mobile band on the street, roaming about while playing local diddies, followed closely by a hundred or so people, dancing and drinking jovially. I remember thinking that it must be far too early to be drinking, until I realized I’d slept in until noon. So, I put my hangover in my backpack and grabbed my camera, and took off for some photos and festivities. There was some kind of celebration today, perhaps related to Easter, whereby there were many mobile bands entertaining the thousands of drunken dancers in claustrophobic pedestrian streets. I just walked around for hours, people watching and snapping the occasional photograph. Eventually I thought I would climb up the local hill to see my good friend the Jesus statue (we met long ago in South America – he was in almost every town I visited!), where I might be able to get a bird’s eye view of the fiesta. While trees obstructed much of the old city, I did get some wonderful views of the beaches and the standard issue town church. There was a quasi-interesting museum inside the old castle at the top, which occupied at most 2 minutes of my time as I climbed further yet, until I was at the foot of the statue. It was an idyllic scene at the top, with a panoramic vista which was well worthy of me taking a panorama of it. And so I did. I then walked down the other side of the hill, just to see what was there, and following my nose I found a hidden gem of a café, carved into the castle itself and affording stupendous views of the bay. I decided on a small frozen treat and enjoyed the makeshift midieval patio for a while, using a shiny cannon to hold my backpack. The afternoon brought a bit of tapas, a lot more walking and a couple more photo opportunities my way, and the evening only brought more of the same. Now I find myself sitting in my hostel, enjoying the sea breeze through the window as I write this blog while simultaneously contemplating my prospective bedtime. Hey look at that, bedtime has arrived! I think I'll publish this tommorrow morning when my bed's not quite so inviting. Buenas noches!

C

PS - Below is a fun video of one of the bands marching through the streets. Make sure to turn the volume up so you can hear it!