Day Spent Sleeping on a Park Bench

Day 18

Travel pains...

Today sucked, really sucked. We got to the bus station in San Sebastian and waited about 15 minutes for a bus. I wasn’t tired at all but slept a little. We got to Bilbao and had a three hour wait to the next bus to Burgos, it sucked ass just waiting, I was tired, uncomfortable and hungry. We finally got on the bus, I slept a little but it was so uncomfortable it was hard. We got to Burgos and had to wait 8 hours for the bus to Soria. We ate lunch-thank fucking god, and sat for a while. I finally ate my churros con chocolate that I had read in a spanish culture book in high school and always wanted to try. We walked around and found a bench to sleep on and put our stuff down. I slept some but got weird looks from tourists and locals who probably thought it was disrespectful that I was sleeping on the grass by a fountain. There was a little artist show so Nayla and I walked around but we didn’t buy anything. We made our way to the train station and after 2 hours made it to Soria where Javier picked us up to take us to Abejar. Seriously that is the short version but it was such a miserable day I can’t even explain it. Javier made us dinner and I jumped in the shower, then went to bed. Sometimes people forget how stressful and uncomfortable travelling can be. Travelling with money is so much better, I would have had a private jet take me back to Abejar instead of an 8 hour process. Travelling on a budget can be dreadful-it made me miss home where things are easy; eating is easy, sleeping is easy, driving is easy. But then I remember all the things I have experienced and think about how I'll remember this day with my cousins and have a story for my kids or someone who cares and I stop complaining. I have to be strong! lol.

Bilbao, how are you old friend?

Day 14

Bilbao, here we come!

Today we decided to head to Bilboa around 7:00am. We caught the bus and took an hour drive to Burgos. There is a beautiful cathedral in Burgos, I have seen a lot of cathedrals in Europe but this has become my favorite. We hung out there for a little while and then caught the next bus to Bilbao. The bus stations are so unorganized, we almost missed ours because we were waiting for the bus where they told us it would be but it wasn’t there and instead parked in a different spot, I am so glad Ian and Nayla speak the language without them this would have been a disaster, I never would have figured out the mistake on my own and would have been on the bus to Galicia! I tried to sleep but it was so bumpy that I couldn’t. We got to Bilbao and Jim helped us find a Pension (kind of like a hostel but you have your own room but share a bathroom with the whole floor) it was cheap and right by a main square. The cobble stone streets are beautiful here, it reminds me of Brugge, Belgium. We took a nap and then met up with Jim. Jim showed us all around and we took a good 3 hour walk. My legs were so sore. We saw the Guggenheim at night and had awesome Kabobs at this bar, I even bought the spices for my dad. We went back to the pension and slept. The old city of Bilboa is really nice although you can tell there is a big underground rebellion here-many of the kids wear black all the time and have colored hair, piercings ect. At first I thought it was the young basque generation here but it seems like everyone that age here has the same style; very interesting and different than other cities in Spain and even other basque cities in Spain.