The Northern Coast and Madrid

Well, I´m in Madrid now which means that I have finished my whirlwind tour of the northern coast of Spain. My assessment of the various stops is that the North es de puta madre (the best), the south es la leche (the shit (which means "really cool" for the parents reading this)), y Madrid es de puta pena (the worst). Kind of a quick harsh assessment of Madrid after only having been here for less than 24 hours, but when I checked into my hostal last night at 1am I entered the room and saw a man, clearly high (corroborated by the haze of marijuana smoke in the air) pacing aimlessly around the room. Looking past him I noticed two other roommates curled up in their beds keeping a wary eye on this disturbing fellow. He introduced himself and asked me how much money I made and informed me of the, presently absent, Chilean roommate who had a veritable sword hidden under his pillow. Then, he started joking with the Bolivian (my other roommate) in Spanish about how he was going to rob me later. However, since I understood him I asked him whether he was serious. Taken slightly aback that I was able to converse in Spanish he said he was only joking. I should note that the Bolivian was actually a good guy who was as worried as I was about this crazy Ecuadorian fuck (he was just sort of smiling and nodding whenever the Ecuadorian guy said anything). This whack job then took off his shirt to prepare for bed and revealed a torso riddled with tatoos and scars; two scars literally about a foot long and an inch thick each across his back. I thought about showing him my scar on my hand from indoor soccer game and the one on my eyebrow from a party popper when I was a kid, but I was pretty sure he had me beat when I noticed a few, what looked to be, bullet hole wounds around the base of his rib cage so i decided not to bring it up. Then the guy decided that he would take off his pants and walk around in the towel provided by this shitty hostel because, he announced, he didn´t have any underwear. Then he lit up another joint and decided to watch the soccer game on tv. The rest of us decided that we´d try an go to bed, which had been the plan for the last hour, but everyone was intent on keeping their eyes on this guy until he was asleep. Eventually he passed out at which point our other Spanish roommate got up and, after verifying that he was indeed asleep, turned off the tv. I decided that I would find another hostel for tonight when I realized this morning that this guy from Ecuador is a guy that literally has nothing to lose; I don´t think he would rob me, but honestly, there´s no reason he shouldn´t.
So, that´s all said in good fun. The above was my only a uncomfortable experience during my stay; the very first time I have not felt 110% safe. In fact, in every city that I have visited, it is common for women to walk around alone at 3:00am through an alley system. I di not hear of a single co-student being mugged.

The north coast is incredibly beautiful. My stops were, Santiago de Compostela, Arenas de Cabrales (Picos de Europa), and San Sebastian. Santiago de Compostela is recognized for its cuisine which, indeed, was quite good. I ate a lot of pulpo (ocotopus) there. Arenas de Cabrales is a small pueblo in the Picos de Europa. For you climbing buffs you may already be aware that this limestone mountain range boasts the most vertical terrain in all of Europe, or so Barbara the Californian at the tourist office there told me. I stayed there for four days doing different hikes each day. This was the first hiking I´ve done in a limestone range and it´s really bizarre. Whereas in a regular moutain range there would be a lake in every drainage basin, here, every basinn is devoid of water because it seeps right into the rock. So finding water can be difficult. however, there is also a benefit to this unique geology and that is that you could drink directly from the water seeping out of the rock. Because the water is quickly absorbed it is away from animal and human bacteria and therefore giardia. Back to the hiking, every hike was a minimum altitude gain of 2000 feet, and one of them to the base of "El Naranjo de Bulnes" entailed a short drive to gain 3000 feet and a hike to gain another 4000f. Unfortunately I don´t have my adapter so I can´t add photos. San Sebastian was great. I literally only had 24 hours there, but it´s a great place to stay. In the northeast corner of the country on the Bay of Biscay, it wraps around its own little bay creating a nie fine sand beach with calm lapping waves. Regarding the cuisine, when Spain lauds their pinchas or tapas, this is the city they´re talking about. Though the tapas are free in Granada, they don't even compare to the elaborate and delicious antipastos that San Sebastian is renowned for.

Well, time to go, times up. See you in the states. Will