Spanish Pubs

Here´s a picture of me in front of the statue of Phillipe Cousteau at the Museo Anclas, Avilles. I now realize that ancla is anchor... which is now very logical to me as 90% of the attractions are anchors... =)

I had the best fish today in a Spanish Pub - Casa Gelu!! I wish I had have taken and picture of it. It was I´m not sure what type of fish... but it was cooked whole and then just split in half and placed on my plate... I didn´t eat the eyeball. Best fish yet, I would definitely come back.

The funny thing about this pub, Casa Gelu, is that the owner is very charismatic and likes to visit everyone. He remembers my sister. Anyways he gave us two appetizers, then after our meal brought us dessert and an extra round of shots. I am still full!!! Anyways, the funny thing is that someone can order something and it will cost $X but then two hours later it will cost a different price. So be nice =)

Hopefully I´ll get comfortable enough to sleep sometime tonight. I´m too full to sleep right now.

Wish I could stay longer. Today I swam in the ocean twice!! But tomorrow we´re heading to to the Picos de Europa and Bilbao, and then home.

Police Advice

Well, I took my passport to the police here in Spain and they said my passport was no longer valid... oops. =(

Thankfully on second look they said that seeing as I am returning to Canada it will be okay, cause if I didn´t have a passport they´d deport me to Canada anyways. =)

But I have a message from my dear friend Fawn and she knows someone who has treated their passport terribly and it was still good until finally their dog ate it.

Value of Water

My travel in Spain is fabulous! On the weekend I went to visit Jorge´s grandma. She lives in a small village and has a wonderful house and garden. I found I prefer peaches to plums. But I was given a ripe fig to try - my first one and they are really good.

I learned how to make typical potato tortilla and I really like it!! Lots of fried food here - fried sardines, fried trout, fried potatoes - YUM!! I like the desserts too! I still don´t like cidre and I don´t really like paella either.

Anyways, back to the country weekend... imagine making bread, making a meal for 12, having 5 people in a house for a weekend, having an indoor toilet... and the water runs out!! Who knows why!?!?! It just stopped. We brought water jugs from the city to fill with country water and it stopped!!!???

Well I hauled water, as you can see above, in my sandals and skirt =) It was fun, but I was grateful when the water came back on... unfortunately it only lasted a few minutes. So I poured water for dishes. Other than that, I swept the floor and harvested fruit and vegetables, and then mostly sat around and knitted near a window with a breeze cause I was told to chill out, they (the adults?) would do the cooking and cleaning. Ah, I tried =) Oh the lives of spanish families. The other women soon joined me to chat and the men watched Formula One. You should have heard their cries during the preshow. WOW!

How important is a passport, really?

The question of the day... my passport...

Does my passport need to be in pristine condition to travel?

You may be wondering, oh my, what happened to Nicole´s passport?

Well it just so happens that after being awake for 30 hours wearing the same clothes, eating weird food, I may not have been thinking properly.

Of course at home, I check every single pocket before putting my clothes in the washer. But you know, I was tired, I wasn´t doing the laundry... or was I? Anyways, the jist of the story is, that this morning after getting dressed, there was something funny in my pocket. And just as I felt the glob it dawned on me that I hadn´t seen my passport since last I wore these pants... sigh. There crumpled up in a ball in my pocket was my still wet passport. You´ll be happy to know that the cover shrinks, the blue writing on the inside front and back covers smudges, the picture page looks okay (I think), the edges wear, and the stamp pages which are partially cotton, just get wrinkled.

So I gently unrolled my passport, took out the iron and carefully flattened each page. The iron also helped dry the pages with the heat.

My passport is now sitting on my harry potter book in my room in front of the window drying some more. I will iron it again a little later. I was a little concerned about the picture page but it is laminated. I think my passport is okay, it looks like a very well read book, though it has many empty pages. Perhaps I was flipping tthrough it dreaming of the stamps I wanted. =) yes, that´s what I´ll tell them if they ask.