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Well, I took my passport to the police here in Spain and they said my passport was no longer valid...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

Sand

Anyone ever gone swimming with me in a lake or river? Yeah, not a common occurrence. So I´m at the beach today. One would assume that being at the beach is synonymous with swimming and sunbathing. I have the sunbathing part down okay. Well, unless there are clouds. But the whole swimming thing has got me. Sunday I managed to walk in the water =) But I didn´t swim.

Tuesday we went to a new beach, so I had to start all over again. And my God! The waves crashing on the shore were intimidating. We laid on shore for a bit, then off we headed. Today I walked out with the pretense of swimming. But I had to cross a knee deep tide pool to get to the ocean... I waved my family ahead and slowly worked my way into the water from toe to knee. After about half an hour I was able to successfuly navigate the puddle and unite with my family. But! They were in the water!! Not to worry. I stood at the edge and again started into the water. I made it in knee high - what a proud moment. When a wave came and crashed over my head when I was looking the other way. Well Alex has refused to go to the beach again without a camera. My face was evidentally priceless. =) Needless to say, I was just regaining my composure when I was bowled over by a second wave close on the heels of the first. It was okay. I felt prepared for the next wave, which subsequently bowled me over again - a 9.5 for face plant technique. I lost .5 for losing my hat. I know! What was I doing wearing hat in the water?

But that´s not even half of it! Who would guess that swimming in the ocean means coming home with a cup of sand in my swimsuit? Plus a minimum hour long shower to remove all the sand clinging to my skin and entangled in my hair? I swear I would wash my arm, and the next thing I knew it was covered with sand again.

By the way, I´m in Spain visiting my sister and brother-in-law. Guess what that means? Yes, my blog instructions are in Spanish. I thought about writing is Spanish to match, but then was unsure of their translating abilities =).

I have to admit though that my sister´s keyboard makes better sense than mine - and Hannover Just scored against Madrid. Wow.

Sorry, no pictures.

Flowers

I love flowers!

I think if I didn't have to work I would like to take pictures of things... but then what would I do with the pictures? Right now I horde them with plans of framing some for my folks... I suppose I can say it's on my list =)

Here is one of my favourites from the trip to Jasper this year.

Perhaps if I didn't have to work, I'd have time to work with my photos. =) My dream job - to be a stay at home hobby-ist. =)

I'm hoping before the year is out I can update about the landscaping, but so far there is nothing too impressive. I am pulling weeds and bit by bit the landscaping is creeping across the yard. Now if I could give it a boost so that it would be done when I returned home at he end of the day. =)

Eavesdropping

"Hey it's stuck in the leg of my pants!"

WHAT!! I formally apologise to all those bystanders who only heard this part of the conversation.

You may recall a few years back, the saga of the purple toque; I can post it on request. Anyways, I have a new saga. A few weeks back, we decided to go biking at Terwillegar despite the surely muddy trails following our weekend rains... sure enough it was muddy. And during the last stretch of our ride what should happen, but the heavens open up and torrents of water turnt he already sticky muddy parking lot into a quagmyre (I may need a spell check here). I meticulously as usual put my glasses and gloves in my helmet to keep them safe. But alas they are muddy. My car is muddy... inside... the sides, the roof, the mats... why didn't I put my bike rack on the roof??? Your guess is as good as mine.

Of course, upon arrival at my house, I went staight to the washing machine and dumped my biking gear in with some other assorted duds I found scattered across my bedroom floor... or was I wading through those duds and grabbed the closest ones... can't remember, must have been trumatic.

The following week, bike night roles around and I can't find my gloves, well I can find one, but the other is alas lost. Sadly I find my back up hand-me-downs and off I go. Unfortuantely they are black, not purple. And to top it off, I am late for biking.

In desperation I stay up past my 10pm bedtime sorting my clothes, seaching for my stray purple glove. But to no avail, I cannot find it and imagine it is some dogs chew toy at Terwillegar, or buried under layers of clay packed down by careless vehicles. Poor glove. =(

This last weekend I went to Jasper, and seeing the variable weather forecast, I pack for sun and rain. I'm dressing Saturday morning when I find there is a "sock" in my pants... well imagine my surprise when the cosk sticks to my pant leg! Ah ha! My glove is velcroed to the inside of my pant leg. Hurray! I'll match again next week Pink and Purple!