On the Road Again

So, here I go again. I have finally left San Sebastian, after two and half months of working, laying on the beach, and way too much partying; after all of this my body really needs a break.

I had an amazing time in San Sebastian and have some very fond memories to look back on, most of which are depicted by photos that have been uploaded onto Facebook of course. The memories that come to mind the most is my first week there as I got to know the people and the town, and the party scene. It was all such a new experience for me that I absorbed every minute of the day and experienced it to the fullest. This first week gave me the confidence to put myself out there and the reassurance that I was going to be okay, in which ever situation that I land.

My next memory would probably not that interesting to most of you, but it is of playing volleyball on the beach day in and day out for about 3 weeks. It became an obsession for some friends of mine and myself and we would wait patiently at the beach for our group of Spanish guy friends to arrive so that we could play a number of rounds in the scorching sun and then cool off in the water. From this and the hours and hours spent in a bikini and watching other women of all different sizes walk around topless, I have learnt to become more comfortable in my own body and with my own shape. This was also improved by the general amount of attention that myself and the rest of the female population got from men as the ratio is about 1 female : 4 men (the opposite of Vancouver.)

Pamplona. Pamplona and the Running of the Bulls is definitely an experience that I will never forget. The energy that filled the air and the general tone of everybody was harmonic. Never in Vancouver could you peacefully have some many drunken idiots in the same place at the same time without some serious issues. But there, I didn’t see one fight, I didn’t see one angry face, only thousands of happy people wearing white clothes with red scarfs. This may have been due to the drunken glasses that I was wearing, but I still stand strong on my belief that it was a remarkably happy and festive event. Here I stepped out of my safety net as I got into the camper van with group of strangers, save one. Here I didn’t sit in the background and watched but was out on the street like the rest of the idiots, dancing, cheering, and laughing. It was perhaps one of the most cheerful moments I’ve been in.

Continuing down the river of memories would take me to my two bike trips down the coast into the next towns, one 20km south and the other 26km. I think that these come to mind so strongly because it was when I was getting to the point when I felt I was tiring of the lifestyle there and being able to get away from the city and into more rural and rugged coast made me feel so free and jovial. It also came at a time when I hadn’t been doing regular exercise so being on a bike for 4 hours made me physically feel wonderful. It reminded me how much I love being active and enjoy doing things other than drinking, dancing, and being hung-over and overly tired.

There are so many other memories that I have from my time there and I leave this beautiful city with a lot more knowledge and love for myself and off to a new and very different experience.

I’m currently sitting in a car in a small surfing town 100km south of where I have just been, called Mundaka. My backaches and my eyes are shutting from the terrible night of ‘sleep’ that I have just had staying in a tent, without a mattress and without a sleeping bad, but I’m excited.

About two weeks ago I decided to hitch a ride with a friend of mine who was traveling with his friend from Uruguay down the west coast of Spain and Portugal, on a surfing expedition. I figured that it would be something totally different and a great way to see parts of Europe, whilst still being with some friends and not alone. And I still have no question that it will be amazing, but we first need to find somewhere to buy a bit more equipment and not just what we found at the hostel from the tourists who had left it behind.