Snuggles in San Seb

I was so excited to meet Chlo at the bus station and catch up on the two months since we had last seen each other in Greece. We had evidently both been busy because there was no silence between us as we recounted stories and funny memories for the entire 9 hour bus trip. Despite us both attempting to save money, when we disembarked the bus our legs were numb, bodies tired and the unpleasant cold weather very quickly forced us to jump into a taxi. We arrived to the hostel and were so happy to see Alessia, Emma and our amazing room with ensuite all to ourselves. Those first two days in San Seb were not too eventful as the weather decided to stay nasty, and there really isn't a lot to do without the sun. Still, we walked around, we shopped, we marvelled at the beautiful buildings and beaches, we ate ALOT- chocolate, ice creams, tapas, and watched loads of movies which was a nice taste of home and relaxation. The sun poked its head through the clouds for a moment so we seized the opportunity and headed to the beach for a surf lesson. Our Spanish teacher was shocked that we were Australian, and had decided to come to the small surf town of San Seb to learn how to surf, when we had such renowned surf beaches back at home. It seemed though some streak of Australian natural surf talent was within me because after a quick lesson on the sand I was standing up and riding my first wave all the way into the shore. Already I was a million times more successful than I had ever been in Australia and was feeling confident, Chloe soon followed and was surfing like a pro and although it took a little longer, Em got it too. All pretty happy with ourselves, our teacher knew exactly how to kill our vibe by saying, right lets move into actual waves, and as we moved across to the centre of the beach it became very clear our prowess was merely due to tiny tiny waves, and when thrown into the real stuff, we were falling off left, right and centre. Still I managed to get one or two good ones before our lesson was over and we trudged up the sand to return our boards. Our curly haired, 36 year old surf teacher decided to ask me out for dinner which was extremely awkward, especially as he didn't take rejection too well but I managed to escape and head off to our next destination, McDonalds. At the start of this trip I vowed to not go to McDonalds at all throughout my entire trip, and so far I had only given in once and was feeling proud of myself. This promise was soon shattered when I found out that all McDonalds throughout Spain has gluten free bread for their burgers. After a tiring 2 hour surf lesson I felt we could allow ourselves a treat so maccas it was, and as we lined up I was nervous that I had false hope, but also so excited at the potential. When I ordered my quarter pounder meal sin gluten the girl merely nodded , turned around to the kitchen and yelled, quarter pounder pan sin gluten, una celiaqua. I couldn't believe it, I was little a kid on Christmas with an enormous grin on my face. How a fatty, processed gluten free burger could make me so happy I will never know but that first bite was a very special moment. Unfortunately and embarrassingly throughout the next week McDonalds became a fairly frequent pits top for a yummy, gluten free cheap feed as well as the luxury of wifi. The girls were leaving the next day so we decided to go out for tapas and a few bottles of vino to say farewell. We started at an incredible place which for once had other tapa on offer not just 'pintxos' which were various toppings skewered on top of bread, and therefore poison to me. I had mushroom and prosciutto skewers, prawns wrapped in thin potato straws, a mini beef steak topped with an egg and some grilled vegetables, it was amazing. In true Spanish style though we paid up and headed to another tapas bar but none took our fancy and bread was the staple of every dish on every counter, so we headed back to stop 1 and got another bottle of wine and a few more tapa each. Soon, alessia and em concocted a grand plan of doing a 'dine and dash' which I had never done before and was hesitant to try but the bar was truly bustling and to walk straight out would be rather simple. While I was deliberating in my mind Emma and Chloe had already walked out, alessia was getting up so unless I wanted to ruin the fun and pay for a 40 euro bill I followed suit and calmly walked out, before breaking into a sprint for a good 5minutes brimming with adrenalin. This fun venture soon came back to bite us through as the next afternoon Chloe and I were headed to the square to check out a local cider festival and all of a sudden I felt a vice like grip on my arm. I spun around ready to cause a scene and was silenced by the vision of last nights waiter staring back at me, we had walked straight past the restaurant without realising and despite protesting that we did pay, our friends did, and trying to be cool, the bill was increased to 45 euro and I had to pay 3/4 as the girls had gone. For some reason being caught out, really upset me. I mean in theory we had righted our wrong, we had paid and all was good, but I felt angry and upset the whole day and even struggled to sleep. I don't understand myself sometimes. Anyway after the dramatic capture we recommenced our visit to the cider festival and were determined to drown our sorrows despite the fact it was only midday. For 4 euro you got a glass and 10 tokens which you could use to buy ten glasses of cider from your choice of the 50 different vendors. I was so happy with this deal until I took my first sip and realised of course, this was not Australian cider, it was the disgusting Spanish cider that I had tried in Madrid. And now we had to drink not one, but ten glasses of the revolting concoction in order to make the most of our 4 euro spend but after 4 glasses we cut our losses, abandoned our glasses and instead just enjoyed the atmosphere in the square and listening to the traditional music being performed on stage. It began to pour with rain and although we stuck it out for a while, we felt defeated and cold and bought chocolate and retreated to the hostel to watch movies, feel sorry for ourselves and sleep and this became a routine for the next three evenings in San Seb. It might sound boring, but I loved every minute of it, snuggling up and watching a movie is such a normal thing for me at home and I had missed it, so it was a nice reminder of home and after 4 months of partying I was ready to chill. The next day was the big boat race, apparently the most important event of the year in San Seb so looks like we had picked the perfect time to be there. I will admit I was dubious about going to stand outside for hours and watch a boat race given the awful weather we had experienced so far, but the sun obviously was aware of the occasion and was shining  in a blue sky so Chlo and I found a good spot, picked a team and got cheering. We really had no idea of what was going on or the rules but we cheered along with the crowds as the various rowing teams headed out into the ocean braving the waves as they tackled the course. Neither of our teams won but we quickly changed allegiances, cheered for the champions and then headed to the beach to make the most of a rare patch of sun. After a good bake the clouds were back, but the rain was still nowhere in sight so we joined the masses of people who filled the streets, drinking, eating and chatting. It seemed like every single resident was out and celebrating and even though it was only 4pm, all the nightclubs were open and packed with young teenagers making the most of the lax laws on this annual festival day. We quickly got involved with a bottle of wine and some tapas and soon met up with 4 Belgians from our hostel and kept moving from bar to bar drinking all night long. We woke up and Chloe packed her bags ready to leave, so I was alone for my last day in San Seb before heading off to Lyon to see another familiar face, Zoe Karantzas! To be honest this day followed the theme of most of the others in San Seb, chocolate, movies and trip to maccas to use the wifi (and have one last burger), rain, and for a change I did a 3 hour walk all around the town determined to see more even though the weather hated us. I was very ready to leave San Seb, and finally it was midnight and time for my overnight bus to Lyon!