The Urban House hostel was disappointing insofar as the promised "breakfast" consisted of plastic wrapped cupcakes, no coffee, maybe bread and jam.
And then, as I was leaving for the afternoon, the girl at the front desk asked me if I was staying that night. I said "yes, I am, I told the guy sitting here yesterday." She said "no, we don't have you in, and we're totally full." But she agreed that, in light of my plans to take a 6:30 a.m. train the next morning, it would be acceptable to leave my stuff in the lobby until then, and to hang out/nap there until I left. Not a bad deal. Given the reality that if I were to go to sleep after midnight, the likelihood of waking up was slim to none, at this point I decided to, if possible, stay out until the time I needed to leave for the train.
On Wednesday I decided to take a more "organized" trip to the beach, this time bringing a backpack filled with everything I would need: a beach towel (also my shower towel, fyi), candy, a bottle of water, an 1100 page book, my iPod, a map, and the relevant pages regarding San Sebastian that I had physically ripped from the Lonely Planet guide. I returned to the "Surfer's Beach" (again...I saw surfers, but I'm not exactly sure what they were trying to accomplish in the relatively calm water), laid down the towel and alternated between reading and sleeping for about 2 hours. To refer back to another theme of this trip (and maybe even previous years), it shocks me how resistant I seem to be to sunburn. Between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. direct sunlight, no sunscreen, at most I had a moderate tan, no burn at all. Possible? I don't see how.
I took the suggestion to check out La Cepa for yet another pintxos lunch. Legs of ham (with feet!) hanging from the ceiling, full room. Ordered grilled peppers with garlic and salt and octopus. Here's a picture of the peppers, which were very good:
Walked back to the hostel, spent some time on the computer, and then decided to walk back to the beach. This time sat in the shade, and again slept and read, before returning back yet again to shower in preparation for the hostel organized BBQ.
Once again, a group of approximately 20 Australians (and I) met up in front of the Basilica, as this was the designated meeting spot before heading up the "Jesus Statue" mountain. Like the previous hostel event, the same guy was in charge, except this time he stayed under control, and successfully cooked a delicious BBQ meal. I had a great time at the BBQ, chatted with an Australian couple (who were 28! almost my age!) who were traveling for a few months before getting married, as well as M, the Australian guy I had hung out with on Monday night. I met two Australian girls who had spent a few days in LA as part of their travels, and were not particularly impressed -- one of the reasons being the unfriendliness of busdrivers, and the long distances required to walk anywhere. Later in the evening, spent about an hour or two again at Bebop (as I had the previous 2 nights).
It was a fun night, and I managed to stay out until about 4:45 a.m., giving me enough time to surf the internet a bit, and then head out to the train station. I'm not sure where this day officially "ends", as I slept in half hour to hour segments during my 12 hour journey to Provence on Thursday.
Mikel Erentxun -- Todo Es Igual Siempre
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