The gorgeous Guggenheim museum in Bilbao
I donīt know why I havenīt been updating this blog more often. Last time, I told everyone that Blake and I were going to go to Bilbao, which is a city in the Basque Country, (in northern Spain.) We got our bus tickets, and we ended up leaving really early on Saturday morning. Basque country is beautiful! Itīs alot different than Madrid. There are alot more trees and hills, and itīs common to see farm houses with sheep and agriculture, etc. The ride up there was really relaxing...it took four hours, but I kind of like riding buses.
When Blake and I finally got there, we were really thrilled. The architecture in Bilbao was alot different as well. Bilbao sits in a tiny valley and itīs surrounded on three sides by rolling hills. There is also a river that runs right through the city. When Blake and I got off of the bus, we took a bus to a section of town called Casa Viejo, which is supposed to be a cute area. We started looking for a hotel right away because we wanted to unload our bags.
To make a long story short, we looked and looked for a hotel and everywhere was filled. When we went to the tourist center, where they make you hotel reservations, there was a huge line, (apparently, there were alot of people in our same predicament,) and when we got to the front of the line, the woman behind the phones told us that she had called every hotel, pension, and guesthouse in Bilbao, and there were no openings. We talked with some people in the same line as us, and it turns out that this had been going on for quite some time. There were people sleeping in the parks, etc.
Since we couldnīt get a hotel, we exchanged our bus tickets and came back to Madrid that same night. (Another 4 hour bus ride.)
The good news is that we liked Bilbao so much that the very next day, we made some hotel reservations for when we leave Madrid at the end of August.
When we got home, it was really late on Saturday night, and we went right to bed.
On Sunday, we just kind of took it easy and after dinner we went to a section of town called La Latina. We went to La Latina because Blake and I had been there on Friday night with my student Julio, and his girlfriend Sarah. We just went out for a drink, but it turned out that there was a really big street party in that section of town, and it was supposed to last all weekend.
Blake, Ryan, Luke and I all went out for drinks on Sunday night at the street party because Monday was a holiday, (no work.) The streets were extremely packed, and all of the restaraunts set up little portable bars so that everyone just stays outside and listens to music, etc. There was tons of dancing, and there were so many people that you had to push your way through if you wanted to go anywhere.
One of the cool things about these street parties is the fact that you just start talking to people...whoever is next to you, etc.
Blake started talking to these 3 guys that were standing next to us, and sooner or later we all started chatting. Their names were Oscar, Edu, and I forget the other oneīs name. Anywho, we ended up talking to them pretty much the entire time, and before we knew it, bars were starting to pack up their things, the music was shut off, and everyone was starting to go home.
The guys that we became friends with really didnīt want to go home quite yet, and I guess Blake, Ryan and Luke were up for hanging out some more, so we asked them if they wanted to come over to our apartment.
Two of the guys said that they would really like to come over. Since they had to move their car, we just told them to meet us there in a half hour or so.
Well, as soon as we got back to the apartment, I went to sleep. I was really tired. Blake and everyone else wanted to go to sleep too at that time, but since our two new friends were coming over, they had to stay up. (I donīt know how I got out of this one.)
The next day, I found out that Oscar and Edu made it over to our apt. just fine. They stayed over for an hour or two, but before they left, there was quite an event in our apartment!
Oscar and Edu were sitting at our kitchen table along with everyone else, and all of the sudden one of them whipped out a bag of cocaine and started using one of our playing cards to cut himself a line.
This was completely absurd because to just look at these guys and talk with them half the night, you wouldnīt think they were into heavy drugs at all. I wasnīt there, but I guess everyone else was pretty stunned, and didnīt know what to say. Especially Blake, Ha, ha!
Blake must have looked really shocked because one of the guys looked at him, and said, 'Donīt be so afraid, itīs only coke.' They said that they were doing it to stay awake. Soon after that, Blake, Luke and Ryan said that they were pretty tired, and that they were going to go to sleep. The cokeheads left our apartment at about 6am, and went to a dance club. (they have them open here from 4am - 1pm.)
So that was the main event of the night.
The next day, we just took it easy and slept.