Experiencing the Basques

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The Basque Country has been treating me so well! The people have been very friendly and patient with my poor Spanish, the food has been excellent, and the land is so pretty. Kim and I started out in the town she had been living in the past few months, Bilbao, then visited Guernica for a few hours, and ended up in San Sebastian where she is living now. Bilbao was so busy! And there are children EVERYWHERE. They are all dressed so cute too, just like little mini Basques. The first thing I ate was, of course, a kebab. We used to eat them all the time in Italy and I have had some serious cravings back home. It was just as greasy and delicious as I remembered, and also made me feel just as crappy… so worth it. Kim then took me on a mini tour of the city. We went up to a park that overlooked the whole town and on the way back town the mountain our tram was full of kids speaking Euskera. It always seems to happen that we get stuck travelling surrounded by loads of kids. Once while going from Viterbo to Rome the train was filled with, literally, about a hundred Italian boy scouts. That was an experience in itself!

I saw the Guggenheim, but didn’t go in. I don’t really get modern art… But the outside is cool; I’ve got pics on facebook. We stopped in Kim’s favorite park for a bit and while we were sitting there a film crew came through. They were shooting a Basque game show called Bost Baietz! The host just goes up to random people and asks if they want to play, then he asks them trivia questions and if they don’t know the answer they run up to the people nearby and ask them. For each question they get right they win 20 euro and then lose that whenever they get one wrong. The contestant ran up to Kim and I at one point, but she was speaking Euskera and we were both like, …uhhhh, and she just moved on. Haha! So, small chance we will be on TV in Europe looking completely clueless. Kim next took me past the theatre, into an old, beautiful library, and into the town’s events center that has some unique architecture, then we sat in a plaza and watched even more children play while we talked. That was actually one of my more favorite moments. It is amazing to watch children simply be children regardless of culture and setting. They are so interactive and funny. Later in the evening we went over to Kim’s friends, Sergiu and Salia’s place for dessert, they are from Romania and made us cheesecake. I have thought for years that I don’t like cheesecake, but I tried this and I don’t know what was going through my mind. It was delicious! I attempted to speak more Spanish while with them, which I’m sure was very ugly, but I was able to communicate and keep up better than I would have expected. Thank God Kim could translate for me when I got lost or messed up.

We visited Guernica the next day. That was really cool for me because I took a Spanish Civil War class and we spent a lot of time on this event. Guernica was bombed during the War by Franco. It was basically an attempt to take out a civilian population and eliminate Basque culture. Many were killed and much of the town destroyed in 1937. We got to see a replica of Picasso’s “Guernica” that he painted for the World’s Faire in Paris to draw international attention to what was going on in Spain. We also saw the Tree of Guernica, which is the symbol for Basque endurance, and the Assembly House. It was amazing, unfortunately we had to rush because they were closing for Siesta, but I got to see exactly what I went to see, so I was happy.

Now we are in San Sebastian and I love it! I am staying with Kim and her boyfriend Gotzon. They have taken me so many places! We went to a Basque cider house where they let you drink unlimited fermented cider that you just get straight from the gigantic barrels, and feed you traditional dishes. We had chorizo soaked in cider, a cod omelet, cod with caramelized onions and green peppers, bloody steak, cheese and marmalade, cookies, and walnuts. It was such a great experience and everybody who was there interacted with each other. Such a blast! One tradition with the walnuts is that you crack it with your head (there are other unique ways too) and holy crap it hurt! But I finally did it after like 6 attempts. It’s been 2 days and I still have a bump… or a dent, I can’t tell. Then they took me around downtown. In Spain, the youth stay out until about 6-7 a.m. on a fairly regular basis. I definitely could not handle that though.

Next day we walked around the beach, watched the surfers, more children playing, saw a guy walking the beach in nothin’ but his birthday suit… just lettin’ it all hang out. Most interesting walk I’ve ever taken. Then we met Gotzon and walked to the top of a mountain that overlooks the beach, the island and the rest of the city. At the top there is a giant statue of Jesus. Lots of pilgrims make their way there to pray. And we happened to go at a time when they were holding mass so we watched that for a bit. I had always meant to go experience mass in Italy but always got too scared… and I never wanted to wake up that early… so it was really cool to see it then and in such a unique place. It was so beautiful at the very top too because it had been raining a ton and everything was misty and so green and we were on top of an old fortress that had been used during the French invasion. It was one of those pictures in your mind that you never forget, and I wish I could do it more justice with my words. After that we headed back to the flat and Kim and Gotzon prepared a traditional rice dish with shrimp chicken wings and vegetables and we watched that show Bost Baietz! (Kim and I weren’t on it.) Then we went to bed pretty early.

Today is my last day in Spain, so of course… we went shopping. I got some traditional Basque shoes that are so comfortable, durable and cheap! And I got some cute new clothes that are really popular in Europe right now and a Basque hat. Best part of the story is that Kim and I were walking to the bus in the rain, puddles everywhere, and my bag with all my new clothes in it was made of paper. It had gotten really wet, and the bottom totally fell out, dropping my stuff directly into a big puddle! Hahaha! I was like, “what the!? Oh! Those are mine!” So much for wearing a new outfit tomorrow.

So anyways the Basque country has been so great to visit and the people are so proud of their culture and traditions. I’m so happy that I have gotten to spend almost a week with Kim and see where she has been living for the past half year, and to see Gotzon’s home. I’ve only ever met Gotzon in America, it was nice to see his life here for a change. Tomorrow morning I get up super early to head off on a 4 hour flight to Napoli and then start post excavation work with my professor and fellow students! It’s weird to be here in Spain and know that I haven’t even reached my final destination yet.

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