The last week

I'm in Santiago de Compostela and its a sunny but very cold day outside and I've basically 'done' the city in 2 hours so thought I'd keep you updated on my lonesome travels. I was a bit worried I would be lonely in the 5 days that I'm traveling by myself but I've managed to meet some pretty cool people and do some pretty cool things. I woke up the first night here and was about to set out on a day of exploring Santiago on my own when I met an American girl and an Austrian girl who are both here studying Spanish. They said they'd convinced a guy that works at the hostel to drive them to the beach and invited me along. It was beautiful, the beaches very Australian-looking, but with stone ruins and cute little houses. He took us to his house and showed us his beach and then took us out for lunch. He ordered for us, wine, seafood latters, expensive fish and I could see the bill going up before my eyes, but he wouldn't let us pay for it in the end! It must have been 50 euro a head and he payed for all three of us!! He drove us home and we all sat in the hostel drinking and watching movies! Not bad for a first day!! 

Then I met two Brasilian girls who asked me to come to A Coruna with them. Naturally I accepted. It was good to see the touristy side of the city because every time I've been there its not for sightseeing, but bloody hell it was cold! We were caught in a huge gust of wind, hail, rain, and general coldness on more than one occasion, my jeans were soaked, I was cranky and just in that "I hate the cold, I want to go home and have a hot shower and curl up in bed with a movie!" mood! When Carolina's umbrella broke, we decided it just wasn't our day and so returned to Santiago where they took me to a Brasilian retaurant (it always bemuses me when people go overseas and spend the whole time in the community of their own people (Australians in London, Chinese in Sydney and Brasilians in Santiago apparently!). It was actually really traditional Brasilian cooking, which I quite like even though its full of meat and beans! So feeling fat and bloated, we went to the famous Cathedral to watch a free presentation on Santiago (which I struggled with because it was all in Spanish!) and then bid our goodbyes! 

I came back to my room to a Canadian girl who had just moved in and wanted to go have a drink. I really just wanted to sleep but there's no point in being anti-social in situations like this so we went and bought salad and pizza materials and a bottle of wine and had a home-made, semi-healthy dinner, then went to a tapas bar for a drink. Deciding that it was just a horrible night to go out on, we went home and have agreed to go out tonight and sample the tapas of Santiago and find a bar to get sloshed in and drink the cold away! 

Its amazing how friendly people can be when they're traveling. There's no way i would meet people so quickly at home and it helps this last week go by quickly as I wait to fly home.