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.

La Ruta de Ortigueira

Sunday was the day of the St Martin's ruta, a trail ride consisting of more than 200 horses through the town centre to the beach and back. It was basically a parade through the town, consisting mostly of men on stallions with harsh bits, riding in a traditional, but most ridiculous style. You could smell the testosterone in the air. It was like we were about to go to war and the person with the biggest, sweatiest stallion was the most masculine! No one had any control over their horses, mine managed to take off with me on the beach as I was trying to take a photo and it was just a general shambles of a ride. It was fun but I'm glad I wasn't on Chippy because he probably would have had a heart attack over the excitement of it all!

Kenya and I after her bolting on me on the beach

Splashing around

Bootiful boy (the horse, not the man)

Galateya having a stretch

Trotting races, on hard ground, not the best but they've been doing it for years

Chunky boy

The gathering beforehand

The stupid way they ride their horses

Look at the bits - crazy!

Kenya and I. Gumleaves in Spain - hmmm

This is one for Babelfish

Hey 'yall. Here's my effort in Spanish, I wrote it then translated it in Babelfish and couldn't stop laughing for at least 15 minutes. Just goes to show what I've been saying to the locals....

Hola chicas y chicos. Esta noche escribo el blog en Espanol, porque necesito aprender mas Espanol. Ahora estoy en Galicia, Espana. Estoy trabajo con cuarenta caballos. Trabajo seis dias por semana, y un dia tengo una fiesta. En la manana, limpio cuatro o cinco estables, y en la tarde monto dos o tres caballos, dependencia en el tiempo. En Galacia, hay mucha lluvia, yo no gusta. Pero yo gusta de montar todo dia. Este ano, yo viajo por diez meses, pero ahora quiero regresar a la Australia porque quiero mira mi madre y hermano y amigos. Lo siento por error en esta blog. Hasta luego amigos.

In English (according to the ether):

"Hello small and small. Tonight I write blog in Spanish, because I need to learn but Spanish. Now I am in Galicia, Spain. I am work with forty horses. Work six days per week, and a day I have a celebration. In the morning, clean four or five stable ones, and in afternoon amount two or three horses, dependency in the time. In Galacia, there is much rain, I does not like. But I like to mount all day. This anus, I travel by ten months, but now I want to return to Australia because I want sight my mother and brother and friendly. I feel by error in this blog. So long friendly."

Some observations on dancing

I love a good dance. It doesn’t take much to get me on the dancefloor but I do require a few pre-requisites. Good tunes need to be blaring at a reasonable decibel level. There’s nothing worse than dancing to music that isn’t positively blowing your ears off. And the mood needs to be right. I’m all for dancing by myself but there needs to be at least one other person dancing so I don’t feel like such a dork. Often is the case that its just Jem and I and the dance floor and I’m quite happy with that, as long as she doesn’t go wondering off leaving me to dance with my imaginary friends, which has also happened.

The Spanish consider themselves wonderful dancers. And they are. They can swing their hips and salsa like no-one else (only usurped by the Brasilians, whom I’m afraid, shit all over the Spanish in the dance-like-a-sexy-beast stakes). I’m often set into a trance watching the girls here move their hips and I try I hard as I can to copy them but I always somehow manage to revert to running man or Bec and I’s “Pendulum dance” which really just consists of a lot of jumping around madly.

BUT, one thing I will say about the Spanish is that they have no versatility. Sure, they look great when dancing to Samba or Salsa or Flamenco, but put them at a Pendulum concert, or in the mosh of Karnivool and they would have absolutely no idea what to do. That is where I come in. I don’t believe I’m a great dancer, and have disappointed many Mexicans/Spanish with my ability to tread all over their shoes when they try to dance with me, but you should see me go at a Chemical Brothers concert! I can switch my dancing style with the change of a tune. I can flick my hair about in a girly fashion to 80’s tunes, I can trance around in my trainers to hardcore techno music, complete with glow-stick arms, I can bang my head with the best of them to Mudvayne and I can roll my body to R’n’B (although I prefer to in jest as I think R’n’B dancing is hilarious and I have learnt most of my moves from Bec’s Eminem-loving-boyfriend, Mitch.) Hell, I can even successfully complete some very tricky boyband moves, I have photo evidence of that below!

Friday night I went to a fiesta that wasn’t particularly pumping, but people were dancing all in a circle, there was about 15 of us and they were all doing the side-step, hip-swinging dance that they all do here, and I was dancing like the band was playing Prodigy. It must have been somewhat of a hit with the local boys because one guy asked me to dance and I downright refused because I know exactly what they do when they dance with you. They take you in a ballroom-like pose and swing you around in a series of twirls and dips and the last time I did that was with my friend Paco in Mexico and it ended with a few feet injuries and us fighting because I wasn’t trying to “embrace the culture” because I refused to dance with him again!!!

So, I may not be able to twirl gracefully in high-heels with a Mexican man, I may not be able to salsa with the Spanish girls, but I think I’ve been able to hold my own in the clubs/concerts/fiestas of more than 16 countries this year, chopping and changing my style man! I’d like to see you do THAT Latin mofos!!!!

Was that a dream?

I began work this morning with one question on my mind….was I dreaming last night or did that actually happen??? (Before you ask mother, my nymphomaniac of a boss isn’t rubbing off on me!!!)

I was on my couch trying to recover from some weird strain of European flu when Michelle (boss) comes in saying “Right, get dressed, we’re going to a Halloween party tonight with a bonfire and they’re all English so you don’t have an excuse.” And she was right. I didn’t.

So I have this vision of a huge bonfire in the middle of provincial Galacia filled with hot English guys and marshmallows and good tunes.

We arrive to be greeted by a couple of about 55 (now don’t get me wrong, I know a fair few fun 50ish year olds and age is no excuse for being truly fucked up), their daughter of 14 years, a German girl who’s married to an English guy with a toddler and English mum and her daughter (28) who are keeping their horse at the yard. So no hot guys. That’s cool, it’ll still be fun.

So we all sit round the table and everyone seems lovely at first. Until I learn that the English couple are full on vegans who don’t let their daughter watch any form of television, believe in alternative horse care (which involves standing in the rain with your ponies in the middle of the night to make them feel better about themselves) and proceed to tell us how they’re going to save the world through happiness and spirituality. A few conversations with the daughter and I realize she’s a nutcase too. She gives us all pieces of paper with which to make Halloween masks (keep in mind everyone at the table but her is over 20) and we’re invited to make them as funny as possible. I proceed to colour in a transvestite dracula, probably not the best thing in retrospect, but she and her mum thought it was “dreadfully naughty har har har!”.

The little girl brings out a platter. “I’ve been waiting all day to bring these out, you’ll positively adore them! Har har!”. On the platter are eyeballs, mice and fingers made out of condensed milk and coconut which is quite cute and clever, I think, until I see the likeness of the mice to tampons! They’re little white finger things with a piece of string coming out of them and Michelle, failing to recognize the resemblance, picks one up and starts sucking and chewing on it “Mmmm, these are lovely!” Hahaha! Laura (28 year old English girl we’ve been hanging out with) looks over at me and we can’t contain our laughter as we’ve both obviously had the same thought! No one else has any idea how hard it is for us not to laugh, because they’re not the type of people to share our humour.

The night hasn’t gotten completely hilarious yet but is doing very badly at keeping her giggles at the ridiculousness of the situation under wraps! I am in somewhat the same situation.

We go outside for a bonfire (actually it was more of a collection of planks slightly burning) and have sparklers lit for us and handed out to us. We all have to write a wish in the sky with them. How lovely. So I ask where the marshmallows are. “Well, marshmallows have gelatin in them so we don’t have any.” Gay!!! If there’s nothing to perve on at least give me marshmallows, Laura and I comment. Meanwhile, we’re trying to find any beer, win, spirits in the vicinity that may be consumed. Nothing.

Next we all go into the barn for a ‘performance’. This sounds interesting! We’re treated to a concert by Dad and child. “This one is one I wrote when I was 7, its about how I’m supposed to grow up straight according to society.” Says the 14 year old, “This one I wrote last year in Spanish, the words are a work in progress so please be patient”. Oh my god! This is bloody hilarious!!! There are cries from the Mum “Oh oh! Sing ‘Life’s a Bitch’, that’s a good one!” I’m looking at Laura and laughing behind my ghost pie! Then, in the middle of the second song, my ears hurting from over-pretentious 14 year old screeching in my ears, I suddenly fall right through my chair!!! Of course, nothing funnier could have happened at this point in time and everyone bursts out laughing and complimenting on my ability to not drop a crumb of apple pie whilst falling through my chair!!! At least the ‘performance’ stopped!!!

One of the funniest nights I’ve had since I’ve been here! Even though all the laughing was at others’ (and my) expenses! Laura and I had a good laugh the next morning and tried to figure out if it in fact was a dream or if it did happen. Too good!