Finally started to get over my cold on Thursday, which was nice. We painted the wall we had previously plastered with a stabiliser and did some other stuff I can’t remember haha. We caught the bus to the beach in the afternoon and went for a swim and bake in the sun ☀️ which was great. The big cliffs next to the beach are so cool, I love looking at them.
Liere was home from her teaching job on Friday so we finally got to spend some time in the garden, although we were just weeding and mulching. In the afternoon we were going to go for a swim but were absolutely knackered from the week so we ended up just lazing around in our room. Joe made tomato pasta and it tasted spookily identical to tinned spaghetti 🍝 but it was hot and put us to sleep so 🤷♀️
Small sleep in on Saturday before we hopped in the car with Liere and Ruben and drove to Gernika for a small community cook off. Apparently they have quite a few nationalities in the Basque Country and the idea was for people to come and cook the rice dish of their home country. Liere and Ruben made a vegetarian paella with all the vegetables from their garden. Joe and I went for a walk around the town while everyone got set up and had a chat. It was a very lovely place with lots of squares and gardens which we enjoyed looking through. Liere told us that the all the buildings in the town are relatively new because during WW2, apparently the Germans did a lot of bombing in the area, and then when Spain was governed by a dictatorship later in the 20th century, the dictator ordered for the town to be destroyed for some reason (I think that’s right, don’t hold me to these facts though). Anyway, we headed back to the festival and helped Ruben cut vegetables to put in the paella, and then helped with setting up tables and chairs. I tried some Basque wine which was very nice, and then I was somehow made a judge for all the rice dishes 😬🤤. There was 4 of us judging and around 10 dishes, all of which were 👌👌👌. I felt the pressure, especially since joe kept reminding me that if I didn’t score the Peruvians highly, they would probably have my head. Anyway that was fun, the winning dish was from somewhere in Africa I do believe, and it was a chicken and rice thing with olives and onion, with vinegary undertones (it was very nice, but my favourite was a different one). Once all the judging was finished we finally got to sit down and eat the paella, and I think Joe and I ate a bit too much haha whoops. We then caught the bus around to the beach and Joe went for a swim while I sat on the sand (it was grey and windy, I didn’t want to get cold) before we caught the bus home.
The other day at lunch (which we have at 3pm 😦) Liere told us about a beautiful village and swimming spot just over the hill from their house so yesterday Joe and I walked over there to check it out. It was so goddamn nice, I think we will definitely have to make the small trek again before we leave. We hung out on the wharves for a couple of hours, going for a couple of swims in the crystal clear water, and I ended up getting a bit sunburnt. After around 3 hours just hanging out, the sun became too much (and we’d run out of snacks) so we packed up our stuff and started the walk home, getting some ice creams before the big walk up the hill. Joe stole some lemons on the way back and once we made it home we just chilled for the afternoon
Today we just did a whole heap of painting and I am currently waiting for joe to finish his nap so we can walk up a big hill to look at a nice view 🙂
Jolie’s Travels 