OVIEDO

After the plane and train incidents, we finally made it to Oviedo. Kimmie, a friend of the girl who stayed with Amparo this Spring, delivered the key to the piso...I had received the keys to Amparo's house in the mail earlier this summer, but after we got to Europe, Amparo locked herself out of the house and had to get the locks changed. So there was a little scramble for the keys, but we got them!! Yay :)

But then we got to the house and Amparo left a note for me, saying she was really sad she wasn't here to see us, she left towels out for us to use, she wrote out the key to the wireless, and, BTW, she also got the water shut off while she was away, so she left a bucket of water for us to wash with. I have no issues showering from a bucket, but we had been so so so excited to wash clothes, and there was no way we were going to last the next several days without a toilet
:(

So we found a cheap hotel within five minutes of Amparo's place. It ended up being great-we had the kitchen to use at amparo's and a place to leave our stuff, but we also had a (clean, but very simple) place to shower and sleep and a toilet to flush.

(I'm really easily amused...the hotel was called Etap Oviedo...and they labeled their tape....)

The first afternoon, I gave Andy the quick walking tour of town. It was kind of sad to see how some of the stores and cafes and bars had been revamped or replaced over the last couple years. At the same time, it was fun to walk the same route I took to school every day and to force myself to remember how to get to my favorite shops, the cathedral, the parks. We were pretty wiped from our all nighter, so we called it an early night.

The next morning, we got up and headed straight out for the trek up to Cristo. It was a beautiful hike up but a bit steeper than I had remembered (or had been able to warn Andy about, whoops...)

Later, we went out for paella and sidra, traditional Spanish food and drink, and we went to a movie. We opted for resacon 2 (the hangover two), because Andy had seen it in english shortly before we left, so it was about his best chance at being able to follow the story.

After a run at the Pista Filandesa, my favorite rec area in Oviedo, the next day was full of shopping...very successful shopping, picnicking, and playing card games. Then today we went to the market, walked around some different areas of town, and stopped for churros and chocolate at Valor. We are now waiting to hop our overnight train to Barcelona. We will have almost two full days in Barce, and then it will reLly be time to come home...

It would have been nice to have Amparo here, but it was still fun to come back and remember all the adventures I had with great friends a couple years ago. I'm not sure if it feels like it should be two years ago already, but so much has happened in the time since, that it sometimes feels like a decade has passed. Looking forward to coming back to Oviedo again sometime when Amparo is home!

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