Reunion

Pamplona, Spain

I´ve spent the past forty-five minutes trying to find a cheap flight from Barcelona to Paris, as I fly home from Paris in about a week. I am here in Pamplona, having reunited with Josh, the American chef that I met in Venice and with whom I travelled for the two weeks that followed. Josh lives here, has a girlfriend whom he´s moving in with in a couple months, and he starts a new job at a restaurant tomorrow. As I type this, he is back at the apartment, preparing a Thanksgiving feast. It was our intention to spend Thanksgiving together and have a glorious meal. However, my little detour to Morocco made that impossible. So we agreed to have one now. Better late than never.
I had an incredible time in Madrid. It was straight out of a Christmastime romance movie. One night, I went out with my couchsurfing host Pablo, and his friends. There I met and connected with Ana, one of his friends. The next day, she picked me up and we wandered around the Retiro park. The dead, black trees stood huddled together. There was a small pond upon which many people rowed around in little blue boats. A gregarious puppet show, using socks and gloves with eyes, brought smiles to the faces of small, scarf-bundled children and their families. I could feel the winter wonderland excitement everywhere. We watched rented movies, cooked, cuddled, talked. It was intense and wonderful. And it was perfect timing too, because she had the day off from her busy work as an up-and-coming lawyer. Also her family, with whom she lives, was away on holiday, so we had the house to ourselves to laugh and have fun. I was very fortunate, as currently there is an exhibit of some works by my favorite artist, the Renaissance painter/engraver, Albrecht Durer. So we attended the exhibition. I Loved it. And then I left Madrid. And the movie of my life has changed.
Yesterday, Josh´s girlfriend, Eva, drove us to nearby San Sebastian, known as a beautiful, ritzy beach town. We arrived to huge gusts of wind that made walking difficult. As it started to sprinkle, we decided to escape the elements and get something to eat. We headed into a couple different bars where we ordered a drink and ate pinchos. A pincho is a small, individual appetizer generally consisting of a piece of bread with some meat and garnish on top. That is the tradition, go to a few different bars having drinks and eating pinchos. When our bellies were full, Eva lead us up a set of stairs that lead out to an oceanside rode atop a cliff. Initially it took effort to move against the wind. The powerful wind created giant waves. As the waves slammed into the cliff and rocks they flew into the air where the wind then shot them forward like a wall of water bullets. People were getting drenched. We stood near the fence and got pretty wet. Eva wanted to leave, but I wasn´t ready. I suggested to Josh that we head down to the outermost part near the ocean. He agreed and we ran excitedly to the edge. We stood with our arms outstretched as a monster wave crashed and exploded into the air like a thousand fireworks and then dove down upon us like a giant cloud of tiny furious sea beasts. We were thoroughly soaked through and through. My supposedly water-proof, Goretex shoes gurgled and sloshed with each step I took. Josh ran and I frolicked, whooping and hollering, back to where Eva stood. Then before entering the car, we stripped down the bare minimum. I slowly dozed off as we wound through the sheep-covered hillsides back to Pamplona in the warm, cozy car.