Tuesday- found a home in Santiago de Compostela

As we sat eating our bread and fruit dinner last night (Monday) in front of Spanish TV, which we watch while playing a new game of guess what the news is about today, we realized how much we enjoy this particular Spanish city. The national news channel (the only news channel) was showing a picture of this city with people being interviewed. All of the interviewees were wearing sweaters or shawls and we guessed that maybe the news was about the chilly weather that Santiago is having right now. It is in the low 70´s, probably a global warming anomaly for usually HOT Spain, but it is so enjoyable to us that we may never leave. We interrupted our delicious picnic dinner to write a note to our hotel manager/landlord who we have never seen except for our arrival. Mike worked on the note for awhile, carefully requesting an extra two nights at this hotel using our guidebook Spanish. The book has a sample sentence asking for only one night, but considering the weather too good to move one, we greedily asked for two. After the note was done we talked to Caitie by phone and it looks as if we may meet up with her tomorrow instead, so the note went into the can and we used the sample note verbatim. We left it on his desk and hope that our belongings aren´t all sitting on the street when we go back to our room later today. We´ll let you know.

This hotel room has been one of our best although I would not recommend it to anyone afraid of noise or addicted to fresh air. The only window, one that opens up to the balcony above the plaza, has glass doors that effectively block out all the noise, but unfortunately also block out all of the air too. They have total black out shades attached to them, which makes the room soundproof and dark when closed, but also airtight. So, we have developed a system in which we go to sleep at 11:00 or so with the room as quiet and dark as a mausoleum, then when we wake up perspiring and out of air we open it up for awhile and listen to a) the people reveling down in the plaza, b) the street cleaner and garbage trucks that come through every night, c) the speeding cars that come through occasionally, but not constantly, d) the pick up at night of the tables and chairs of the restaurants in the square e) the noise of our fellow lodgers coming in later at night than us, and leaving earlier in the morning.... you get the point. Thankfully the weather has been so pleasant, making the necessity for fresh air must less important.

We have determined that our favorite towns are ones big enough to have places to go out and see, but small enough to see in one or two days making the remainder of our stay feeling familiar and at home as we eat at a favorite restaurant or shop at the grocery for the second or third time. This city has about 88,000 people, most of whom live outside the old town. We have located a grocery, a health food store (source of the all-important non-chemical shampoos that don´t aggravate my allergy to sodium laurel sulfate) and the almonds and raisins we snack on, multiple cafes and places to hang out. We are in the habit of stopping for an espresso once each morning and afternoon and like the locals, using the price of that cup of coffee as rent on a chair that enables you to spend an hour people watching. The chairs at tables are never arranged facing in straight to the table, instead they are arranged around empty tables in an angled fashion as if they expected us to plunk right down and face the crowd rather than each other while we drank our coffee. We see people sitting at their small table like landlords for the hour or two it takes to consume whatever beverage sits in front of them. On hot days we trade our afternoon coffee for Coke Light(Mike) and aqua with gas (carbonated water for Deanne). We appreciate the price we paid in Portugal (50 cents) now that we are paying at least double that in Spain.

The internet cafes are much more lavish in Spain than the shady little run-down places of Portugal that felt a bit like you were participating in an elicit activity. Here they are large, multi-room facilities with special lighting to accommodate game players and rows upon rows of computers. We remain the oldest patrons in these facilities every time we visit, but the kids that work the counters seem predisposed to like old codgers that are computer literate. When I blew up the computer in the other store yesterday, the counter person was surprised but pleasant and turned the machine off giving me a free half hour to make up for the fact that I had to start over in writing my blog entry.

We will push off tomorrow going Eastward to either Leon or Avila. We have both on our to-do list, as they seem to fit our target profile of small, historical cities with beautiful scenery. We suggested that Caitie decide which of the cities she would prefer, as the current plan is to meet her there.

We´ll write again when we land. Until then So long,
Deanne