Street meat

Today was so relaxing. Until tonight. My friend from Barcelona is here in San Sebastian and we went to the beach and had lunch and walked around and had coffee and hiked up this little hill to a big Jesus statue. The weather was perfect so it was a great day to just hang out outside. For dinner we had tapas with the most frugal Spaniards ever. They´re here from Salamanca (which is left of Madrid, they told me), and they brought their own ham with them. Like all Spaniards, they think ham from their part of Spain is the best, but I think it was mostly a saving money thing. They had also brought lomo (another Spanish pork product), sausage, and two kinds of cheese. And water. And alcohol. And they were carrying it all around with them in their backpacks. So we had tapas with these guys and then had to leave because my friend was taking the night train back to Barcelona and had her bags at my hostel. But we´d been talking about the ham and lomo all night and finally they convinced us to try some. So there we were, on the streets of San Sebastian, eating Spanish artesanal pork products out of a backpack. And, like all Spanish pork products, they were really good. And I guess we lost track of time and my friend and I ended up having to sprint back to the hostel so she could get her stuff and catch her train, which she ended up missing by one minute, because she had been eating Spanish meat on the street. So she´s still here. Luckily my hostel had an extra bed, so it wasn´t a complete disaster. But be careful with Spanish pork. It can be dangerous.

Oh, and my hostel, that I was bracing myself for because I found it on the internet and it´s not in any guidebooks? It´s so nice. This is the best hostel I´ve ever stayed in: the bathrooms are spotless; the towels are nice; and they even make the beds every day, like in a hotel. And it´s run by this Russian woman. Her name is Olga and I understand her Spanish and she´s jealous of my Spanish resident card. It´s perfect.