Over the river and through the woods. . .

Free internet and a more recognizable keyboard, too!

I tried to leave Biarritz around 9:30: am but even though my Eurail Pass map shows red train lines going from Biarritz and in a round about way connecting here to Bilbao, evidently you can´t get here from there. So my days travel went like this a late morning bus from Biarritz to Hendaye. I had an fun non conversation with a youngster at the bus stop. He wanted to speak the little English he knew and he really wanted to answer the questions I was trying to ask in the French I didn´t know. He did manage get me to understand that I was going to have to take the bus we were waiting for to the end of the line and change to another. So I did the first part of that. I took the bus to St. Jean de Luz. Since there was an info desk there, I just thought I´d confirm Raphael´s instructions. According to the nice lady at the info desk, there would be a big green bus in a 1/2 hour going to Bilbao. I believed here until it was almost an hour later then I followed Raphael´s instructions. I took a bus to Hendaye. From there I took a 5 Minute train ride to Irun (there´s an accent on one of those letters) where I went through a sort of customs check-a passport check, really. Then I found the next bus to Bilbao, abit more than an hours trip. Finally, out of that bus station down into the subway to catch the underground to the city district where the hostel is, just a mere 50 meters from the exit. I gotta say so far, the generally feeling is that I´m gonna be more comfortable in Spain than I felt in France. The few Spaniards I have spoken to in just the brief time I have been here have been more pleasant and smiling when I ask for information. If I had had more encounters with other French folks like young Raphael, perhaps I would have a better feeling. However, I´m returning to France later in the my trip so I´ll try harder at the language to see if that will improve the situation. While I make no claims of being able to really speak the language, the little bit of high school Spanish that I recall seems to be having some effect.

My last evening in the hostel at Biarrtiz, I had dinner with two other native English language speakers and a Frenchman who had lived in English speaking places. It was sooo relaxing. One guy is taking a year off before beginning his formal studies in language at Leeds. He was fluent in French and would soon be heading to South America to begin a short course in Spanish as a Foreign Language before beginning a tour of that continent. The other English speaker, a Canadian, was a just graduated Sociologist and was doing her own RTW before jumping into the job market although she did mention some things about working while on her journey. The French fella is sort of decompressing in his native France having just left the world of finance. He´s taking some time to do some real surfing while he does some cyber surfing for either his next career &/or next place of employment. He´s looking closely at Austrailia. It was cool to find some other folks out here checkin things out and for all different reasons.

At breakfast this morning, I joined one of my roommates and we then joined with a friendly Dutchman who was bicycling back to his home. He said he usually just camps but the day before had just been so wet he decided to give himself a chance to dry off. I guess he was riding a mountain bike because he referred to it as a ´bush bike´. When he heard that I was from the Pacific Northwest he told the story of a friend of his who was camping there and a bear got into his tent. Not really knowing what to do the guy started yelling at the bear but oddly enough the guy yelled in English! I´m sure that´s why the guy escaped unscathed. Had he yelled in his native tongue, the bear wouldn´t have understood.

One more story-On the longest and next to last leg of the journey today the was what I´m guessing was a three generation family. Grandma, Mom and Son. They were sitting just ahead and across the isle from me. Son and Grandma shared a row and Mom sat in front of them. Most of the trip Son and Grandma has a nice conversation going. Towards the end of the trip Son received a cell phone call. The call went on for awhile and the longer it went on, the more excited Son became and the louder his voice got. I watched Mom. She was smiling and shaking her head. Grandma was bouncing in her seat laughing to herself. More than a few people were turning around and looking back at him. Finally, Grandma had enough and started nudging him adn Mom joined in too and the phone chat ended. I haven´t a clue as to what was being said but I was the only one enjoying the moment without truly eavesdropping.

Well, that´s a good long one for this time. Tomorrow I´m gonna explore the town and rethinking my time in Spain. I´ve got too many (and only) big cities on the itinerary.