Feb 27th
Today started out ok, After a late night of surfing the tube and figuring out what to do the next day, I awoke earlier than usual with a sour stomach. This was not do to bad food but from fear that I might miss the 5:45pm bus. I know this is irrational, but after 2 day walking in circles trying to figure out what to do next, I was ready to leave, and seeing that there was only one bus today, I did not want to miss it for anything.
One nice perk of the 25€ I was to pay for this room, was a nice breakfast with toast, ham, cheese, and jelly. All was accompanied by Coffee, warm milk and Juice(tang like OJ). So making sure to get every dollars worth I dug in and filled myself in hopes of not having to eat much later on.
After breaky I asked the kind lady at the front if I could leave my things at the desk while I tried to kill some time(8 hours) so that I would not be completely worn out when I got on the bus. Off I went in search of something to do in a city without much to do in it, compound this by it being Sunday when the populace doesn't want to do anything. Thus all was closed and most of the population wandered aimlessly about making me feel less out of place in my own meanderings. Those of you that know me best might not believe it but I even went so far as to wander through a mall(ala Ridgedale) so as to kill a bit of time. What else, well, I did send out a bunch of emails to vineyards located around my next destination. About 10 in all and though it is a bit to late for anyone to prepare properly for a visitor, I figure what do have to lose, I might even get invited back at some point.
Save for a small meal, with some bad house wine and a couple of coffee's and a couple of beers the day passed away slowly and I was glad to finally be at Gate 1 heading in the direction of Toro. Of course the bus, which in Spain and Portugal tend to be on time, this time was not by some 20 minutes making me wonder if I missed it. Finally, before panic fully set in, it arrived and I got on and would have passed out if it weren't for my fear of missing my stop and making this journey even more interesting. When the bus got to Zamora, a stones throw from Portugal, the bus stopped and the driver began to yell about something. Having heard him yell at every car we passed on our way there I didn't think much of it, until I realized he was asking for the gentleman who wanted to go to Toro! Jumping up I ran to the front of the bus where he proceeded to talk to fast for me to understand, but in the end motioned for me to get off the bus. I was starting to wonder if I needed to get another bus from there, when he then asked me if I had a bag and if so grab it from under the bus. His impatience growing I was sure that I needed to get another bus until in a loud voice he told me to get back on the bus and fast! At this point being already thoroughly confused he then told me to put my bag down on the floor in the front of the bus and when I did he then told me it was in the wrong place and to move it and sit down. Fine, whatever we were moving again at this point I knew that I wouldn't miss my stop. So on to Toro we went.
The funny part is that at this point he must have known I was a foreigner and that I wasn't sure what I was doing. Yet as we pulled in to Toro he tried to ask me where to drop me off, to which I responded anywhere. Off the bus that’s all I wanted!
A new town and new mysteries. First on the list is that of Languages; when I called to ask directions to the Hostel I was looking for, they did say they had a room but were sorry that they didn't speak English. Not a problem though he informed me for he spoke Spanish and French? I could throw a stone and hit Portugal and he spoke French? I guess that wasn't that weird until, he told me to ask someone on the street for directions. Quickly scanning I saw a man about to cross the street, and after some broken Spanish and Muppet like hand gestures I somehow managed to get him to stop while I dropped my bags and got out my guide book to show him the address and ask him where I was hoping to go. Guess what, he was illiterate, but he spoke French! WTF....When I stated that I spoke Portuguese he shrugged as if to say, "Portuguese, too foreign, I can't understand that." UGH! I guess I understand though, I mean Canada is not that far from the US and I can’t understand a thing those crazy Cannucks say! Fortunately he was very understanding and friendly in helping me find out where I was going. Off I went, about 200 yards with too much luggage and up a slight incline. I did make it and the man at the bar recognized the crazy American who just walked through the door as the same one on the phone who didn't understand French. A few wild hand gestures later and we came to an understanding that I wanted a room, I didn't need to look at it, and that he needed my passport. I also later on found out that I got the more expensive of the rooms, but hell it has fluorescent lights and a stone floor! Not to mention the window doesn't open so that I might air it out a bit, and the flourescent light is the only one in the room, giving you the choice I sickly green glow or pitch black. This is living! Oh who am I kidding, all I cared about was the working radiator.
Basically none of this really mattered as I settled into my surroundings I started to feel better, having successfully broken free of Braganca’s grip. With hunger setting in I decided to head down to the restaurant connected to the Hostel for a bit of dinner. Big price difference between here and Portugal and not in a good way. But I did end up with a nice bottle of wine to bring back to my room to drown away some of the day. Menu de la Dia: Paella(overcooked, decent flavor, bad texture)Beef something or another(braised bits of rump, in a acidic red tomato sauce, tasty)Flan(burnt sugar juice over custard hill) All in all not a bad dinner, just nothing to waste words on. The wine was a nice wine of the region, and I will post notes on it.
Just so you all know, the hostels name is: Hostel dna Elvira. I'm not making that up, I wish I were. So I leave you with that, and hope that tomorrow brings trips to a vineyard and much happiness. till soon, Ryan
