Breakfast was self-serve, so Rosie made us egg sandwiches that we ate on our balcony. Last night we went on a wander to make sure we could find the garage where the car was parked (I also had a forgettable mushroom pintxo on the way), and she told me about the puzzle it was to get the car in the garage.
I said yesterday, I stayed at the apartment while Nat went with Rosie. We are renting a spot in a garage from Nat's friend, so they went to get him. Our tiny car only fits two, so now this guy is riding with Rosie, who has just been double- parked in the middle of the street for ten minutes with cars swerving around her. The garage itself is a funny affair, with a door that takes forever to swing open. Then it is "right, right, right" down to the car.
We plugged the city into our GPS (Kelly, have I mentioned how grateful I am for letting us borrow it?) and were off.
The countryside we've been driving through has been very different from the Rioja out to San Sebastián. The Rioja had two mountain ranges on either side, with the Ebro River running through the middle, but the land was rolling hills with vineyards in the clay-like soil. They had had a wet spring, but it was drier than I expected, not a lush green.
On our way to San Sebastián, we had gone over the mountains (in second gear - oh, tiny cars) and landed in a much lusher area, with a lot of forests and fields. That had continued until outside San Sebastián when the hills got steeper and rockier right before we got spit out into the tree-lined city.
Now, on our way to Uhare-Arakil, we went through tunnels, a dozen of them, and only saw trees on the mountain hillsides until the pasturelands in the valley the town was in.
The exit we were supposed to take was closed off by the fair organizers, but the next exit led is efficiently into a pasture to park, then walk to an entrance table where everyone (including the dogs) got a sticker. We were told to look for Nancy at the cheese table, so off we went.
On the way to this fair, I found out about the lack of experience Rosie has had with state fairs. Nancy had described this as a 4H fair - had to tell Rosie about the 4H club. Next I mentioned the prizes and how you "show" animals and vegetables and such, then some of it gets auctioned off. And, the smaller county fairs all build up to a state fair. The only experience she had was our trip to the Strawberry Festival when we went to Virginia Beach over Memorial Day.
Now that Rosie had been prepped, first were the stalls of the random junk that's at every fair - squeaky dogs that walk, colorful bracelets, earrings, scarves, wood-working, and other knick-knacks.
Next, though came the cheese. Not just one cheese table, but a dozen in a crowded square. With free samples. It was of two types - a hard, sheep's milk cheese called "Idiazabal" and a soft, spreadable one that I'm assuming is also sheep's milk.
I might be assuming this because this was a fair "pasture" and the sticker had a sheepdog looking over a herd of sheep on it. But it proved even more true when we got to the pens of sheep. The "adultas" were in one area, while younger, though sadly not baby sheep, we in another area.
We found Nancy by the judging stations - turns out she got wrangled into actually being a judge. So she was sampling even more cheese than we were! We said our brief hellos, then went to wander the next alley.
A campfire smell brought us to a demonstration on cheese making. A pot, which could have been over the fire earlier (it was hot, so probably) was filled with a mash that was molded, put in cheesecloth, and pressed with a wooden head "powered" by boulders.
This fair took over the main square of the town, and off another branch we heard a microphone and a countdown. We edged our way over to find a sheep shearing competition! Four guys, with cut-off sleeves and more piercings and tattoos that I would expect, grabbed a sheep, flipped it, trapped its head between their legs, and sheared away.
The competition went on for over five minutes, as sheep after sheep was let out of the pen. Luis won at the end, ahead of the final place by nearly a whole sheep. It was impressive.
We wandered down the next alley of sweets, eventually trying a chocolate magdelene, which was basically a muffin with some chocolate in the middle, but was a little too dry to be enjoyable.
The food that was enjoyable, though, was the talo. A cornmeal dough was patted into circles, then cooked on a big griddle and filled with delicious options like cheese (of course), pancetta, and a mini-sausage called txistorra.
They were amazing, and a delicious lunch. Fairs always have good food.
Also, there were dogs. We were in the foothills of the Pyrenees, so there was what might have been a Pyrenees mountain dog (though it looked a little more Burmese). There were some other cute breeds. And puppies.
It was beautiful and sunny, so we decided to go back and hit the beach.
Sadly, those mountains I mentioned changed the weather significantly. It was grey and maybe 80 degrees when we got back to San Sebastián. But, gosh darnit, we were going to go to the beach!
We put swimsuits on, but I never took my dress off. Rosie made a valiant effort and was down to her suit, but after an hour of sleeping and reading on the sand, the wind was getting chilly and the skies were just as grey as when we started. So we called it quits.
Rosie was ready for her post-siesta espresso, and I was open to a pastry for my afternoon treat. We walk into a cafe and find it - churros and chocolate!
I had been (probably wrongly) informed that churros and chocolate were a post-bar snack, but we haven't been able to find it except when we don't want it. Now, now was the perfect opportunity. And I was so happy.
Going to say, the chocolate was a rich, milky chocolate, not the melted chocolate I was expecting. (They had just filled the machine was milk but not chocolate when we walked in.) But the experience was had and I am hoping that next time it is even better. If there is a next time.
It had started to rain, so we went back to Nat's to ask for an umbrella and a place to go out and meet people. She ended up inviting us out with her and her friends for some drinks! We met them at the bar - watching a bit of soccer and sipping our sangria while we waited. Augustine and Maria, her two friends, were great, and Augustine knew English pretty well, so we were able to chat as well.
Rosie asked about dancing, and it turns out the bar we were in turns into a club in Sunday nights. (Potentially every night, but that part was lost in translation.) We had a few hours before that, so we decided to grab some pintxos before changing and meeting them back out.
We basically followed the same trail as last night - shrimp kebabs and spider crab dip, switching up mushrooms and a seafood tartlet instead of anchovy tempura, beef cheeks instead of risotto, and maybe another dish we've lost the memory of. The trick of asking for "un crianza" instead of "tinto vino" has given us much better wine to sip as we eat.
So back to the house, changed into dancing clothes, then waiting until around 11 when we were supposed to leave and head to the bar, with Nat following us shortly thereafter.
We got some "vodka y límon"s (a carbonated lemon drink) and sat while the bar got more and more club-y, and people slowly trickled in. Nat showed up, took us to her friends, and then we all went back to dance.
It was a great night - the bar was full of chefs and other service workers on their night off. A certain Santiago took a liking to me (and could speak English), so I had a dancing partner whenever I wanted.
We had decided to finish our night in a discotheque Augustine knew down the street, but they were charging cover. So it was back to the bar, where her friend the bartender wrote us a note to get in for free! I should've taken a picture of it, but it was something like "Hello. Please let these three ladies in. Thank you." But it worked and we finished the night off dancing in a basement club in San Sebastián. Not bad for a cloudy, rainy beach day.
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