Oviedo

The first time back...

February 25-27

The Drive

We decided it was about time to get back to Oviedo. We were waiting to find a place to stay for a weekend. We have a few contacts there still and we know that one of them would come through sometime, and sure enough, Blake’s host mom offered her place first. We were going to stay with Doris and her Husband Manolo, their cat Miki and their new student Samantha. We were curious about renting a car, and it was a good thing we looked into it because we found a great deal. We got a car, payed for gas and tolls, and it cost about the same amount as two round trip bus tickets. And, it was so much fun. We got a Ford Fiesta. In the photo, it looked like a brand new one, but we soon found out that is just marketing and we ended up with the decade old version. No problem, should have been expected actually.

We picked it up and got gas (because it comes without gas) and we were on our way. We had few problems getting on the right path north. Our directions that we printed off last minute from Google were alright with highways, but not good in the cities we would soon find out. The drive started out pretty flat until we found ourselves on a very curvy road that we later found out was a different path than the directions were actually telling us. We went through some nice small towns though and followed signs and had no problem getting back to the main road. We stopped a few times to look at nice views and to take in the fresh air outside of Madrid. The tolls of over 10 euro got a little pricy, but overall the trip was still really cheap.

When the land turned from flat to extremely huge mountains, we knew we were coming into Asturias. Once in the mountains, every direction we looked was even more spectacular than the view before, I got nervous when I knew Blake (the pilot) was looking too and there would be tight curves ahead(she had no need to worry! –B). We got really excited when we started seeing signs for Oviedo ahead. We made it. We followed the directions right into Oviedo, then…we got lost. We sort of knew where we were but we only knew how to get where we were going by walking. Driving is a little more difficult because of the one way streets that wind around the city in circles and crazy directions. We got so turned around on one of the round-abouts, we accidentally got back on the highway the other direction and had to go miles to get turned around. When we got back into the city again it took us another good hour to get where we could have walked in 10 minutes. That was frustrating. We were tired and hungry and most of all just wanted to plant our feet on Asturian ground.

Reuniting

Well we finally found our way to Doris’ apartment. We parked illegally and hurried with our things upstairs, said a quick hello and left again to go park immediately because the fines for parking are more than we could afford. We had to go park in a mall parking lot a few blocks away, it seemed to be the only option. It was no problem because we wouldn’t need the car until we went back home.

We finally got back to Doris’s and I was introduced to her, her husband Manolo, new student Samantha, and Miki the cat. They were so nice, and of course they really loved Blake, so they were really happy to have us.

We chatted for a while, Doris cut up some Iberian ham, and Manchego cheese, and bread and Blake didn’t hesitate to dig in as if he was still living there. After we were satisfied and had caught up with our stories, we wanted to get out and enjoy the sun and play ping pong, so we headed out. It must have been fate that we stopped and got our ping pong friend Ron Vencedor and Coke and spared just the right amount of time strolling through the streets that when we ended up at my old apartment complex to try to figure out when room number I was in, a familiar voice was calling from behind us. “Caitlin, is that you?” I turned around and standing in front of us was my madre! She saw me cross her path and recognized me. I couldn’t believe it. She looked really different. I was half-expecting to run into her walking her dog Chispa, but I was looking for a different person. Before she had short red hair, it must have been dyed. Now she had new glasses and shoulder length beautiful grey hair.

She invited us up for a coffee. Right away Chispa greeted me at the door and didn’t even bark. She must have remembered me. We sat down and talked about all that had happened since I lived there 3 years ago. She was sweet as always and invited us to come back on Sunday for some homemade Austurian Fabada and more time together.

We left with looks of disbelief on our faces and headed to Parque San Fransisco.

Caitlin

Ping-Pong and Peacocks

As we strolled into the park the familiar meow of the Pavo Real (Peacock) let us know we were home. We took the same path that I took so many times before to meet the guys to play ping-pong night after night. As Caitlin and I meandered down the path, we couldn’t stop smiling as we reminisced on all the fond memories we’d had in the park. I know I’ll say this again but it felt surreal to be back in Oviedo together. Paddles in hand and Ron and Coke following close behind, we claimed one of our old tables and set up shop. Before we started playing, we of course had a wonderful time taking pictures as we posed on and in front of the table. After the photo session, we let the games commence. P-I-N-G. I won’t go into detail about the games but I will say this. Caitlin certainly has gotten better since our last game in Oviedo. She even came close to beating me one game. But not quite… In between games we sat on the table and observed everything around us. Everything still seemed as it was before; teenage lovers getting hot and heavy on the park benches, old couples walking slowly down the paths, dogs chasing dogs and the entertaining sounds of people playing ping-pong. What a fantastic place. When it was time to head back home for dinner, we walked slowly, opening our senses to take in everything and to let our minds remember all the times spent there before.

By the time we got back to the piso (apartment) we were feeling really good and dinner was ready. We all gathered around the table in the kitchen and made jokes about my old chair, which was now Samantha’s chair. She was even kind enough to offer it to me, perhaps because of how much I was talking about it. I told her though it was her chair now and that she should sit there. Doris made us chicken in a savory sauce with potatoes garnished with red peppers. It was delicious and the chicken was tremendously tender. I ate so much. Then Doris offered me more (just like old times) and ate that as well. I got a kick out of watching Caitlin and Samantha sweating from the amount of food they’d eaten and how much was still being dished on to their plates. Even though I was equally as full, I enjoyed stuffing myself with still more food as the plate of delicious ham and cheeses were brought out. Then I had dessert. Aside from the food we enjoyed, we also had wonderful conversation with Manolo and Doris. I figured this was my opportunity to correct all of the false information that I had mistakenly given them at the beginning of my last stay with them. I explained that my Spanish was pretty poor the last time I stayed with them so I made sure to modify previous information given. I think my favorite part of dinner though was talking with Manolo and understanding his jokes. He is the funniest Spanish man I know. I knew he was funny before but now I know why he is funny because I understood his jokes. I shocked him a bit as well when came back with a few jokes of my own.

After dinner, Caitlin and I went for an evening stroll and wound up in Gasgona, the street filled with Sidraias. We walked up and down the street to find a nice table outside but after a few rounds we settled on a table inside. While we waited for our server to come, our stuffed bellies made us sleepier and sleepier. We got our sidra and found it just as we remembered…really not that good. Its more of the experience anyway.

The next day slept in, which was probably a good thing because the morning was cloudy and rainy, a typical Oviedo day. Once we got moving around 10ish, Doris had our breakfast all ready for us and was eager to hear what we had planned for the day. We didn’t have much to tell her because our plans were to just wander that day. When we finished breakfast we headed out to do just that. Wander. It was a great day. We wandered down old paths we used to take and even discovered some new ones. We stopped by the Cathedral and took pictures and felt like tourists of our old home. It was really nice.

Blake

The Good Stuff

When we began losing energy we went back for lunch, this is the really nice part about visiting host families. There was an awesome chicken paella waiting for us and following that, we made chocolate chip cookies with the chocolate chips and Crisco that Pam sent us for Christmas! They were not quite as good as hers, and some ingredients were pretty different, but they were tasty. After we were full to the brim we took a nice long siesta. When we woke up, we went to find food again since it was already night. We ate a light dinner at Yuppy (sort of like a hip Village Inn I would say), and then met up with Luna in one of the main plazas. She lead us to where Paula and Ruben (Paulas boyfriend) were. We enjoyed the 1 euro house wine which surely can not be found in Madrid; maybe that is why we don’t go out anymore… Time passed quickly as we caught up, and shared memories together, talked about how our group was so great compared to others, learned a little about caves from Ruben, the caveman (literally, he is an expert on them), AND got invited to come back to Oviedo to go hiking two weeks later! We of course took them up on the offer as you see later. I was getting tired, being the party-pooper that I usually am, needed to go to bed soon. We departed around 2:30 am and walked by the Cathdral and gazed at it for a while. We then began our usual path that we would walk together on after nights on the town in Oviedo (back when Blake was head over heels for me and I had no idea). We stopped at our favorite Irish Pub and our table just happened to open up as we walked inside. We didn’t spend too much time there since I was about to sleep on the table. We made our way down the big hill and found ourselves at the old church (or maybe I was lead there on purpose?)

We talked about the dream we’d been living, how wonderful every part of Oviedo was just like we remembered. It was raining again but it was a nice rain. We talked about life and how we wanted to live poetically and this was how to do it. I had millions of thoughts going through my head, but before I could process them all Blake said my name, which is actually kind of rare, especially when I am was right there. He totally caught me off guard. Then he said we are going to have a really great life together, and I agreed but still thought he might be getting to something. Suddenly he got down on one knee and I really thought I was dreaming. He asked me to marry him, and I said yes, but that whole moment is kind of a blur now and I don’t know exactly how it went. I know I was crying tears of joy and it took a while to notice the ring on my finger, then even longer for me to really notice how beautiful it was. I was so overwhelmed and happy that he didn’t even get a chance to tell me about the ring until we got back to Doris’ probably around 3:30 or 4 am. I was also so tired at that point that I must have fallen asleep straight away because in the morning I had to have him re-tell me about the story of the ring. I will leave him to tell that.

Caitlin

The Ring

Now let me tell you about this special ring that my fiancée now wears on her finger. I’ve actually had this ring for quite some time, waiting for the right moment to pop the question. I had the ring made while I lived in Guatemala last year. While living in Guatemala, I volunteered for an organization called Mercado Global that produced handmade Mayan goods by women living in the small mountain villages. They created goods ranging from textiles to jewelry. The jewelry aspect of their work was what caught my attention after Caitlin visited me there. The jewelry they created was magnificent and much of that was due to the help of an outside consultant who would come in to help with new methods for intricate work with metals. This man was called Ziggy, the wandering artisan. Ziggy is originally from Germany and has spent the last decade or more traveling and selling his jewelry throughout the Americas. After Caitlin’s visit, I knew Ziggy was the guy who could help me create an extraordinary ring. One day after Ziggy stopped by the office to share some ideas I pulled him aside and asked if he’d be willing to help me on this project. He said he would be honored and asked if I’d meet him the next day to go over the details and so I could share my ideas with him. The following day we met at his favorite restaurant for lunch. We ordered our food and chatted about the problems in Guatemala, the world and the issues that make volunteering challenging. We didn’t start talking about the ring until after we ate and gave his dog the scraps. It drove me crazy waiting so long to start conversing about the ring, but I think he wanted to get to know me better first. Either way, we began discussing my ideas that I had and my hopes for what the ring would signify. I had so many ideas and things that I wanted in the ring it was a challenge to find a way to make them into something so small. We didn’t figure out all the details at that point, but we did get down the basics that needed to be taken care of straight away. He had to track down the gold, the silver and most importantly the perfect stone of purple jade. Purple jade is a very unique stone to Guatemala. It is not commonly found anywhere outside of Guatemala and has great significance to the Mayan culture. It is strong and long lasting. It was used for armor and weaponry during the Mayan civilization. It was also used for the arts. It is a beautiful stone and was highly regarded and treasured by the Mayan people. Strength and beauty, a wonderful combination. So Ziggy went on the hunt for the materials. The silver he didn’t have much problem finding, but the gold and the stone were more challenging. Gold was hard to come by in Guatemala at the time and while there is purple jade around, it is difficult to find a stone with great clarity. For the stone, he knew he would need to visit a friend in Antigua, a town 2.5 hours away. Slowly but surely Ziggy would come up with more and more of the materials. I would run into him on the street and he would give me a quick update. Often he would show me a small baggy of the gold he’d just traded for. I would tell him “great!” but apparently with a look of skepticism (probably because it didn’t like anything that could be made into a ring) because he would reassure that when he was finished with it the ring would be something beautiful. After a few more meetings and a final decision on the design for the band we were well on our way. The band would use a Celtic design that would combine different elements. It would signify the wind and waves, the flow of the harmonious, emotional, and spiritual movement. The continuous movement of the ocean, with its highs and it lows but never ceasing. He thought he could do that for me, even though he’d never done anything like it before and I said “great.” This time certain that he would be able to do that for me. Now we only needed the stone and the time was now ticking. I only had a week before I was to leave for home. I was really getting worried because the ride he was supposed to catch for Antigua fell through and we had little time to find the stone and for him to use all of those materials to make something brilliant. The next day when I was beginning to panic about the ring, Ziggy called me and told me he was in Antigua, he had randomly ran into another old friend on his way to Antigua and gave him a lift. Fate? Who knows. He was there to find the perfect stone. When he brought it back to show me the next day, it was perfect. Perfect size. Perfect clarity. Everything was perfect. Except that the ring still didn’t resemble anything more than a hodgepodge of raw materials. Ziggy told me not worry and to not call him for two days because he was going to be working on the ring and it was best not to distract him. He said if you stress the artist your art will come on showing that stress. It is best to keep the artist happy and calm. I said, “take all the time you need.” I wanted that ring perfect and if worst came to worst (he didn’t finish the ring before I left) I’d figure something out. But take it as it comes. Two days passed and I got the call from Ziggy. My ring was finished. He said it was beautiful ring. We arranged to meet at La Palapa that night. I was so excited, I ran out to meet up with him. When I met up with him, there was not small talk before getting to the ring. He was just as excited as I was to bring out the ring. He took it out in a box and opened it up to reveal the most fantastic ring I’d seen. It was everything that I’d wanted and more. I just hoped that Caitlin would like it too and say yes to my question! The entire next day (and for the next year as it turned out!) I would open the box and imagine would it would look like on her finger. I now get to see it on her finger everyday – and it looks brilliant. Did I mention that I guessed the size by secretly putting Caitlin’s other rings on my pinky finger and memorized how far down my finger they went? And, I did well, it could not fit more perfect.

All Smiles

Now back to Oviedo, the next day we told Doris at breakfast about our recent news. She wasn’t surprised at all. Not that she knew it was coming, she just didn’t understand that it was a big deal. She said, “you are already in love, aren’t you?” We replied, “yes, course.” And she said that’s all that really matters. She was still happy for us though.

We then went to the market and picked up some flowers to accompany my new fiancée for the photo shoot. We went to the quaint little flea market where there is an abundance of flower stands. It is a beautiful little place. Happy people, strolling without hurry, everyone enjoying the day and the warm sunshine. We bought some bright and fragrant yellow Mimosas. Everything was beautiful. Flowers, ring, and, of course, Caitlin! The photo shoot came next. I took pictures of Caitlin in all of our old spots we used to enjoy together. It was a really nice day. I also couldn’t get enough of seeing my FIANCEE! I also loved saying it. I still do.

After the photos, we meandered over to Caitlin’s madre’s apartment for lunch. We told her the news before the delicious meal of Fabada she prepared for us. She was elated. She was so happy for us. Over the fabada we talked about our future plans and the unknown and we drifted into conversation about art and the art that hung on her walls. She had actually painted all the things on her walls. Caitlin was so impressed and said how much Caitlin loved the painting that hung just outside her old room. She told of how she’d always admire it each day as she came into her room. Caitlin’s madre then said, “Oh, you like that one? Why don’t you take it. It will be your first wedding gift.” We couldn’t believe it. We literally took the painting off the wall and wrapped it up. Our first wedding gift! What a great gift. After teary good byes and much thanks for a great time together, we parted ways and headed back to Doris’. There we hurriedly packed the car with our bags, food, flowers, and our new painting. We said goodbye to Doris and were off back towards Madrid as a newly engaged couple. Bellies full and smiling ear to ear, we couldn’t but bask in the thoughts of probably the best weekend we’d ever had.

Blake

Oveido. Again…(this might be more brief) March 11-13

The entire next two weeks we devoted much of our free time to telling as many people as we could the good news, “We’re getting married!” It was a lot of fun, and we were happy that everyone was very excited, especially those who have known it was going to happen for almost a year! I can’t believe Blake had the ring so long, but it was worth it to wait for such a perfect place.

Two weekends after we were in Oviedo, we decided to go back. I am going to stop saying “our old coordinators”… our friends, Paula and Luna, invited us to go on a hiking excursion with the new students from UNI in Oviedo. This time we took a bus and we stayed with Paula.

When we got there we were tired. We went out for less than an hour and before we knew it, we were back in bed sleeping. The next day we got up as early as we could to take pictures, but we were so slow going, by the time we got to the places we wanted to be, (the proposal spot) the sun was blinding. We had no other chance however, so we set up our mini tripod and took our own engagement pictures! They turned out really good except for a little squinting and bright faces.

When we were satisfied with our photoshoot, we hoped over to the bus station and took the 20 minute trip to Gijon. It was cold and windy but the sun warmed us up. We found our common supplies for Pina Coladas that we would drink on that same beach 3 years ago. It took us quite a while to orient ourselves to the correct direction of the water, but we made it. The beach was barren, save for a few sunbathers, their 2 yorkies, and a man doing an intense beach workout in the frigid waters. When we came back to Paula’s we had plans to go out to meet Luna for Chinese food, but I didn’t feel well so we just made some pasta there, then picked up some food for the hike and went to bed early.

Hiking and Carnival

The next day was excursion day. We packed up, bought some empanadas for breakfast and bread for bocadillos later. Paula and her boyfriend took us to the University where we would always meet for our excursions, and all of the University of Northern Iowa students began showing up. We began to feel so much older and wiser all of a sudden, I don’t know what it was. We all piled on a bus and were off to the mountains. We got off to unload our packs and costumes (for later) at the Albergue and got back on the bus. They took us through mountain villages to the other side of the mountain and dropped us off. One girl actually said she was not prepared to go hiking and she only came to stay at the inn. Everyone just started walking because clearly there was no other way to get around the mountain, and if she was that ignorant to not figure out what we were doing she deserved to hike with the rest of us. I would have preferred that she would have taken the bus back however, just to avoid listening to the constant complaining.

The air was cool, a little misty, and sunny at times; perfect for hiking. We didn’t get started very well, as we immediately lost the path and started trekking straight up the mountain through thorn bushes. This part was not fun... Then we got up high enough to see the trail below. We slid down slowly and were finally on ground that we could walk on with bleeding ankles and thorns in our pants.

It seemed like we walked uphill for ages..well we did. When we got as far as we could go up, we began the trek down. This was the hard part. There was so much mud that if you didn’t have feet like a cat to jump and balance on little rocks, you sank your feet in the sticky mud and got caked. We passed back through all of those little mountain villages again; they were so beautiful, but we ended up pick two dogs up along the way… oh yeah, that is why I really didn’t like that girl. She was feeding the dogs and petting them for the last five and a half hours of the hike, and by then those dogs were plenty lost.

It was nice to fill our bottles up in fresh springs, and eat our lunch at a sunny spot with some tables that we found. The entire hike took around 7 hours. Blake and I trailed at the end to take pictures and avoid uninteresting conversation about clubbing, electronic music, and things of the sort. It seemed to us that our group was either very different than this one, or we have really changed.

We got back to the Alburgue and rested a while then a had a huge homemade dinner cooked by the owners. We then got on our costumes, put on some music and had some fun dancing. Blake and I felt even older at this point, as we soon realized that we were totally out of this new party scene, didn’t like the loud hip-hop music, and were ready for bed hours before everyone else. We also felt REALLY bad for those two dogs outside, now tied up with no shelter until the owners could be found and it was cold and raining outside. At this point that girl that lead the dogs here was enjoying her time at the party a little more that she had concern for whatever happened to them.

Well we did try to go to bed as well as some of the other girls did on the bunk beds that each had one blanket and no sheets. We were lucky we brought sleeping bags. The thumping bass and screaming of awful lyrics were below us and didn’t stop for what seemed to be hours and hours. Not much happened the following morning, everyone woke up late and we had some toast biscuits and jam for breakfast. We tried to figure out exactly on the path where the dogs’ homes were and explained to the hosts so they could get them back to their proper owners. This was not going to be an easy task for them we knew, and yet that girl still had no sense of caring one bit.

We were back on our way to Oviedo by 1:00 pm. The bus driver took us straight to the station and we made our way back to Madrid

Caitlin