Galicia day 2!
Trip Start
Aug 26, 2009
1
13
21
Trip End
Dec 16, 2009
Where I stayed
Casa Alvarella, Casa Rural
San Andres de Teixido, Galicia, Spain
Thursday, September 10, 2009
From San Andres de Teixido, we drove to A Garita de Herbeira, the highest cliff in Europe. As we drove up the mountain, we passed wild cows and horses and pretty rolling hills with purple flowers-- I was reminded of the Scottish countryside. However, when we got up to the top, a huge cloud had descended onto the mountain, making it extremely cold, wet, and WINDY! We literally had to bend over double to fight our way across the fields towards the cliff, at which point we realized that A) we were not going to see anything and B) we didn't want to be right over the highest cliff in Europe in gale-force winds. We struggled our way back to the bus, giddy from laughing (and probably having the sense blown out of us) and drove to Cedeira.
In Cedeira, another little Galician town, I went with some friends to find a seafood restaurant, since Galicia is famous for its seafood (especially octopus and shark). I obviously couldn't eat any of the squid, octopi, shark, clams, mussles or shrimp offered to us and stuck to my trusty "ensalada mixta", but the others decided to be adventurous and try the shark. They said it was quite good, and I'm sure it was, but I still think I will be able to live in peace having never eaten shark. After we ate, we went to the beach, where it was low tide in a cove. We were able to walk out really far into the cove without even getting our knees wet, and we saw a delightful (not) assortment of creatures that I'm pretty sure were doomed to be that night's dinner. I was totally grossed out, and I don't even eat those things, but somehow no one else seemed to mind! After the beach, another girl and I went to the bathroom before we got back on the bus, and when we set out for the bus, it was 4:29... and the bus was supposed to leave at 4:30! By now, we have learned to take Nuria's threats of punctuality seriously, and so we started sprinting towards the bus! We saw a few other Duke students sprinting too, and at 4:30.... the bus started to drive away!!! We sped up and started screaming, and obviously the bus stopped and let us on, but now without another lecture on punctuality and the goodliness of her mercy by Nuria.
They then took us to ANOTHER little town that was supposedly having a fiesta of some kind, but when we got there, no one could find the fiesta. We felt a little "small town-ed out", so we just sat in a cafe and got ice cream and coffee, and left for the bus in PLENTY of time.
That night, at the casa rural, we had dinner and then were told to put on gym shoes and go to the rec room for a "queimada". When we got there, we were all gathered around a ceramic cauldron, where the owner of the casa rural proceeded to show us how to make what I can only describe as the Galician version of moonshine. The approximate recipe is: 1 liter of aguardiente (an anise liquor), 2 cups of sugar, lemon peel, orange peel, apple chunks, and 1/2 cup instant coffee. The ingredients are all mixed together in the cauldron and then lit on fire and allowed to burn for about 30 minutes. As it was burning, we all recited the queimada poem, a long speech in gallego, the language of Galicia, inviting in good witches and banishing bad witches. Like I said earlier, Galicia is a land of witches and magic, and standing there in the dark, watching the bright orange liquid burn a bright blue fire, chanting in Gallego... I felt it! We were each given a cup of the queimada, which smelled approximately like the rubbing alcohol you put on cuts, and then were taken in to the rec room, where we were given a lesson in Galician song and dance. No surprises that after a coffee mug full of queimada, everyone was quite enthusiastic about the whole experience!
