Lekeitio, Bizkaia, España

On Saturday, Marta and I left the land of 'muchas gracias' and entered the land of 'eskerrik asko' in Lekeitio. Lekeitio is a small fishing village on the coast about an hour from Bilbao and is truly Basque. Basque separatism was very noticeable here and 'non da Jon?' was written all over the place which means 'where is Jon?' in Basque. I'm not sure, but I think this has to do with the protest from families that have ETA sons in jail in France and southern Spain. The Spanish government has placed offenders from the ETA in jail far from their families even though the law clearly states they are to be in the jail closest to their families. Basques strongly disagree with this as it should be the offenders that should be punished in jail, not the families of the offenders who wish to visit them (not to mention that offenders from other parts of Spain who have committed the same crimes aren't subjected to this same banishment). Another possibility is it could have to do with the recent overthrow of the basque political party by the 'puta españoles' or the 'fucking spanish'. In a recent election, the basque political party won the seat of president of the Basque Country (of course), but then, the liberal and conservative Spanish parties that were also running for the seat, conglomerated into one party after losing the election as seperate entities to claim a higher percentage of the votes (by a very small margin) and create a spanish government in the Basque Country. So now, my neighbor, Francisco Lopez is the president of the Autonomous Basque country. This is very negative to the Basque's as it threatens the future of the Basque language. Recent (well not that recent) spanish government in the Basque country (Franco) implemented genocide and that's the reason spanish is so widely spoken in this region today. And now the new government threatens Basque schools claiming that introducing spanish into these schools is to 'live in harmony' as Franco's government had said in its time. The interesting part, is the liberal and conservatice parties that have joined as one in the Basque country are at each others throats in Madrid and the rest of Spain. But enough with the political rant, and back to Lekeitio.

Marta and I arrived late after having many problems with our transportation. First, we tried to catch the bus from Abando, but realized the internet had led us astray and the bus didn't leave from Abando station, so we made our way to Zabalburu to catch the next bus an hour later. Once on that bus, we got delayed as there was a large accident in one of the highway tunnels. The police told the bus driver to go another way, but it wouldn't have got us to Lekeitio or to the other stop we were suppose to make, so the bus driver gets out of the bus (leaving it on the edge of the scariest cliff) to argue with the police. Finally, we got to pass, but only after the bus driver did some crazy 8 point turn on this narrow road with a 500ft drop beside it. Marta and I thought we would never make it to Lekeitio, and said it better be worth it! But, as it turned out it was! The beaches were beautiful, the island was interesting, and the water was a great temperature! I also got to see 'the most impressive church in the Basque Country' - The Assumption of Santa Maria of Lekeitio which had flying buttresses.

We had lunch in an ETA restaurant called Batzokia which was delicious. We had lasagna, Dorata (a typical Basque fish), and selva negra (delicious chocolate-type cake) for desert. Also, in the evening we discovered an amazing open-air bar on the top of a cliff surrounding by nothing but beautiful views. The bartender and owner of the shack-bar was crazy but truly hilarious. He had pictures of Charlie Chaplin and Humphrey Bogart on his wall, and we got into a long discussion (in spanish) about whether or not one of them was better. In the end we agreed that if both were books, reading Charlie Chaplin would be preferable, but Humphrey Bogart was still Humphrey Bogart. During this conversation he made us the world's best mojitos! So Marta and I enjoyed the views with a couple mojitos and could've stayed there forever.

When we got back to Bilbao, I discovered that I had locked myself out my flat, and both of my roomies were two hours away. So, I spent the night with Marta and her hilarious family. They were kind enough to lend me some pajamas and give me a toothbrush, and feed me a delicious lunch the next day. However, the experience was surreal. I haven't lived with parents in five years, so when Marta's mom barged into Marta's room to get us out of out tiny twin beds in the morning even though we didn't get home until 4:30 am, I was quickly reminded of being a teenager all over again. So strange. Lekeitio was fabulous but everything that surrounded it was what Marta and I referred to as 'Que disastre!' But Marta and I had fun through all of the mishaps, nonetheless.

Hasta la proximá vez,

Kathlene