Basque Country Journey, July 2005

For four days I´ve been on a solo journey through Basque country, my only companion a 125 CC Yamaha scooter.  That, and a small backpack containing a pair of jeans, sandals , a toothbrush, three clean shirts, a lighter, socks, and that´s it! 

I started on Friday afternoon with no maps, no books, just a general idea that when I drive I want to go south from Biarritz in France, across the Spanish border at Irun, between the towering Pyrennes, and out of the valley into the booming coastal city of San Sebastian (Donostia).  After weeks of sightseeing myriad ruins, Gothic churches, Victorian residences, Neoclassical government buildings, I feel city weary.  I just want to light out for the west and let the wind blow through my hair and not know where ´m going next and watch the sun´s dappled rays gleam in a natural amphitheater of land and sea.  And so I leave glitzy and touristy Biarritz behind and take the country roads, the small, windy dusty ones that twist and turn and frustrate and surprise.  Going faster and faster and the sun beats down and I race around roundabouts and over bridges, through seaside towns and hillside towns, stopping to take pictures and smile and enjoy the sights or to have a drink or some chocolate, and then on and on.

Just past the Spanish border the Pyrennes rise to their full majestic splendor and I accidentally merge onto a two lane autopista going right through the middle of the mountains at 80 KM an hour with the wind coming at my face inside the wind tunnel.  Exhilirating and Jesus, this is frightening but fun!  Up the mountain passes and then descending to the mines and industries of east Donostia, past the
 Port and in through the back door into one of the most culturally exciting cities in the world, San Sebastian, the pride of the locals who call themselves, with good reason, the luckiest people in Spain.

I have no plans for accommodation so I follow the river down to the city center (best way to find your way around any European city center) and criss cross the beach front high-rises as the streets absolutely bustle with backpackers, vacationing Spaniards, grungy Australians, middle class French, and of course, anyone and everyone who has just escaped a week´s bull running festivities in Pamplona to detox and relax and soak in the sol just down the mountain way.  Accommodation will probably be scarce and expensive, so I take advantage of my motorability and jet through town, up into the mountains until I find a seaside pension fifteen minutes from the city for thirty five euros.  Great!  I collapse in a heap in my room, exhausted by my hours of riding.  Awake at ten pm and I jet past the crescent-sand beaches to la ciudad vieja, the cobblestone walking district of San Sebastian that is surrounded on three sides by a surfing beach, a harbor, and a docile bay.  

The streets are bustling!  and I´m alone and I feel a little sad, but, c'est la vie, I must make some friends.  I smile at strangers and ask inane questions about the time or where I am or where might I go, and what´s that, there´s a free reggae concert tonight, and you´re going?  Sure I´ll come.

Turns out, this show is amazing.  Some three thousand young, cool, liberal, alternative, rastafarian Spaniards are converging on a plaza in the middle of the city to celebrate the barrio Gros.  It´s a ten piece Spanish band with three African frontmen from Nigeria, and they absolutely rock for four hours of dancehall and laughing and drinking red wine mixed with coca cola to mask the taste.  Everybody is friendly and happy and the 18th century beige buildings tower majestically around the plaza, and then what, you´re American?  Me too.  And you´re fromCharleston, South Carolina?  My college roommate comes from. .. you know Taylor?  (His name is John Cleveland, Taylor-you know
him?).The world is shrinking, and on a day I spent mostly alone I end up with lots of new friends dancing to reggae in a new city at three in the morning, and down to the beach to watch the sunrise!

Serendipity.  Solitude and loneliness aren´t the same thing.  And loneliness isn´t intrinsically anything- I´s just an opportunity to meet great new people!

So this unexpected and happy European sojourn comes to an end tonight.  I return to my family and my home in California, and this trip becomes some subtle and important piece of the emerging portrait of me.