Last days in La Corunha

1) I am drawn to ruins. Decay! I found these along the road to the Portinho, which is a bus ride and a hike from A Corunha.
2) The view of the Portinho from the Parque de Bens.
3) Hydrangeas grow everywhere in Galicia!
4) Look how clear the water is! This is where I met Scuba Diver Jose.
5) From right to left: Mirela, Guillermo, and Son of Mirela and Guillermo. Without their help, I would have been utterly lost at the lonja.
6) Preparations for the Noche de San Juan! These piles of wood popped up on all of the beaches.
7) Grilled sardines, the traditional dish on the Noche de San Juan. They are salty and delicious. I may have seen these very same fish being sold in the morning!
8) The streets were packed with soon-to-be sardine devourers waiting in line for the grilled fish.
9) Sylvia and I are holding special herbs that women are supposed to soak in water overnight as part of the festival. If you wash your face with the water the following morning, you are beautiful for the rest of the year! Unfortunately, I left my bundle of herbs in Sylvia's bag, and I never wash my face in the mornings anyway. I'll probably be dirty for the rest of the year instead of beautiful.
10) Crowds on the beach on the Noche de San Juan!
11) Left to right: Marta, Juan, Sylvia, Antonio, and Puri. Julia was with us, but she is out cold in her stroller behind Juan.
13) FIRE.
14) FIRE and THRONGS.

Views, fish sales, and ancient stone buildings (La Corunha, Spain -- also Baronha and Corrubedo)

This time they're in chronological order! I win!

1) A Corunha from the Monte de San Pedro.
2) Chocolate con churros -- delicious and, as a bonus, chock-full of vitamins and minerals. Low in calories and cholesterol. All natural. Meal of champions.
3) Octopus is a delicacy here. (But they're so intelligent!)
4) I've forgotten what these fish are called, but see how many of them there are! There were . . . mmm . . . about forty or fifty times this many crates in total. + or - twenty times (counting is a skill I never quite mastered).
5) A big ray.
6) A beast.
7) Sharks.
8) A fish auction!
9) The sun rises at the docks.
10) The Celtic village -- do you see the circles of rocks? This is either from the fourth century (says Juan) or 2000-2500 years old (says Simon).
11) Sylvia and Juan! And Julia!
12) Starfish death.
13) Okay, I'll move in.
14) Simon and Almudena!
15) Very natural pose in front of a 6000-year-old tomb marker.
16) Juan pushes Julia through the sand -- this should be an Olympic sport.
17) Praia de Ladeira near Corrubedo.
18) The view from the Mirador de la Curota.

Ships and stones in A Corunha

Well. I can't figure out how to format these photos, or maybe it's just that my computer screen is too small. If they look all crowded to you, too, pretend it's a matching game! Oh boy!!!

10) A congrio -- mmmmmm.


9) One of the "day boats" (which leave at 4:00 am and arrive at 10:30/11:00 am) pulls into the Lonja, where people buy fresh fish.


8) Fishing storage garages. Multiply this scene by twenty or so and you have the entire fishing dock.


7) In this photo you can see the nets on Fran's boat!


6) The navigational system on Fran's boat! These are routes to get in and out of the A Corunha port.


5) Where fish are cleaned in Fran's boat!


4) One of the most beautiful corners of the city. There are two monuments here -- the rounded stones are just for "Celtic" influence (the man who told me used quotation marks), and what I called "Baby Stonehenge" in the written blog is a memorial for the people who were executed on this hill during the Franco dictatorship.


3) Empty recreational watercraft docks.


2) A boat!


1) Beach maximum density law.

Goodbyes are difficult

I flatter myself by pretending that this means that my cat Vega will miss me. Really she just has a smelly shoe fetish.

Is this face ready to travel the world for a year?

This is the photo on my Watson ID -- the before picture. By the end of the year, my face will be caked in a one-inch layer of dirt, because I won't be showering at all during my travels. Just kidding. But who knows what the after picture will look like?!