salamanca

salamanca is a big change from sleepy santa marta de tormes. as soon as i crossed a roundabout into salamanca proper, i knew i was in a different world.

cars went zooming by instead of leisurely stopping to let me pass at the intersection and as soon as i got closer to the center, the streets were crowded with cars, giant buses and motorbikes weaving in and out of traffic.

i really liked santa marta de tormes, people were nice and everything was within walking distance. the school this morning was 3 minutes from the hotel and i could have walked from the school back to the hotel bar to get my turkey sandwich and yogurt for lunch. but i drove instead

i was starving after the show, so i took the van, ran inside and got my food then ran back to the van and wolfed it down. i’m always starving after shows, so i try to have food ready that i can stuff in my mouth that doesn’t take too much effort to prepare.

but the town was so nice, i loved how close everything was to the hotel and how i could walk everywhere.

but salamanca is a different world. what a different a mile makes.

i had to park about a half a mile from the school to go talk to the teachers and it took me almost as long to find the entrance to the enormous school as it had taken me to find street parking in an urban area.

once i was there, i asked them if someone would be there at 8:30. no. would someone be there at 8:45? no. how about 8:50? maybe.

i’ll take a maybe.

“for sure someone will be here at 9, but at that time, all the parents are unloading their kids so there might not be space.”

“right. well, i have a lot of things to unload. is there a space that i could unload?”

“yes, over there.” the director waved her hand in the general direction of the street outside.

“but sometimes the parents park in the loading zone too.”

“it would really help if someone were here earlier.”

the director and the secretary looked at each other doubtfully. “someone will be here at 9,” the director said, absolutely confident.

i hoped that someone would in fact be there at 8:50 and that there would be space for me to unload. so i smiled and said, “ok.”

she looked at me again, “do you have a lot of things?”

why else would i be so concerned with loading zones?

“uh, yes, yes i do.” i said, hesitantly.

“you have to go up to the 3rd floor,” she said.

“is there an elevator?” i said, but i knew the answer to that.

“no, but we can get some boys to help you, we have some strong older boys that can carry things.” she said proudly.

i smiled a forced smile. “great,” i thought, whenever teachers say they’ll get the kids to help me, that means i’m on my own. if they say they’ll help me, that means i there is a 50/50 chance that they will. but when they volunteer the kids, that means, “tough break kid, you’re on your own.”

somehow children always seem to know when adults want them to do something and they choose that exact moment to disappear like the cheshire cat in alice in wonderland, just make themselves invisible.

so i’m not counting on any help up those 3 flights of stairs tomorrow. i’ll just have to make more than 1 trip.

finding the hotel was another challenge. it is on a pedestrian street, but i had to get the van close enough so i could know where it was.

and there it was, down a street filled with tourists and jammed with tables, chairs and umbrellas of outdoor cafes and restaurants.

i came huffing up the street, b/c of course i had the van illegally parked in a no parking zone. but there was no where else to leave it, so i put the caution lights and walked very briskly up the crowded street, trying not to trip over the tourists.

i bounded up the stairs to an indifferent clerk who looked at me cooly and said, “face2face? yes, you don’t have a reservation. some of you colleagues were here last night and they didn’t have a reservation either.”

pant, pant, “what?” i said, panting from my walk/run through obstacle course of tourists with backpacks, old people and waiters carrying trays of beer.

“there is no reservation.”

“well, pant pant, is there space?”

“yes, there is space.”

“pant pant, can i have a room for tonite and tomorrow?”

“yes,”

“is there parking?”

“no.”

“ok, hold the room for me, i am going to go park my car.”

he looked at me calmly and said, “don’t worry”

don’t worry, right. sure, don’t worry, i just nearly ran over some people that i’m not sure were students or tourists, might have my van towed and oh by the way, its 100 degrees outside and you say ‘don’t worry.”

off i drove in search of a public parking lot. there’s one! oh wait, its closed. there’s one! oh wait, i have to turn left and i’m in the far right lane. there’s one! oh wait, its on a one-way street. there’s one! oh wait, its only for that store.

and on it went for about a half hour until i found a lot that was not on a one-way street that i was headed the wrong way to go down, that was really open to the public, and that was in fact open.

in i went, parked the van and headed upstairs. wait, where’s the door? every way i looked said, “exit, no pedestrians”

where is the pedestrian exit? hidden behind a staircase, of course.

once on the street, “where am i? and which way is the hotel?”

i looked around, “hmm, plaza santa eulalia. ok, that’s where the garage is, plaza santa eulalia. remember that: santa eulalia, santa eulalia … ”

when i had to go searching for the garage in the morning, i at least wanted to know where to ask people to go. somehow i thought asking, “excuse, but have you seen my van?” wasn’t going to get me anywhere.

i decided walking down the hill would be the best option for trying to find the hotel. and so it was. at the end of the street, i saw the entrance to the plaza. but it was a very long schlep with all my stuff down the hill and then up the hill into the plaza, and then playing bumper cars again with the tourists who were too busy looking around and pointing at things to look where they were walking.

then, finally, after a 45 minute adventure, i arrived at the hotel, ready to check in.

~~~

so my touristic day in salamanca …

i started by walking down the rua mayor to the cathedral, took some pictures of the facade and then decided i would walk all the way around it, just to see how big it is.

i walked around the wall until i got to a museum, poked my head in and decided that i would come back tomorrow just to have something to do.

i walked farther down ancient stone streets walled in by the characteristic gold-tinted stone until i arrived at the garden of calisto and melibea, lovers from la celestina.

i walked around the garden, enjoying the peace and quiet and panoramic views of the city until the silence was broken by a pack of french teenagers on a school trip.

so i kept walking and walked all the way around until i got to the front of the cathedral, stopped to take some pictures and then went inside.

it was cold. and dark. the outside was prettier, i kept thinking.

then i walked some more and came to the casa de las conchas, an old building covered in stone shells. and then a library, i’m not sure which library, but they were about to close so i went in just to see what it was.

an old stone building. fascinating. next, the plaza mayor. beautiful, but as i tried to take pictures, there was always some dumbass walking into the frame.

there’s always a dumbass. there was a dumbass at the cathedral that kept wandering into my pictures. there were 2 italian women dumbasses outside the cathedral that were too busy taking sexy pictures of themselves wrapped around the stone pillars with the cathedral as a background they didn’t realize they were ruining everyone else’s pictures. there was a herd of french teenage dumbasses at the garden.

there’s always a dumbass.

then i was hungry so i went on a search for a supermarket. 10 blocks later i found one, bought some turkey and cheese and trekked back to the hotel.

there was still a giant line down the street because apparently today is free ice cream day at ben and jerry’s. i’m not exaggerating when i say the line was 3 blocks long.

salamanca is very old and very beautiful, but i don’t think there is much to do other than walk around and look at stuff and stand in line at the ben and jerry’s.

there are a lot of young people here though, i know there are at least 2 universities just in the city center. i know there is more to do than wander around and eat ice cream, but that was my first impression.

there are also a lot of american students here. and french teenagers on field trips. and old german couples. and herds of japanese tourists with gigantic cameras and fishing hats.

it feels like every french teenager and old german couple in the world is in salamanca today. but it will only get more full of tourists.

the center is beautiful though. its full of medieval architecture like the cathedral and university, but the narrow streets are full of cafes and bars and young people sitting outside.

its tourist weather, though. late april, the start of high season. in july it will 10 times as full.

from my balcony i can see the cathedral at dusk and hear the tinking of plates and glasses from the restaurants below, the starlings divebombing bugs from the eaves below the balcony, pigeons, oh the pigeons, roosting above my head, groups of students; each speaking a different language or variations of different accents in spanish; headed out to the bars, tourists going out to eat.

this is a very old city, but a city that is very much alive at the same time. a ben and jerry’s 5 blocks from the cathedral and students with dreadlocks and skateboards blaring pop music from ipods . it always strikes me as odd, yet totally organic, this evolution of old and new in europe.