The perfect Spanish senorita is ... Brazilian??!?!

Trip Start Aug 20, 2009

Trip End Sep 14, 2009

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Where I stayed

Pension Australia

(Oviedo hotels)

Flag of Spain and Canary Islands Oviedo, Asturias, Spain and Canary Islands
Sunday, August 23, 2009

I really like the pension I've been staying at, Pension Roma - very comfortable and feels homey, kind of like your grandma's house, and the location can't be beat, only steps from all the action in the old town. I said goodbye and was off to the bus station - the first bus to Oviedo was sold out. I should have bought my ticket yesterday, as the later bus ended up being quite a bit more expensive. I finished off the last of the 3-pack of Canary Juice I bought the other day, and wandered over to a cafe for breakfast.

With time to kill after, I wandered around but almost everything was closed, being a Sunday. I picked up some lunch for the ride to Oviedo before walking back to the station. I'm a bit sad to be leaving La Coruna, as it was the perfect re-introduction to Spain. La Coruna is nicknamed the "Crystal City" - a reference to the sunlight shimmering off of the ocean and reflecting on the buildings

. It's an apt name, and is quite a beautiful sight.

Various people have asked numerous times in the past "What do these beautiful Spanish senoritas you speak of look like, and what exactly makes them so beautiful?" Well, at the station today was what I would consider to be the perfect example of that natural Spanish beauty, and demure aura I always rave about.

The cutest, sweetest, most petite little brunette you could imagine ... a little shy, very reserved, and with those indescribable Spanish mannerisms (something I've dubbed "Spannerisms") that make you weak in the knees.  An infectious smile always on her face, one that radiates outwards from her eyes and lights up the room (the Spanish seem to have mastered the art of smiling with their eyes, and not just their mouths) ... plus, this girl had something you don't normally see in a Spanish senorita - the most beautiful green eyes you could imagine. Dark hair and green or blue eyes ... always a stunning contrast.  The Crystal City may be beautiful, but it had nothing on this girl's eyes.

And the voice ... so kind, so gentle ... this is the ideal image in my mind of the Spanish senorita

. The only thing was ... she was Brazilian! Definitely not expecting that. I didn't even notice until she told me, but there was a Portuguese tinge to her Spanish. Perhaps I didn't notice at first since this is Galicia after all, where the local language is a mix of Spanish and Portuguese.  After that, I further noticed that she used a very soft 'Z' pronouncing her 'C's, neither lispy like in Spanish, nor as hard as in English.  It was VERY sexy how she pronounced diciembre (Spanish for December) ... don't ask me how or why I notice these things, I just do ...

I've heard Spanish spoken with a Brazilian Portuguese accent the odd time before, but didn't realize it could be that beautiful. Perhaps it was because it was that specific mixture of Brazilian Portuguese and the Spanish from Spain.  Patricia has always told me I need to visit Brazil ... I think I should finally take her advice!

On to the bus, where the plan today was to execute the 3 P's - pop in my iPod, plop down on the seat, and pass out! But not today, as the road to Oviedo was extremely tight and twisty, making it impossible to sleep as I flopped about in my seat. Plus, there was quite a pleasant distraction on board ...

The reason this bus was more expensive was because it was a luxury class coach

. It was definitely worth the money - not because of the large plush seats, or the included lunch, or the included drinks. It was worth the extra money for the luxury of seeing Maria, the bus attendant, walk up and down the aisle. It was almost like watching a fashion show for the duration of the 4-5 hour ride to Oviedo. If there's one thing the Spanish have mastered, it's the sexy librarian/secretary look. In fact, they're probably the ones who invented the look!

I have developed numerous fetishes after all these visits to Spain - I've now got a thing for Spanish hotel receptionists, flight attendants, bus attendants, grocery store cashiers, department store salesgirls, museum security guards, waitresses, lawyers, cheese ladies, and even fish gutters. And believe me, none of that previous sentence was a joke - I could even tell you exactly where in Spain (or in the case of the fish gutter, Bergen, Norway) to find the most beautiful of each of the above!

I've grown to love long bus rides like this, not just because of the beautiful bus attendants, but because mindlessly staring out the window at the passing landscape can be quite a therapeutic experience. It's almost like thinking without realizing it, where thoughts are resolved on a deeper, subconscious level. Something troublesome weighing on your mind can almost disappear by itself, with no conscious effort on your part to deal with the issue. It's quite strange how it all works ... but it somehow does.

Oviedo is a city in Asturias, a region of Spain not as popular with foreign tourists as the standard Madrid, Andalucia, Barcelona loop

. In recent years, Oviedo has become famous for being the home of Fernando Alonso, 2-time Formula One world champion. Thinking of this as I arrived made me wonder - how difficult must it be for a Spaniard to achieve greatness, with the women providing such a distraction? Imagine how good Alonso would be if he was NOT from Spain?  Ahhh ... Spanish women ... I imagine they've inspired countless artists, musicians, and poets to create beautiful works. They've also inspired me, but unfortunately, all I've ever produced are stupid travel blogs and dumb invented words like Spannerisms ...

I arrived and checked into Pension Australia, run by a nice old lady, and which offered a bonus - there is free laundry, which she actually does for you. Again, the place was a little like staying at granny's house.  I paused briefly on the pedestrian street outside of the pension when I first arrived, looking for the building numbers, and a guy immediately stopped to ask if I was lost. So far, the people of Oviedo have been just as friendly as those from La Coruna. I hope this trend continues for the rest of the trip.

Off for a walk - Oviedo was quite hot today, but luckily there is plenty of shade and breeze to keep things cool. Apparently Oviedo gets over 100 days of fog a year, but not today, as it was unusually sunny

. The architecture of Oviedo is gorgeous - there aren't many sights in town, but the town itself is a vision.

Dinner tonight was at El Cachopito, after which, I was so full ... of mediocre food. Not wanting to sleep on such a full stomach, I did some of that aimless wandering I am so fond of while traveling. Things dramatically cool off here at night, which made for a pleasant stroll. Being a Sunday night it was quite dead, reminding me a lot of a night spent in Tenerife (see blog entry entitled "Sleeping with ghosts" http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/canaries-2007/1199704560/tpod.html)

Aimless wandering can be so liberating ... you don't always seem to know where you are going, or how you'll get there, but somehow you end up where you want, and more importantly, need to be.