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Abiding in a small Spanish town
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The important thing to do today was to try to get some papers done. Bernie had told us that we would first have to go sign up at the town's office to say we now officially lived here. He assured us all we needed was our passports so we woke up early and decided to ask directions from Antonia who was at the supermarket coincidentally. She asked if we were to go walking and when we nodded, she said it was too long a way and too hot to walk. Her father who was just about to go into Cala d'Or would take us.
People here are actually like this. After only one day of meeting us Antonia was already looking after us. Her sweet dad, who spoke little Spanish (people here speak Catalan or "Mallorqui" as they prefer to call it) dropped us off at the office we needed to go to.
Turns out we not only needed our passports, but also the contract of the apartment we were leasing. Of course! How could one possibly make a statement about where we live without actually carrying some document as evidence? The contract was being printed out by the owner of the place so we would have to wait one or two more days.
After a stop at the supermarket we walked the entire way home. It wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't that hot. We were becoming more dehydrated by the second but thankfully the steep roads we were climbing suddenly gave way to the Porto Petro marina.
It was so quiet here compared to the other towns. A few tourists walked down the sidewalk or sat for lunch in the marina restaurants where they serve Paella menus for € 6 or free buffet for € 8. World cup flags were being hung everywhere, and although one would think Spanish flags would be he norm here, German and Dutch flags were what I most saw. This whole island was colonized.
Ed fixed me lunch while I wrote on our beautiful new lappy (a Toshiba Satellite M70 we purchased in Madrid for an extremely good price). We had cold Gazpacho sprinkled with spiced salt, sardines in sunflower oil with warm French bread, Spanish olives stuffed with spicy red pepper, and some ice cold San Miguel beer to go along with it. Couldn't have had a better lunch, and all this for the price of € 4.50.
After the long walk and our lovely Mediterranean lunch on the terrace, we laid down for a short siesta. Given the heat of they day we decided not to go to the beach until maybe a little later.
We later went to Bernie's place to see if he was in and found he had just returned from work. He told us he was going to accompany a friend into a town farther away because he wanted to buy a laptop. We decided we would tag along since we had nothing else to do.
That's how we met Victor, a Uruguayan anthropologist who was working his second season at the Blau Hotel. I was amazed to find that he is currently researching and writing a paper based on his experiences with some Brazilian subcultures in the Amazonian Jungle. I really wanted to hear more about his thoughts and what his hypothesis was but realized the time wasn't right. From the brilliant demeanour he spoke with, I was sure to sit down with him and ask him my million questions and listen to him talk and talk and talk. He looked like that kind of person. Not to mention he was a hilariously funny person, impersonating people that worked in the hotel and acting out funny situations which made Ed and me roll around laughing.
After buying his new laptop, Bernie and Victor took us back into town to show us a small deserted beach where they usually go for talks and some. It was a tiny tiny beach on a depressed spot on the hill we were in with really clear still water, protected by rounded white rock all around. A ton of seaweed had washed ashore and was drying on the sand while more dark sea plants were being pushed into the sand by the soft impulse of the waves. Victor mentioned since the season hadn't officially begun, the town hadn't started cleaning the beaches.
We stayed there until it began to get dark, and we parted ways since Bernie had to go pick Barbie up and Victor had a date with the Brazil match that night. Ed and I tried to pick up an internet signal in the hotel parking lot but realized near the convention center was the best reception. We quickly checked out email and downloaded our CV's for printing.
The day turned out to be too short. But Friday night there were two parties we had been invited to, both of which we planned on attending.
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