Monday, May 13, 2013

Irun For a Day

We left our little Pension this morning, a wonderful location in old town and very helpful staff. An American woman Christine from Minnesota taught us some basque words and what to eat and drink. She came to San Sebastian to learn to cook the Basque way and was an apprentice in a Basque restaurant . Her colleague was Basque and certainly went out of her way to help us. She even located a place to stay when we return to San Sebastián.

The day started out great a breakfast at our Pension and off to the train. All went well until we saw a sign coming into a city that said Irun de Ventes I told Stu that we better get off. I went through the door as he tried to make sure we were at the right stop. Unfortunately the lady he was talking to did not speak English and by the time he realized it the doors of the train were closing. I was outside and he was inside. I of course got out one stop to early. I started walking down the tracks following the train until I could no longer do it. I detoured to the road asked where the Irun train station was and ran walked to it. No Stuart. I waited for 3 or 4 trains, No Stuart. Thinking like a woman I thought he would either wait at the Irun train station or go back to where he last saw me. Since I was not there, I assumed he would take a train back. For 3 hours I ran between platforms looking for Stu. I spoke with everyone. I told them my husband did not speak Spanish, I had the phone, the credit cards and the passports. I assured them that he could not cope without me, he was even older than I was, he could never find the Pension we were staying in and I was sure he would come back to the Irun train station. I had the taxi company call in to see if they had driven a lost husband. They wanted a picture so I finally opened my phone and saw a call had come in. I called back it was Stu. Now, I will let him tell his side of the story.

There are always two sides of a story. Joan had the phone set with "Airport" turned on. This setting disables the phone. I use Skype on the iPad to make phone calls and I turn on data roaming for emails. I used all methods to connect with Joan. I did take the train back: then I walked back to the real Irun train station. In fact I sat outside at a table near the taxi stand for 45 minutes while Joan was chasing around inside. I decided to go to the Pension to see if she had checked in. I asked Anna, the hostess of Pension Lizaso, if she would call Joan thinking my attempts had failed. I left a message. Within 2 minutes, Joan called back. Whose side are you on?

More important we shared an excellent meal, ensalada mixta, fish and ice cream; and, then, we went off to meet George, our friend from our Camino Plata experience, http://www.caminowalkaboutplata.blogspot.com. When we had told him about our wish to walk the Norte and wanted him to lead us, he said yes. We are ecstatic he has joining us. We start the Camino at 0630 tomorrow morning


Kitchen area in Pension Goiko
Our room in Pension Goiko
Our leader George Gosling, an all black.
George and Joan enjoying each other. George's treate.

 

No comments:

Post a Comment