August 3rd, 2007

Hmm, I dunno of any fair trade store in my city. But I use to go to this second hand shop near my village, where I buy loads of books I recently discovered that they have this tiny section with some fair trade groceries, basically coffee. I don't like coffee, but I bought some for my parents and for my mum in law. They said it was good, so now, I tend to buy like once a month that coffee for them. I know it is not much, but that's my tiny contribution. And hey, the last 3 books costed me 2€ altogether, whereas the coffee was something around 8€! :lol:

Calvin and Hobbes is propriety of Bill Watterson and Universal Press Syndicate

Awwwww, poor Calvin. He was punished for asking a question. And ahahahahaha, he wants his dad to live somewhere like the Kinky House :lol: Well, kids have this tendency to ask the very question you don't want to hear. Of course, the c-lassic "Where do babies come from?", or "What are those guys doing?" when the sex scene is on tv or "Why is he black?" while pointing at a black person (black people are rare around here) or "Where is her penis?" when pointing at a girl in the beach and "He lacks one hand" while pointing to an amputated person. I have 4 nephews and a niece, and I've lived some compromising situations like those. Small kids don't realize they may be rude. However, the question that bugged me when I was small was if I kept breathing while I was asleep. My parents told me that I did, but I wasn't that sure. However I never came up with any way to check it out, so I grew up with the doubt :lol:

On the personal note, first of all thank you all for your comments and pms. It is great to know that I have so many great friends I can count on and so many ears ready to listen, not to mention that all the hugs and kisses made me feel already a bit better.Oh, and all the suggestions to terminate teh plumber and the carpenter would be taken much into account in case they are needed :wink: And of coursethe sweetest man by my side who is being a great support and a warm heal for my soul. He worked the night shift yesterday and still he's been awake all morning sending me the most affectionate texts. That makes me realize that I am truly blessed having him and you all. I know that my problems are not that big compared to other people's, but they are important to me and they hurt. But hey, there's really nothing I can do so far to solve them, so I'll wait and see. And I'll keep you all updated.

By the way, the plumber called to tell that the carpenter couldn't come to our place until thursday, and that he wouldn't make it this afternoon, so he is coming tomorrow. Supposedly *sigh* I bet he is winning time for me to calm down, the chicken :evil:

Alright, so moving to the Saturday, the second day I spent with Penny. I'll blog about it in two steps. Yes, you know me well, I just can't stop typing :P

We were really lazy to wake up, and we didn't leave home after somewhere around 11'00am. It wasn't a problem because we were gonna walk around my village, so we headed for the Silver Way which is the way that leads to the Silver Lighthouse, on top of the mountain. We took Hotz along with us, and he behaved pretty bad. He was apparently having deaf issues or something, until I had to tell him off :roll: The Silver Way is a beautiful walk because you keep the mountain on one side, and the sea on the other. There are several spots with benches and tables so people can go spend the day. It was a pretty hot day, but there are shady and sunny stretches, hot ones and others where you can catch some breeze, so we enjoyed the walk a lot.

There are a couple of viewing points along the way, from where you can see both Saint Peter, Saint John and the Bay. The walk is a paving road but not cars are allowed. However, our local police forces tend to go up to the lighthouse for a nap. Yes, like shamelessly. As Penny said, "fighting crime" :lol: So as we were going up, a police car came down. Then another went up, and a bit later a 2nd one went up and came down immediately, because the place was taken :roll: Lazy people.

The Bay, Saint Peter on the left, Saint John on the right


The Bay

I was a bit pissed, because not having been for the flooding in my apartment they day before Penny arrived, I would have bought a small pine. My idea was to plant it together with Penny in the Silver Way, so it would grow up and it would always be our tree, growing strong like our friendship. Bf loved the idea and thought she would love it too, so we decided to go for it and we were supposed to have bought it the day before. But we couldn't do it. And it sucked. I told Penny and she loved the idea. But that should be done another time :(

Once we reached the lighthouse, we could enjoy beautiful views of the cliffs and the coast.

The Silver Lighhouse

The views

We were hot and so was Hotz, so we walked a bit more across the mountain, now through not paving ways, to reach a fountain. It's only a 5 minute walk and it's well worth it, because the source is a natural spring, and the water is always super fresh no matter how hot it is. We drank some and sat at a table nearby, where people use to have some refreshment. I showered Hotz so he remained fresh under his thick fur before leaving. By the way, that once I took the wrong path but Hotz corrected me *patpats Hotz* :)

Hotz

Right by the fountain, there's a Roman bridge

So we started our way back. Hotz behaved a lot better because he was too tired to run and make his will. Once we were back in the neighbourhood, we left Hotz with my bf's sister who was closing her hair salon and said she would take care of him and we started a new walk towards the village.

These are Saint Peter (left village in the picture) and Saint John (right village in the picture) both at the entrance of the Pasajes Harbour. Always rivals in everything, especially in sports. You can have a 20 minutes drive from one to the other, or you can take the boat who unites them both in one minute, one and a half maximum.

There are two lighthouses in Saint Peter: the one on top of the cliffs, in the mountain, and the other one by the sea. We motioned towards the last one through the old streets of Saint Peter, and I showed Penny the house where my dad lived in Saint John and the infamous distance that he had to swim naked between both shores. My old friends would remember that funny bit. My new ones can check this link to read ahilarious and romantic story: http://www.tv.com/users/boom-moo/profile.php?action=show_blog&entry=m-100-25024866

The house were my dad lived

We passed by the place where the canoeing club I belonged to is, we passed by the spot where we used to go fishing, I showed her the remains where the old fort that defended this side of the Bay was, and we also watched some of the old canyons. Well, bits of the history of the village and of my own history here and there, until we went down to the lighthouse. It was hot, and we found out that Penny had burn her arms and neck, and that my face was pretty red too. We were hot and excited, and the blue fresh water was down there, just a couple of meters below our feet, and Penny commented that she would through herself to the ocean at that very same moment. That kept me thinking, so I rang my bf and asked him to prepare the boat so we could go in the afternoon for a swim in the open sea. He said ok and Penny loved the idea :D

The canoeing club

Our fishing spot

Saint Peter's lighthouse

We walked back our way through Saint Peter to reach the boat that crosses to Saint John. It is a nice ride, only bad thing being that it is too short :(

This is where the boat is taken


Once in Saint John, we wanted to visit the house where Victor Hugo lived, which is now a museum. It's not really a big thing but the house has been maintained just as it was, the furniture, trunks, clothes and some stuff that belonged to him still remain in there. The house has nice views of the Bay, but it was 14'30pm and it wouldn't open until 16'00pm, so we kept walking.

Saint John

Victor Hugo's house

There's this place where 2 ETA members where shot dead, and their silhouettes remain painted in the exact spot where they fell in the rocks. There is also a fort in this other side of the Bay which remains pretty intact and currently is a private house. It has underground floors and excavated steps in the rocks to reach the sea. It's really cool. There is also this little beach where whale fishers boiled their grease to get oil. Saint John has several natural springs too coming down from the mountain. We drank some and caught our breath by the beach. The lighthouse in Saint John is no longer reachable on food, since the water has eaten off big parts of it, so took the boat back to our shore and we headed back home. Saint Peter and Saint John were already covered :)

Saint John's fort

Saint John's beach

When we arrived home, somewhere around 16'00pm, we ate lunch. My parents were napping but my mum had prepared some pasta, and Penny tried some "chorizo" with it. It's pork meat as in a sausage or so.

Chorizo

P.S. HUGE HUGS FOR TONI, CALLEIGH AND STEPHANIE!! :D