Part II – Santiago de Compostela

Saturday, March 10th

I woke up Saturday and was still exhausted as the bed in our hotel was absolute shit. Normally, I’m down with a soft mattress but this one was so soft me and Kathi’s sister would slide into the middle of the bed and lay in a sort of valley since there was no support in this bed.

We drove into the city and she STILL couldn’t fucking park. She was ambitious enough to try to back into a parking space but even with out any obstacles or hindrances she couldn’t manage. That is bad enough but she had to abandon her plans to back into a space and just tried to pull in forward and she couldn’t even do THAT. Ridiculous.

We ate churros for breakfast and I finally found a shop that sold some decent Galician memorabilia. We did some sightseeing in the city and ambled around at a relaxed pace. We got to the cathedral and it was insane. From there we went to the park which has a view of the entire city. We then made our way to the Museo do Pobo Galego (roughly: People of Galicia museum) but didn’t have too much time as we were kicked out due to it being siesta time. We went back to the car to drop of some of the stuff we had bought in the city and also to collect our bearings before heading out to get something to eat. I had to try the Caldo Gallego (I actually wanted to try the Chorizo Gallego at a different place earlier but the waitress started asking me questions I didn’t understand so I just turned around and left the place). The caldo was ok but it was just the appetizer before I had some more Raxo.

We strolled around a bit after that and then bought some stuff to eat at a supermarket. After that I found a hole in the wall place where I could get a haircut. I need to explain something first: my hair was getting shaggy and I was in desperate need of a trim. The problem was, my work schedule made it impossible to get one before the trip but there was a slight hope of getting one the day that we left. Kathi’s sister, however, kept pestering me to remember that we had to be on the way to the airport by 9:30 at the latest. I woke up early to finish packing and then headed to the haircutter’s only to realize that they didn’t open until 9. That didn’t leave me enough time to get the haircut, make it back and then shower so I resigned myself to getting a trim while we were in Spain. The thing is, Kathi’s sister had some documents to get in order so she also woke up early and was out of the apartment doing her business. I got back to the apartment and finished getting ready. 9:30 came and went but Kathi’s sister wasn’t anywhere to be seen. 10:00 came and went and she still wasn’t around. We didn’t leave the apartment until nearly 10:30 – almost a full hour after we “needed” to leave. I was not happy about this at all.

So… I found myself in this haircutter’s salon and asked for a cut. Unlike the Chorizo Gallego place, I was able to say what I needed and properly respond to questions so she started cutting. All was going well until she asked me again how short I wanted the back and sides. I said four millimeters. She didn’t understand. I said a number one (most places don’t have a “one, two, three, etc.” setting on their clippers, they have the length in millimeters so that’s why I started with that). Well, she didn’t understand that either. I made a buzzing sound to indicate clippers and then she told me that she didn’t have any clippers; everything was done with scissors. Fuck. The mission was already in progress and it was too late to abort. I told her to cut it short and she did. She asked me if I wanted it shorter and I said I did but she vetoed that idea (I don’t even know why she asked in the first place), finished up and discharged me. I was butchered. There were very clear and obvious patches on my sides but not a damn thing I could do about it.

We went back into the city where I saw the most idiotically dressed person ever and said to myself, “that dude’s a German” and sure enough, when he and his buddies started speaking, it was in German. Kathi’s sister wasn’t as impressed with my powers of observation.

After my shitty haircut, we went back up to the park so I could get a picture of Santiago in the dark and piss Kathi’s sister off. I think it was some of the tension that spilled over from the morning’s parking woes. I was flabbergasted and most of you know that an irritated Sivlitz is an asshole Sivlitz. Shit, I don’t even need the irritated part. After we left the city, the flames had cooled down and we settled into another night with Doritos and wine.

And our shitty bed.