This morning I was walking from a friend’s house in Parte Vieja (downtown) to my neighborhood of Gros when I saw an enormous Basque protest. It’s not a good idea to stop and stare but I was pretty close to the action. Down one of the streets of Gros was a huge group of protesters, holding banners and chanting something. Everything was in Basque so I don’t know what they were saying (it was way over my knowledge of 5 Basque words). The Basque police usually patrol the city but the police today were different. A friend of mine said it was the national police or some form of higher command. It was kind of intense. There were shields, stun guns, and a van full of police with riffles. Now don’t panic, they are non-violent protests. The protests have to be approved before they take place and the extra police are there for safety reason. Basically, the larger the predicted protest the more police are brought in to control it. The police started to charge the street and the protesters scattered. I was walking on the opposite side of the street and was a good distance away. Saturdays are always busy with tourists along the walkways near the beaches so I was totally safe. I walked the long way home to avoid the scene. Later we saw news crews around town and a ton of paparazzi looking people. We were told that you should never take a picture of police or protesters so it was kind of weird that there were film crews. A lot of the police had full face masks on so maybe that’s why they could film. Traffic was being regulated on the street most of the day but there were still a lot of people out. I think the city is use to the protests so no one really looks twice at it; kind of strange. Anyway, it was definitely a new experience for all of us.
Aside from the protests, today was beautiful! I went to this really popular local sandwich shop with four friends.
We took our food to the beach and sat on this really big wall that overlooks Zurriola Beach. It was about 70 degrees so we sat there for two hours just eating, watching the surfers and enjoying some sunshine… Finally! It was a great day. Later this afternoon Chelsea and I went for a run and my knee felt great. We probably ran about a mile then hiked up the hill in Parte Vieja to the statue of Jesus. Instead of taking the smooth pathway that winds up the mountain, we took the steep stairs straight to the top…. It was a great leg burner! The top of the hill overlooks the entire city; the sun was setting when we were up there so it was really beautiful. We then ran about a mile home. I was tired when I got home but didn’t have any problems with my knee. The soreness in my legs is definitely setting in now, but it’s a great feeling that I’ve missed! I’m going to run a few days a week but we decided that we’re going to do that run and hike at least once a week and work our way into running up the hill! Needless to say, I’m on my way to getting ready for next season! If the weather stays this nice, a little beach volleyball will be in the near future too.
Well, that has been my weekend thus far. My Dad and Kim sent me a care package with salad dressings, a bunch of movies, a book, and some other goodies so I've been enjoying season 5 of Will and Grace for the last few days :-)
Agur!
We took our food to the beach and sat on this really big wall that overlooks Zurriola Beach. It was about 70 degrees so we sat there for two hours just eating, watching the surfers and enjoying some sunshine… Finally! It was a great day. Later this afternoon Chelsea and I went for a run and my knee felt great. We probably ran about a mile then hiked up the hill in Parte Vieja to the statue of Jesus. Instead of taking the smooth pathway that winds up the mountain, we took the steep stairs straight to the top…. It was a great leg burner! The top of the hill overlooks the entire city; the sun was setting when we were up there so it was really beautiful. We then ran about a mile home. I was tired when I got home but didn’t have any problems with my knee. The soreness in my legs is definitely setting in now, but it’s a great feeling that I’ve missed! I’m going to run a few days a week but we decided that we’re going to do that run and hike at least once a week and work our way into running up the hill! Needless to say, I’m on my way to getting ready for next season! If the weather stays this nice, a little beach volleyball will be in the near future too.
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