Sunday, October 14, 2012

rocktober

Hey y'all! I know it's been a while since I've posted, but I've been a knockout combination of super-busy and without Internet. This does not lead to frequent blog posts, as I'm sure you can understand. However, it is currently a sleepy Sunday, and I have nothing in particular to do, so I headed over to a cafe across the street from my apartment, for some cafe con leche and wifi. (Side benefits include watching a car race and a pleasant view across the mountains.)

I promise I'll write a more comprehensive update (or really, set of updates) later, but for now I just wanted to share some miscellany from my life in Lugo.

champis
Lugo is known for being one of the cheapest cities in Spain. Due to the incredible wealth I am accumulating as a language assistant, this is pretty handy. One perk of living someplace so dirt-cheap is that every drink, at every bar, comes with at least one free tapa.So it's very possible to go out for dinner for under 5 euros, just by getting three-ish glasses of wine or beer, and snacking away.

The center of Lugo's tapa zone is Calle de la Cruz, a turn or two away from the cathedral. My favorite spot, hands down, is called Las Cinco Vigas, or The Five Ceiling Beams. (Sounds so much more romantic in Spanish.) It earned my love the first time I went there, when the bartender noticed I'd left my umbrella on the floor, and held it until we walked back past later that night. But to set good karma aside, I love Cinco Vigas because their tapas are so. freaking. good. Pictured above are their mushrooms, served in a cream sauce with a nice chunk of Galician bread. Perfection.

the Rat River Park: much nicer than the name would suggest
So, despite all the stressin' I was doing the first two weeks I was in Lugo, I managed to find a great apartment, and an even better roommate. The apartment itself is pretty nice, despite some distinctly vintage appliances--there's lots of space, two rooms with double beds (!!), and big windows that get plenty of light. But the main reason that I love my apartment is the location. It's a bit less than a ten-minute walk to the center (granted, this includes hiking up a mountain), which is great for tapas and other nocturnal festivities. The neighborhood itself has a ton of stuff, from a supermarket right across the street to a vet for Gwen to a cornucopia of cafes.

And, possibly best of all, it boasts super easy access to one of the best parts of Lugo: el Parque del Rio Rato. (Or the Rat River Park. As with the Cinco Vigas, it sounds way better in Spanish.) It's part of a trail system that winds all the way around the city, making a roughly 10K loop. Gwen and I haven't done the entire thing yet, since we've been busy exploring the segments closer to home, but that day will come. We try to get down to the park for at least an hour a day.

hands-on
Other than eating tapas and strolling through the park, I've been: goofing off with the kids at my school; getting to know the real teachers; learning the past tenses of common Spanish verbs; over-using the GPS on my phone; drinking Estrella Galicia and calimocho; hostessing potlucks and pregames; hunting for curry; applying for my residency card; visiting the cathedral in Santiago; and enjoying the festival of Lugo's patron saint, San Froilan. Most of these things deserve posts of their own, which I will try to get to as soon as possible. Hopefully we'll be getting internet at our apartment this week, so I'll be able to resume a more regular posting schedule. Fingers crossed.

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