I Was Not Lost in Ponferrada

For the record, missing the bus is not the same as getting lost. I want to establish that clearly. What happened? I’ll get to it.

So last night I knew I wanted meat. My hotel is off a big square so there are multiple restaurants, including this one.

I thought very seriously about going in and telling them they would have to satisfy a Texan, but I decided against it. Nothing on the menu appealed enough to make the effort, and the odds were against it coming up to scratch.

Instead I went to the Italian restaurant. I ordered a cotoletta con prosciutto because it came with a salad instead of fries.

I ordered a glass of fruity white wine. I don’t know what the wine is when you do that, but omg, is it good.

I finished with a scoop of leche merengada ice cream (meringue milk.)

It has a faint citrus taste. It’s pretty good, but I’m not going to rush to have it again.

Afterwards I went to my room, called Mom, repacked my backpack, and took a bath (primary purpose for the hotel.) No, I didn’t take a picture of the tub. Or the room.

I had a huge breakfast at the hotel (eggs, bacon, toast with butter and jam, two kinds of cheese, a slice of lunch meat, a slice of ham, a croissant, and yogurt) and then did a 30 minute walk to the shopping mall.

They had an enormous Carrefour (think Walmart) and I bought three plain long sleeve t-shirts, a short sleeve t-shirt for sleeping (I could not resist the graphic,) a plaid button down shirt, a hoodie that zips, and a plastic rain jacket, all for less than 100 euros (about $110. No pics. Sorry.) Oh yeah, that also included two pair of footies, since while running around Stef’s place barefoot my feet got so dirty I sometimes left footprints in the bathroom, and a sleep mask shaped like a cat. I have a sleep mask, but it was just adorable.

Then I found a store where I bought Vital Proteins collagen, toothpaste, and nail clippers (I had some but I can’t find them.) So I am now all set.

Yes, I spent as much as an extra bag would have cost BUT I haven’t had the hassle of wrangling three bags. Two is enough; trust me. Especially since neither is packed with any regard to their weight, a fact I am highly cognizant of as I schlep them through Ponferrada.

Which bring me to missing the bus. Well, almost. I left my bags in the hotel to walk to El Rosal (the shopping mall,) and coming back I just had two bags, neither of them heavy. I sat in the hotel lobby and got one of them into my small bag, and I could have worn the jackets (I would have been boiling, but I could have done it,) but that collagen wasn’t going to fit anywhere, so I decided to keep the jackets in the bag too and temporarily have three bags. Perfectly fine when you’re taking a taxi.

You have a choice of two bus stops to get to Pieros, the main station or one by the University. The university one was closer to my hotel so I chose it.

I had the hotel call the taxi in plenty of time; it got to the stop at 2:53 for a 3:07 bus. Todo es bien.

3:07 comes and no bus. At 3:15 a bus stops on the other side of the street but it’s going the wrong way. Pieros is in the direction of the side I’m on; I checked it on Google Maps. Surely the taxi driver didn’t drop me on the wrong side of the street. That couldn’t have been my bus.

It was my bus.

30 minutes later no buses have come along. Well, okay, one does but it doesn’t even pretend to stop. I send a message to the hostel that is expecting me to arrive about now and let them know what’s happened. I start walking towards the big bus station. My pack is so heavy it is stressing my hip, and the strap of my shoulder bag is digging into my neck.

I decide I am not walking to the bus station; I am walking back to the hotel, which is much closer. I will sit in the lobby, charge my phone, and catch y’all up. Which is what I’m doing and now y’all are.