La Coruña days continue...

Well I must say, I expected to have much better weather here in la Coruña this week. Last year I arrived on July 4th and we had sunny days on the beach until I left on the 11th. Apparently one week makes quite the difference....everyday has been jacket worthy weather and today actually ended up being a rainy day! It hasn't ruined my trip, although I still have some work to do on my tan!

This morning, the girls woke me up a little before 10. July 1st is famous here for having all the summer sales. I showered super quick and we were headed for the bus stop around 10:30. Buses weren't working too well and what should have been a 30 minute trip ended up taking us around 2 hours! We finally made it to Marineda City (they say it's the 3rd largest shopping center in Europe) around 12:30 and had to leave shortly after 1 to be home in time for lunch around 2:30. I hate to be negative, but if really was a wasted trip. We hardly got to even look in the stores before we had to go. 

We came home to quite the lunch. Inma prepared cigales (crayfish), percebes (barnacles), some other type of fish who's name escapes me, fried peppers, and potatoes. After lunch, we had a special treat of que imada. I gathered that it means "quemada" (burned) but in Gallego. Essentially, it was extra strong moonshine, sugar and oranges poured into a fancy bowl and lit on fire. We burned it for about 10-15 minutes and poured a lil bit of coffee in it for flavor. It had a super sweet, fruity taste to it that reminded me a bit of licor de hierbas. It was a good lunch and afterwards, Chantell and I finally got some kid free time. As much as we love them, I had forgotten how much the kids wear me out! 

Crayfish:

Barnacles:

Other fish:

Jose making que imada...see the flames?

 

Sugar, moonshine, oranges, splash of coffee, and 10 minutes of FIRE!

Drinking que imada out of the little ceramic cup:

We went to a bar just down the street and had a glass of wine and tried to plan my trip to Madrid tomorrow. It was really nice. Cute cafe with an ocean view, good wine and free wifi :) 

We left around 9pm to find a bar where the USA vs Belgium game would play. We found one in plaza de españa, had some fattening croquetas, patatas fritas, aceitunas (olives) and lots of beer. We closed down the bar about 12:30 when USA lost. But it was a good game! 

Home in bed now. Another fast day but oh so exhausted! Leaving at 7:00pm tomorrow for Madrid. Flight leaves Thursday at 11:50am.....tired and ready for home, but will miss this country I've begun to call my 2nd home.