The day after Halloween, Nov 1st, is a national holiday in Spain. It’s like their independence day, I guess, but they didn’t really have one, it’s just called Dia de España. Regardless, it means it was a party night for Halloween, everyone was out and didn’t have to worry about school/work the next day.
The next morning was a rough one for us and we were determined to find a menu del dia to heal us. Wandered a bit, googled til we found a place where we’d eat a typical Asturian menu of Fabada, first course, and cachopo, main dish, surely this massive meal will get us back on our feet. The Fabada was actually really good and I’m glad we got to try it out. It’s a bean dish with big white beans, paprika, big hunks of chorizo and morcilla in it. Super fatty and warm and spicy and delicious to eat with the bread. The color of the broth is the bright red/orange color of the paprika and animal fat all combined. We should’ve just left it at that because the cachopo that came out was gnarly as fuck. It was smaller than the last one we had but much taller, it looked like a fat patty. The breaded part around it was hard and thick like a ridiculous shell to get through of fried shit. Eventually we had to peel it off to free the beef and ham and cheese but now eating those all at once didn’t feel right. I could not get through that cachopo, and under my circumstances, it was revolting.
Cruised out of there full but maybe not feeling better than when we came in. Took a nap at home and then rolled out of bed to go to the beach, if we didn't at least do that this whole day would’ve felt like a loss. Incredibly, the surf at San Lorenzo beach is pumping and there’s a junior Quicksilver contest going down, the loudspeakers are turned up relaying the scores to the competitors, the atmosphere is lively. We surf a right way down the beach away from the contest but it's tough because I keep burping cachopo. A miserable surf session but a completely necessary one. All the movement did help and I did get a sick one towards the end.
This was the beginning of a week-long swell in Spain/Europe, peaking on Monday at 20-25ft, the XL swell covered in surfline. Today had good waves, tomorrow is bigger, then it dips a bit with some crazy rain, then the XL swell develops through the weekend.
The point is that I’m meeting John in Lisbon Nov 9th, this is my last week in Spain, and it’s gonna pump the whole time. I had to make a decision as to where I wanted to surf and score. I could keep heading west to Galicia as I originally intended but then 2 things could happen: I’d not exactly know which surf spots to hit while the surf is massive and potentially get skunked while on the hunt or feel rushed in having 7 days to drive to Lisbon from Gijón and miss potentially epic spots. Of course there’s the possibility of scoring where you least expect it, the surfer’s dilemma. I made the choice to backtrack through Asturias/Cantabria back to Bilbao and the Basque region to hit waves we’d missed and for the shot to surf Mundaka again. (Easy flight from Bilbao to Lisbon.) I felt like we’ve been exploring waves for a week and a half and not getting much and now with the forecast so good I want to go where I know I can score. XL day could also be big enough for Fortaleza to work, first time this season, it never breaks. That possibility is worth looking into.
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