Ledesma, Spain (Part 1)

I arrived in Ledesma around 2:30 after connecting to a different bus in Salamanca. The first thing I noticed when I arrived was I had no idea where I was going. Not to fear, relying on my innate sense of direction I started walking... in the wrong direction. But eventually I figured out where I was and proceeded to the Plaza Mayor (and why not) where my helpx host is presumed to reside.

When I reached the Plaza Mayor I was more confused than when I originally landed in the city as the address I had did not have any numbers, however, all of the houses on the street did. After several unsuccessful attempts to ask passerby's where my destination was, I finally found a man who indicated the "palacio" I was searching for and noted that the man who lives there was not at home and would not be back until 7 or 8pm. He did, very graciously, also note that he drives a black car (una coche negro). It was 3pm.

I should note at this point that when I emailed Ron (my host) to tell him I was arriving Wednesday instead of Thursday or Friday as I had originally said, I neglected to tell him I was planning to take the early buses to arrive around mid-day. As such, in his return email he assumed I would be on the late bus and said he would expect me after 7. Ergo, this small snafu was completely my fault.

So there I stood at a fork in the road. I could either: (a) stand in the cool windy (and notably completely empty) Plaza Mayor waiting for the return of the coche negro like a sad puppy; or (b) find a place to sit down and perhaps have some food and drink. I'll give you two guesses which one I did and the first one doesn't count... Wait, that doesn't make any sense, but obviously I went in search of a place to hang out.

I stumbled across the Casa Rural Ristorante, a humble charming little place where the hosts spoke fluent English. Psyche! No, this is Ledesma, no one speaks English here. But they were very kind and gracious and walked me through my menu options as best I could understand. Moreover, they informed me that free wifi was available... so guess where this blog segment was written? Bingo.

I decided on the "menu" option or 3 course meal and opted for a soup of ham, beef, white beans, artichoke, green beans, carrots and some other vegis (outstanding!), fried pig that thankfully came face-free (I got my lechon after all- and it was great!), and finally a flan (also very good). The meal also came with vino y agua- which I assumed meant a glass of wine and a glass of water. So you can imagine my surprise when I was awarded with not a glass of wine but an entire bottle of Ribera del Duero.

Which brings me to a question that apparently people on Facebook thought was rhetorical. When presented with an entire bottle of wine (botella de vino), is it rude not to finish it? I really have no idea what to do here and I certainly don't want to be rude to these wonderful people. Then again, I don't want to show up hammered at this place I'm supposed to be volunteering. I could google it, but I'm also trying to not actively seek out answers but just try and feel my way along- I find it's more fun and surprising that way. I think the answer is to sit here and slowly drink the wine until either a decision is formulated or I run out of wine.

A funny moment from my wine-fueled afternoon: I meant to tell the owner "I am a little bit drunk" but instead of "estoy un poco borracho" I said "soy un borracho pequeno" which means "I am a tiny drunk man." Que se confundieron. Y yo tambien.

After my fun Spanish speaking bottle of wine induced afternoon I proceeded back to the palacio just as my host Ron was arriving. I should point out that he in fact drives a white car and not a black car, so I would have been standing there all day and not even known it was him. We went upstairs and over a cup of tea he introduced me to the other visitors- Ingrid, an old friend of his from London, and Bernard and Deb, who were his neighbors 15 or so years ago back in England. I was the only helpx'er among those staying at the moment.

Over tea we began the first (of so far many) philosophical/political/social/etc. discussions, this one over the Occupy Wall Street Movement and other such protests in general. I won't bore you with the details but suffice it to say we discussed for many hours, during which we drank wine and ate steak and chips. Finally around 1am it was time to go to bed. Below is a picture of the main socializing room where tea and dinner were had and the bed which I will be occupying for around a week or so. In all, my host is a very kind man and so far I am enjoying his and the other visitors' company immensely.