Corinne Crawford
I arrived in San Sebastián, Spain at about 1:30 in the afternoon and was originally planning on getting a local bus from San Sebastián to Zarautz where I was staying for almost a week mostly to visit Igor. Igor was the foreign exchange student from Spain at my high school and although we didn’t keep in great touch throughout the years, I did see him 6 years ago during a previous trip to Spain along with Marta, the other Spanish exchange student. So when I knew I wanted to go to the north coast of Spain on this trip, I had got in touch with him and he suggested I visit during the second weekend of September to experience their biggest festival of the year celebrating Basque heritage. He was so gracious and offered to pick me up at the bus station in San Sebastián and drive me to my hotel in Zarautz about 20 minutes away. My hotel, Pension Ipar, was an extension of Hotel Norte a block away from the beach and steps from the main plaza in town. Zarautz was charming and my hotel room was perfect. The 2nd floor (although it would be considered the first floor in Europe), corner room with nothing but windows. I could see the ocean from my room.
Igor left me to rest while he finished his workday and said he and his girlfriend would be back later and we would all go out to get something to eat. He reviewed some of the plans that he had made for us for my visit and I was so grateful that he took the initiative to make sure I made the most of my time there. He was an amazing host and I barely had to make any plans on my own and I was here for it. Igor and Belen took me to a tapas (pintxo) bar and we snacked on small roasted peppers and ham croquettes with some wine and both were delicious. They then took me to their favorite local haunt which was a small bar within a private apartment community where they had lots of friends.
I met Marianne and her elderly mother and the young Ukrainian girl that was staying with her due to the war. Her family used to spend time here and when things got real bad, they sent her to stay with Marianne. Marianne was a tall blonde woman originally from Germany and was as sweet as can be. We made it a relatively early night because they both had to work the next day (Igor’s store Artilan) and I was going to try to get some work done the following day as well. One thing he did mention to me was that we needed to get me an outfit for the festival. An outfit? Surely it would be fine without one. In my mind, I am thinking – shit, I don’t want to spend money on an outfit plus Spanish people here are small – where in the world am I going to get an “outfit” to fit me and what kind of outfit are we talking about. I kind of laughed in jest and Igor assured me he was dead serious, no joke. He said that everyone dresses up in traditional Basque clothes and that I would look sort of like an Amish person but I would look even weirder if I was not wearing an outfit, but not to worry, he had an idea. The next night we all had dinner together,Igor, Belen, Marianne and I and low and behold, Marianne had a bag with her that contained one of the outfits she had for the festival. It contained a shirt, skirt, petticoat, apron and the most important traditional accessory, the scarf. I tried it on as soon as I got back to my hotel room and it all fit great except for the shirt. It was a bit big and incredibly hot. I knew the next day was going to be long and hot so I thought maybe I could wear my own thinner white shirt with the outfit. The only thing I did not have was the traditional shoes but I was kind of glad because it was going to be a long day and long days require comfortable shoes. Igor said he thought my sandals would be fine. We said goodnight and they said they would come for me at about 11am the next day for the start of the festival.
