But when I'm in doubt I open my mouth, and words come out

I was in Madrid last week. I think it was last week, it might have been this week. I have started forgetting what day it is, because it makes little difference - except to bus and train timetables. It's just one big long travelling day it seems. Anyhow, I was in Madrid. I met up with a friend who was telling me about Yes Man, the book by Danny Wallace (you probably know the Jim Carrey movie?). Danny Wallace said 'Yes' to everything for a year, my friend has been trying the 'yes' thing and he said it is working out well. I usually say 'no' before a question has even been formed. 'No' is safe, unless the question is- 'do you have travel insurance?' or 'do I really have to wear a condom?'.

So, I decided to try saying 'yes' more, and had my first opportunity to put it into practise when some guys staying at my hostel asked me to go for a drink with them 'in 5 minutes'. Normally I would have just said 'maybe'...and then not gone. They looked surprised when I said 'yes'. Then they stood outside my bedroom door while I got ready, counting down the five minutes and talking loudly -for my benefit- about how girls usually need a bit more persuasion to say yes to a date with two boys. Apparently there were some interesting results for Danny Wallace - but I doubt he ended up being massaged by two Dutch boys at 3am. So this 'yes' thing is working out fine. Just fine. Fine and dandy. Hey! It was totally innocent, they were pilgrams!


So, Santiago de Compostela was nice...although I did get tired of hearing the people who had done the camino going on and on about how far they had walked each day. It is impressive, but when you've heard 20 people say the same thing, well. It seems that the camino has become quite commercialised, especially seeing as it is a holy year. I saw some tourists (not pilgrams) buying the walking sticks the pilgrams use, it made the guys I was with very annoyed to see that after having walked every day for a month to get there. I spent a couple of days there, and also did a day trip to another town in Galicia called Pontevedra. It was pretty, but I walked around for two hours looking for a tourist information centre to get a map. When I decided to return to Santiago I went to the bus station and waited for my bus...and waited...and waited...and asked when the next bus to Santiago would be...and waited...and waited...and asked why the bus was so late...and waited. Turns out I made the idiot mistake of assuming that what it said on my ticket would be what it would say on the bus - duh! What a novice mistake. I was looking for the company who I had bought my ticket through. Wrong. So my bus had come and gone right in front of me and I had missed it three times. I hate buses.

Now I'm in Porto, Portugal. It's very pretty. Oh, and Portuguese men are more polite than the Spanish, I was wearing a dress today and was only meowed at twice. Perhaps they were Spanish.

Erm, is anyone still reading? It got a bit word-y there, here are some pretty pictures.

The Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, the crowds are pilgrams and bus loads of old German tourists. The Cathedral is important because it is the final destination of the pilgramage..and St...James? is buried inside. I could google it, but honestly I don't care. I went there for the pretty, not the religious experience. I went into the Cathedral out of interest during a service, apparently they do something cool with incense, missed that. I did see people working themselves into religious fervor, crying and prostrating themselves on the floor. It was all a bit creepy for me, and so I left and had a hamburger, with egg in it. The egg makes the hamburger in my opinion. Oh shit, I'm getting word-y again.

Pontevedra