Alone in Galicia: Last Days in La Coruña
I wonder when I will learn to feel one emotion without its exact opposite swirling around at the same time.
27 May 2019
Went to FNAC to get the Rocketman soundtrack for J and found a book by Cees Nooteboom about his lifelong fascination with Spain. Had breakfast at the store café and wrote an article about Allariz for the Manila newspapers.
Lunch at the flat, then a walk at 6pm. I was thinking of surrendering to temptation and going to Burger King, but Yolanda saved me with an invitation to drive around town. We went to the park at the highest point of La Coruña, then the Tower of Hercules—the lighthouse built by the Romans, then Orzan Beach where beside the old sailors’ cemetery there are installations honoring the Civil War dead. I treated Yolanda to dinner at a bar she recommended: Barberia off Panaderias Street. Given its name I thought it was a converted barbershop; turns out the name refers to the fact that everyone working there has a full beard. Yes, they are hipsters.
28 May 2019
B was arriving from Paris on Iberia Airlines at 5pm. In the morning I went to the supermarket for wine, orange juice, kiwis, cheese, bread and coffee. I had lunch, then I went to Fundacion Barrie for a souvenir sanandresiño—a hand-painted charm made of molded breadcrumbs. At 3.45 I caught the bus to the airport and was there in 30 minutes. Bus fare: 1.55e. I am always amazed at how easy it is, being an invisible alien in a city that is clean and free of traffic, where food is fresh and affordable and you can walk everywhere, where the streets are safe and most of the museums are free.
We were back at the flat before 6pm—a source of wonder to me, as I am accustomed to allotting three or four hours for any trip to the airport. At 7 we went out for a walk, and at 8 we had dinner at La Penela, where the veal is so tender it is sliced with a spoon. We knocked back a bottle of Mencia and were pleasantly soused by the time we got back.
I am sleeping in the sala, which I much prefer to being sealed into the bedroom.
29 May 2019
Works in progress
1. The Pillarist. Diary of a writer living in a strange city for a month.
2. Luna in Vigo. About a forger who specializes in Juan Lunas.
3. Memory is a form of resistance. The essay on Miguel Hernandez commissioned by Instituto Cervantes de Manila.
B went to work at the library. I sent my article to the Star, got to work on an article for Esquire, and made a poster for Writing Boot Camp in August. I also made arrangements for a reading and signing at Mt Cloud in Baguio in July. At 530 I went to the vintage store to buy a present for my sister, and at 7 Yolanda and her boyfriend Alberto arrived to take my photos. I think they turned out very well.
When B got back at 8pm we went for a walk through the gardens, Plaza del Lugo, and the Cantones before having tapas at La Bombilla. Then a long walk on the marina, where I caught up on the news from Paris. We marveled at how lucky we were to be in this gorgeous, largely undiscovered (by travel influencers) city where the sun sets at 10pm, sitting on a bench looking at the blue sky and the bluer water.
30 May 2019
Today is my last full day in La Coruña and I miss it already. I want to go on to my research in Orihuela and Jaen, visit Madrid, then fly home to my cats Jacob and Drogon and my real life, but I also want to stay here and be a solitary alien. I wonder when I will learn to feel one emotion without its exact opposite swirling around at the same time.
I thought the convertible Ikea armchair in the library might be more comfortable than the sofa in the living room. It is, but I couldn’t fall asleep for thinking of all the stuff I’d scattered around the apartment for a month, stuff I’d have to pack. I feel the way I always do when I leave the cats to go on a trip. Cats make my home, but this flat also feels like my home.
An article in my newsfeed says that if you can’t sleep you should get up and do something instead of lying awake. I got up at 2am and had a glass of milk. At 3.30 I finally fell asleep, and at 7.30 my eyes flew open. I saw a message from O who irritates me by constantly asking when I’ll be back in Manila. As if I hadn’t told her many times that I’m in Spain till mid-June. Then she said C was dead.
I used to hang out with C and his friends in the 90s, made fun of him for the French cuisine, Proust, Lawrence Durrell and the English dandy wardrobe—he even had an umbrella that concealed a rapier—but I knew he wrote beautifully and told him so. I envied his freedom. He could do whatever he wanted without worrying about money. While I grubbed for work he could swan around Paris, London, New York.
We lost touch in the 00s. I heard that he’d quit writing from some reason, but in recent years he began publishing again. Sometimes I ran into him at the mall, and we would exchange pleasantries then go our separate ways. The last time I saw him was at a ramen place—I proudly showed him my copy of Durrell’s Justine, which I’d finally gotten round to reading. He smiled, and that was the end of the conversation. Should I have tried harder to get him to talk?
31 May 2019
Set the alarm for 9am but was up at 7.30. Slept well enough, but kept waking up every two or three hours to look at the time. My last batch of laundry was still wet and I had to put it in the dryer again. One full month and I still have not figured out how to operate that thing correctly.
My sadness at leaving Galicia has passed—in my mind I am already elsewhere. I’m glad B could join me before I turned into a total recluse. Yolanda picked us up at 11 to drive us to the airport. I will miss her and I am already plotting my return.
I had an extra bag full of books and unopened groceries (bought too much last week) to schlep on the plane, but I checked in without any trouble. The flight was on time and my usual anxiety was quiet. At Madrid Airport my luggage was the first off the plane. There’s a Champions League match tomorrow, Liverpool v Tottenham, and pale bald Englishmen in shorts and singlets have descended on the city to drink one million liters of beer.