an asymmetrical island of dry land floating in a sea of mud

damon and i decided to ditch the big city and take a bus up north from barcelona to san sebastian. we were tired of dealing with crowds and getting worked over by hostel prices, so we figured a few days of camping and hanging out at the beach would be the perfect remedy. as we arrived at the campground things started to get a little weird. it seems that most campsites here have a few plots of land for pitching tents and then a ton of cabins, along with bathrooms, laundry facilities, a supermarket and a bar. basically, it´s like being at a really nice summer camp. regardless, we figured it would be more fun than staying in a hostel in the sleepy beach town, so we set up our site and then took the bus down to the beach.

the beach was really awesome and soft, but after about 30 minutes of lounging the clouds started to roll in. and they never went away. basically, it rained steadily for about 48 hours, alternating between a light drizzle and torrential downpours. when we got back to the campground our little plot had been conquered by thick mud and water was pooling up directly under my side of the tent. it was not very pretty and i began to have visions of the first time that i went camping in chile and forgot to put the rainfly on my tent, waking up in a couple inches of water. things were getting pretty nasty.

as the rain began to fall even harder, damon came up with the brilliant idea of digging large trenches around our tent to keep the water from flowing underneath. using a small dagger we took turns chopping up the thick, root-filled terrain, getting completely soaked and caked in mud in the process.

digging trenches was hard work, so after a while we grabbed our dinner materials and took shelter under an awning to stay dry and devise a plan of action. in the process, we met a pair of really interesting dutch med students who were on a surf holiday, even though neither of them really knew how to surf. we also met a pretty crazy dude who is midway through an epic journey- london to morocco on a longboard to raise money and awareness for testicular cancer. after telling them about our tent situation, charlie, the english longboarder, mentioned that he had a little gardening shovel that we could use to dig deeper holes. when asked why he had a little shovel with him, he replied ¨me mum gave it to me in case i have to take a shit on the side of the road and bury it¨.

after reinforcing the trenches (which were all completely filled with water when we returned) we headed to the bar down the street to meet up with our new acquaintances. once inside, we settled in and began to talk about a number of random topics, such as the differences between the amount of vacation days that people get in different countries, how canceled american tv shows end up making it to other countries (no one had a clue, but we came up with some theories that could potentially be correct), and what each of us did as a profession or aspired to do. as one of the med students finished up her turn, damon asked her what area of medicine she specialized in. she took one glance at damon and charlie, who were each smoking cigarettes, and replied with a look of disgust, "pulmonologist". it was really funny.

the rain continued throughout the night but we miraculously woke up completely dry. our trenches had performed perfectly, basically leaving an island of dry land underneath our tent which was surrounded in thick, heavy mud. after a quick look at the sky (dark, ominous clouds for as far as the eye could see) damon and i decided that our dreams of relaxing on the beach were done for. we booked a bus to madrid and spent the day hanging out in town with charlie and waiting around at the bus station. no gordo rules for this entry, but if you decide to go camping during the rainy season you might want to bring along a little garden shovel.