On the generosity of people.

I am still waiting on some group shots from Cudillero, but in the meantime, I thought I would share some of the amazing stories of generosity that we had encountered on our trip.  These may seem like small acts of kindness, but at the time I was touched by how complete strangers looked out for us.

Firstly, when we arrived at Cudillero, we had no idea where we were going.  Randomly, we found the tourist center and asked the woman at the desk for some help.  Not only did she hand us the map, but she highlighted the best places for us to see (such as the highest point, where we had our picnic).  She was super friendly and not dismissive, and when we didn't understand her spanish, she slowed down and repeated.

So maps in hand we confidently continued on to the highest point...until we realized we had no idea where we were going.  We chose a nice looking older gentleman to inquire about the highest point with the best view of everything, and he kindly took the time to explain that we needed to follow the blue railings etc.  That alone was just friendly, but later on our way back to the train station, he apparently saw us walking up a hill and came out of the restaurant he was eating in, to check in with us and make sure we had found it!  He did not need to do that, and many people would have let it go (we Americans are stupid as it is!) but he was just so sweet to check up on us.

On the whole trip we had some trouble with transportation.  We needed to transfer trains in the middle, but we didn't realize it until right before etc. But on the way back we knew we were going to have to sit in the train station in Pravia (a little teensy town) for about 2 hours before getting on the train to take us to Oviedo.  That is one of the hazards of having cheap transportations, but we were willing to sacrifice time to save money.  However, when we boarded the train in Cudillero, the conductor was worried that we would be sitting so long in the station so he informed us of an alternate route (we could take the same train to a neighboring city and then transfer there).  Not only did he not charge us for the change in route, but he apparently let the conductor who got on after him know about us as well.  When we got off the train, we were very lost about which one to transfer to and the conductor came running over and asked if we were the girls going to Gijon (We were) and pointed us to the right train.

Again, these are simple acts of follow through, but they are always appreciated.  I am not sure if these were isolated incidents, but from everything I have seen from the people of Spain they are willing to bend over backwards to be accommodating for you.  Spain is the place to be guys!  Come visit!

p.s. I do not know if you can see, but up in the left hand corner there is a grey tower with black spiral staircase?  That is the highest point that we climbed up to.