On Saturday I walked in to the market. A man I bought cheese from last year recognized me and the general scene was even more lively than it was last year. There was an eco-fair, an African fair trade booth, and the Tolosa choral group was out in force, with traditional Basque musicians alternating reed/drum instrumentals with their songs; fantastic to hear so many people singing, let alone in Euskara – Basque.

Like last year, there was a protest in the triangular plaza against health care cuts. After chatting with some of them, I helped dismantle their banners and haul a wheel chair with a mannequin in it up a couple of flights of stairs, then bought a colourful shirt from the group to donate to the CCPA’s annual fundraising auction.

Around the corner I found Luisan roasting pimiento peppers while his  friend Antton handled sales. Their minimum bag weighed several kilos, but I managed to persuade some young British English teachers to share one. I wish I had given them more – it took me 3 hours to peel & de-vein/de-seed the batch I gave to the kitchen at the hostel where I’m staying 😮 Very tasty, though!

Found a shoe repair shop so I ran back to the hostel for my walking shoes, one of which had blown out and was at risk of falling apart. It was too late to catch a guided tour of the TOPIC  puppet museum, so I headed back to the hostel & up the narrow 3 km switchback road to Hernialde for a picnic at a lovely viewpoint with stone seats.

The woman at Ostatua Hernialde remembered me from last year, too. At times I feel like the Gadjo Dilo – Crazy Stranger – in the Tony Gatlif film!