Cami’s Birthday

As this weekend arrives with a bout of very much needed rain, I’m sat at home thinking of last weekend. As I’ve done many times before – the last time just back in February – I left work on Friday and headed up to Moncloa to grab a car share which would take me up to Gijón in the north of Spain. I’ve been there many times before, and it’s become somewhat of a second home for me.

This time I wasn’t going to kayak down a river or attend a beautiful wedding, though; this time it was time to spend some quality time with Cami in order to celebrate her birthday. The evening I arrived, we met up with Bogar and Javier, my friends from Madrid who moved up to Asturias just at the end of last year. This was supposed to be a quick drink, but wound up turning into a spontaneous night out!

The next day we had a well deserved lie in, after which Cami’s friend Cris joined us to head to the supermarket in order to grab some stuff for the little party that Cami had planned. With a car full of snacks and drinks (and after a worrying incident with the car keys), the three of us headed off to the top of a hill in a park where we’d arranged to have a birthday picnic with all of Cami’s friends.

We had a great time up at our spot looking over Gijón. There were empanadas (big pastries), crisps, sweets, and a special birthday drink in the form of a calimocho, a questionable combination of red wine and cola. Andrea and Andrei, whose wedding I attended in Oviedo in autumn last year, joined us, and we had an absolute blast of a time recounting stories and catching up.

Here’s the birthday girl and Cris (but a different Cris from the one before).

Once Asturias’ climate began to do its thing and the cold began to blow in from the sea, we packed up shop and headed back to Cami’s place to have a few more drinks, sing some karaoke, and play some jenga into the early hours of the morning. We had thought about heading out to a karaoke bar, but the night was cold and we were all pretty exhausted from a long day up and down the hill!

The next day I had intended to join Cami and her friends for the birthday do of another friend of theirs, but I awoke to discover that there were no cars available to take me down on Monday, the day I had been intending to return. I thus made a last minute reservation, packed up my stuff, and hopped in a car back down to Madrid just a few hours after I woke up.

The journey back was a relaxed one as we headed through the mountains and I played a bit of RollerCoaster Tycoon on my iPad. I would have read, but I’d read the book I’d brought with me from start to finish in a few hours during the journey up. I’m desperately trying to hit my reading goal of 24 books this year!