This was my first time actually couchsurfing. I have hosted a few times so this was definitely an exciting opportunity. I stayed with a hometown guy, Carles, and his new Portuguese roommate, Isa, in their fairly spacious flat complete with a terrace. It was absolutely delicious to be outside the city and romping around in the woods (unfortunately, I couldn't take Duke with me on the bus). Olot is covered in extinct volcanoes with ancient churches in their craters. During the day, I hiked all around in the broiling sun, explored a medieval village, and "downtown" Olot. According to Carles, all of the buildings in Olot are new because everything was destroyed in an earthquake in the 1400s. His concept of new architecture means after the Dark Ages.
Carles is a very interesting global citizen. When he speaks English, he has a bit of an accent from living in Scotland for a couple years. He has traveled all around the and is probably the most welcoming and worldly Catalan person I have met - wicked sense of humor. I had the privilege of spending time with his extra-hospitable friends, including the most beautiful woman I have ever met who also happened to be stealing glasses of cava while being 8 months pregnant. She was mildly chastised by her friends who were all chain smoking at the table.
At night we went to a mini-music festival and then Isa prepared a Portuguese/Catalan feast. She and her friends are all Portuguese architects. I was wined and dined to my heart's content: butifarra, wine, fuet, rice, roasted peppers, olives, chicken skewers, herb, etc... After gorging ourselves, we went off to a bar downtown for a couple drinks and pool. Carles plays a mean game, luckily I was on his team. These Catalans play by funny rules. If you scratch, not only does the other team get the ball, they get an extra turn. Also, you're allowed to nudge the cue ball a little before you hit it. Later that night, Isa and I went back early. Carles still had some party left in him. He came home around 8 am.
The next morning I headed out for more hiking and old churches and then had a brief siesta before heading back to Barcelona. Even though it was burning hot earlier in the day, I got caught in a violent rainstorm and arrived at the bus station soaked to the bone. The bus back to Barcelona was packed, mostly with university-aged students coming back from a weekend with the fam. When I got back to Barca, I grabbed some bangers and mash for dinner at an Irish pub, picked up Duke from a friends' place, and headed back to my humble abode.
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