Mundaka, the World of Water

June 26, 2008 - Mundaka, Spain

At least that´s what the Romans called this little town on the coast, 20 minutes north of Gernika.  Derived (or evolved, rather?) from the Latin "mundusaqua" or "mundus aquae"¨mundus¨= world, and "aqua" = water.  Thank you, Nikki Romani at Boise High School.

Daniela and I took turns jumping off the stone walls on the entrance to the harbor.  It wasn´t very high up, maybe 20, 30 feet, but still enough time for your body to realize it´s in free fall, curse the brain for making such a decision, and fueling the fire for more jumping with a spike of adrenaline.  Oh, to be young and in Spain...

Coming to towns like this reminds me of how young and naive the US is, especially the West where I grew up.  For example, we were walking along the stone that walls the harbor, and came across a huge cannon.  I thought it was a memorial for something, but nope.  Turns out it was an actual cannon that the town used to defend itself from attacks from the sea.... and IT WAS STILL THERE.  After what, 600, 800 years? 1000?  Bueno, anything beyond 100 years old is pretty old for us, though we have sufficient aridity in our air to preserve such things.  Iker informed me that where we were standing, next to the cannon, was where Sir Francis Drake (described to me as "el corsario legendario, Seer Frahnthis Drah-kay")   disembarked from his ship on a visit to Mundaka.  And I was standing on it. 

Oh, and the surfing.  Mundaka hosts the World Championships for surfing (and you´d know it by the tiny surf shop that sells Billabong t-shirts for at least 30 euro), but seeing the tiny beach you wouldn´t think it.  You have to get out past the sandbars and harbor, where the waves really hit.  Remind me to learn to surf, but that´s for New Zealand. One step at a time, gumshoe.