San Sebastian, e Papa em Lisboa

I'm in a couchette car on a train from San Sebastian, Spain, to Portugal. It's morning; there's about an hour to go. Outside: alternating reels of deciduous trees, sienna-shingled rooftops, modern motels, fields, small orchards, palms.

This train has been lucky. Examples: my couchette car has a rare, single power outlet, plus a clean sink. I'm the only one left in the car, so I can freshen up. And though my ticket is really only for Coimbra, the ticket-man is letting me stay on until Lisbon, at the end of the line.

My nine hour 'layover' in San Sebastian yesterday was a treat. I was lucky to be there on a sunny, warm dia between two thunderstorms. Post- dropping my pack off at an Internet café, I wove through the old part of town following a local's recommendation, then hiked the perimeter of the place's three coastal beaches to find a solid reading spot. I'd hoped to jump in, too, but no one was near the water. A sunbathin' town it was. Aye, and a practiced one. (You could tell because the lot of the local folk turned their towels, knees, bared chests and all to face the sun, rather than the water.)

So I took a sunbath, although it didn't get me cleaner, only warm, and then a series of large clouds took away all the fun of it. Then I spent the rest of my least-active-European-afternoon-yet walking the coast, snapping photos, reading and thinking of haiku. Sun down, I scored a free half-hour at the Internet café from a kind older gentleman (think Neverending Story). Then bought a pincho de tortilla de patatas, for old pinchos' sake, and got on the train.

More keen luck: one of my friendly train roommates, a Portuguese woman with olive skin, a portly maternal air, a perpetual smile and a mouth full of words, gave me the name of a pastry to try in Lisbon. She also reassured me that the quiet customs officer that suddenly came by to check my passport was doing so because –Oyche, the Pope is coming to Portugal. And i' tweel be a mees!

***

I'm in my hostel in Lisbon. Papa Bento is indeed in town, and his arrival has stopped all public transportation along his route into the city, at least for today. On the walk from the train station to the hostel, the roads are blocked off. There are policia everywhere. There's even a website for the occasion. It's exciting, to have arrived at the same time as an internationally-known figure, who has his own mobile.

I'll tell people we came together.