The real start

After travelling to visit friends and family, it was time for me to leave France once for all.
I left my country under the Basque country rain… of course !

I got super wet but realized that the waterproof feature of my backpack was working well.
The fact that I was drenched and could barely speak Spanish did not discourage any driver and by the evening, I was safe in Bilbao.
Once again, I met super nice people.

Jose Felix, a Spanish guy who I met through couchsurfing offered to host me for 2 days ! He has been travelling a lot over the last few years…

After trying my first tortilla, Jose took me for a day tour of Bilbao. As he lived here for so long, he knew every detail and showed me things I would never have found alone (except Guggenheim museum that you can’t really miss !)

Next day, I kept on going. I could hardly find any person speaking English. I had no other choice but practice my poor Spanish….

At the beginning, it was such a pain but poco a poco, things got better and soon enough, I could handle basic conversations. Most of them gave me advice about places to go and things to visit… Thanks Alberto and I’ll go to Cadix for sure Santiago Diaz !

Sometimes it went very good and even got to share beers with my drivers !

That day, I managed to arrive in Leon…

where I met one of the oldest friend I have had… Adrian Cartiser

He was travelling too, with his girlfriend Marine.
We went to the countryside, got lost and froze all night long but damn, that was beautiful!

It was short but I felt good to be with a friend, since the beginning of this trip had been tough.

Back on the road, I decided to head south to warm me up.
Once again, I improved my Spanish speaking with drivers. Hasta Luego Frederico !

Salamanca was on my way and I decided to stop there.
At the last minute I met Huayu, who was living and studying there.

We enjoyed tapas together and he explained me many things about his travels and how hard it is for Chinese to travel in Europe (in terms of visa).
Even if he had not much time, he was so helpful and super nice… He’d been to Morocco and gave me chills showing me how beautiful is it over there. Can’t wait ! Thanks, my friend !

As Salamanca was such a beautiful place, I decided to extend my stay (as a nice Peruvian girl proposed me to host me). I found the perfect guide too (thanks to Couchsurfing), Lydia.

She’s local and guided me all through the city.

Then I went to my host, Carolina. This amazing girl from Peru is also studying in Salamanca. Even if she had exams, she took a lot of her time to make sure I was well.
She liked my front picture so much that we made another one for her !

Hitchhiking is everything except certain. After walking hours, I ended up waiting  for the whole afternoon. Still, some drivers took me but only for few kilometers.

At that spot, I stayed for 3 hours… It gave me a lot of time to think and meditate on deep matters such as “why the hell am I still on that f***** road” !

As no one showed up, I walked to the closest city and met some locals who advised me to go in a place where you sleep for free.
I arrived there and realized it was a homeless shelter. I was not scared but definitely not in my shoes.
Most of those people live in the street and have very little to survive. I spoke with them and was overwhelmed by their kindness. They helped me to make my bed and made sure I was fine.

Just before sleeping, I met Carlos from Colombia. He left everything he knew 3 years ago because of harsh political situation and traveled in Europe without anything but hope and his smile. After I met him, I could not complain any more.
We shared a bit of the road together and exchanged what we had. I gave him my dictionary and he gave me a drawing he made… What an encounter.

 Next step : Seville !

Here is the first part of my way in Spain !

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