Month / April 2016
Made it to Puente la reina
I made it to Pamplona via bus two nights ago and walked from Pamplona to puente la reina. I was very pleased to find that every town I passed through had pavement I could skate on. I did find a skate shop and park in Pamplona and I met some local skaters however in the smaller towns I have had a hard time. When I made it to Puente la Reina I asked a boy if there was a skatepark near by and he said yes just take this road “sobre la colina” (over the hill) and it will be to your right. So I skated up this hill but it just went on forever and before I knew it I was on the freeway. So I stepped over the guardrail and continued to walk up this hill. It got to the point where it wasn’t even worth it but I didn’t want to put in all the effort for nothing. Then I came to the next town mañeru is what I think it’s called. I asked a couple of people and the only thing that is there is a covered concrete soccer field. I walked all the way back to puente la Reina kicking my self that I didn’t at least bring my backpack with me and stay in mañeru. Today I am very sore to say the least.
Sacrificed one more day of walking to spending one more day in Barcelona because being here is more than a childhood dream come true. However, I must say goodbye as my bus to pamplona leaves bright and early. I have made a short video of my time in Barcelona but it doesn’t come close to portraying the true joy being in this city has brought me. If you search best skateboarding cities in the world Barcelona will come up first and for good reason. The architecture here is made for skateboarding and sometimes even on purpose. For the most part, Skate parks are simply integrated into the city landscape leaving me asking “is this a skatepark? I mean they put metal coping on all the ledges but it looks no different than any of the other plazas.” Thus, instead of feeling like you are in a cage you feel a true connection with the city landscape which is one of the most centric, if not the most centric reason that I love skateboarding so much. To me, it feels like having an authentic relationship with my environment. The U.S. doesn’t seem to quite understand this idea. In our society we stigmatize loitering or simply hanging out in the city without buying something or going somewhere so it is no surprise that we are not accepting of those of us who see the city as practically a playground. I have noticed that as Bill once put it in seminar, Barcelona is a “city for living”and I argue that the landscape and policies from a skateboarders perspective can say a lot about this. Also, I experienced for the first time the true cross cultural element that skateboarding has. Since Barcelona is practically a skate mecca (talk about pilgrimages) in the two days I have been here I have met skaters from Germany, France, U.S.A, Brazil, Japan, and Canada. I skated for hours with a woman who knew only Portuguese and while we exchanged almost no words I felt a connection through a shared passion. This is what is beautiful about skateboarding, the arts, and ultimately in passion that you may have. It has the power to cross languages and cultures and experiencing this previously known truth has brought me a lot of joy and optimism for this world.
P.S everytime I see footage of Barcelona it is of very famous modern looking plazas so I was pleasantly surprised to see the plethora of old winding narrow streets and alleyways. Why doesn’t anybody film that stuff?????????
Made it to Spain. Currently in Barcelona for the day. I always knew it was skate heaven but had no idea how amazing it is. Europe has put me in a state of ecstasy. I am going to go meet some skate friends and I will post later tonight about my day.