Maddie and I blew into San Vicente along with the rainstorm. We had walked from Cobreces through a beautiful sunny day, taking our time.
We arrived late and tired. No albergue in town. We spent maybe two hours searching and had found nothing.
The office of tourism was closed. The only albergue was permanently closed. We both agreed not to panic.
A cafe provided us with a base so we could think straight. After some web-surfing I left Maddie at the cafe to scout out a pension down the road. It was raining fiercely and I jogged through the street dodging city folk on my way to our last option. Finally I found a black door in a small alley.
I entered and stood in a dim, greasy hallway. Stairs to my left, wall to my right, another door directly in front of me.
I knocked.
Nothing.
I knocked again.
I heard shuffling behind the doorway, as if someone was coming down a hall. Fumbling at the peephole. Then nothing.
Weird.
I waited a few moments then knocked again. More shuffling. More fumbling. Nothing.
It occurred to me that this might not be the pension. I decided to go up the stairs.
I found myself standing in front of another black door. A light hung directly above it. A purple potted plant next to the door stretched it’s tendrils into the air giving the space an alien feel. I knocked. Shuffling.
A squat, plump man opened the door. He wore a plain grey shirt and was balding.
“Do you have a room?” I asked in Spanish.
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“30.”
“Can I see?”
The man turned without a word and walked back into a crooked and narrow hallway. I followed and was surprised as the floor rose and fell at unusual inclines and descents down the corridor. I turned to my right and was face to face with a teen pop star.
The poster was tacked to a door and life size. The model was posing with a hand on one hip and the other behind his head. His eyes were dark and alluring and his tight shirt was pulled up to show his stomach hair. It was a little gross.
I followed the owner down the slanted hallway hoping he had a daughter.
The man walked straight into a dark room to his computer to log me in. I was so tired I just accepted that this was where I was staying. As I walked around his desk for him to take my passport I happened to glance at his computer screen. An arcade game was open on the screen. A cartoon princess in a frilly pink dress stood on the screen surrounded by hearts and more pink. A high score showed in the background.
I averted my eyes quickly and then snapped a quick picture while the man’s back was turned. I hurried out of the building to fetch Maddie. I suspect that the man had no daughter.
Maddie and I returned to the pension. The man showed us to our room. Maddie, having seen the poster in the hall for herself, avoided eye-contact with the man altogether. I thanked him and shut the door. The two of us turned to find a room that seemed to be entirely filled with doily.
The walls of our bedroom were pink, the ceiling was pink, the beds were pink, and the whole room was covered with doily.
“What the heck?” Was the only thing Maddie and I could say to each other for about a full minute. We sank onto our beds and decided to embrace where the day had lead us. I looked out the window through the doily curtains and fell asleep below a painting of cupids in a soft pink bed.