8th Chapter - Hidalgo Hidalgo

Friday, 04 December 2015, h 21:00
Dendarikale

Once again, our plan was only to have quiet, normal episode of our project. Once again, Alex swore that he would stop after a couple of drinks to try and defeat his neverending sore throat. 

Once again, our intentions and his promises crashed against the crude alcoholic reality of BBQuest. 

The streets in Casco Viejo can be a real labyrinth when one tries to go home early: they - with the help of a growing number of supporters of our project - won't let go easily of us, once started.

The first stop of this Friday is the restaurant-bar BATZOKI, notable for its strong association with a local political party. Our friends Tiziana and Iván (an homonym of our Ivan, but 100% Basque) join the quest for the first time. The tap beer served here is Mahou Classic; Bea orders a tostada, but is a bit disappointed to be given a mere 0.25 lit. bottle of Voll-Damm instead of the regular 0.33 lit. C'mon people, really?
Fun fact: the whole bar counter is made of a single stone weighing 1227 kg.

At SARKUE our group has already grown, as we are joined by more friends, colleagues and friends of friends (shout out to Hosam for addressing Bea "the Harry Potter of beers"!). It's good for business - the bar looks ok but is empty, probably because bilbaínos have already left town for the long weekend. Ivan makes some introductions, Alex still tries to convince us that he won't sing tonight and both, sticking to their primary purpose, duly empty their glasses of Estrella Damm.

Although it would be nice to find some place indoors to let everyone sit down and enjoy, our current number makes it impossible. Instead, for our next destination we choose the bar LEKERIKA, in calle Somera, and after ordering local Boga beer we stay outside in the street: at least this way it's easier for the various groups to mingle.

Just in front lies the Chinese restaurant JADE, which needs to be included due to the fact that it keeps draft Heineken. Their cerveza is unfortunately not the best we have tried so far; anyway, the owner has a friendly smile and we try not to mind the rest. Bea orders a thick, syrupy "sweet wine" without being able to catch its name.

NEKANE, the next stop, is a place for staunch Basque independentists, as the posters and pictures on the wall clearly show. However, they don't appear too generous with the quantity of beer (Mahou Classic) in each glass. Nonetheless, as the other bars on this side of Somera at this day and time, it is full of customers.

We are happy to find that MADARIAGA has more room inside, and we can sip our Heinekens while conversing indoors. I write conversing to give us a certain dignity; you imagine a less formal and less coherent chit chat, culminating with Ivan passing around Bea's little black notebook and asking for everyone's autographs.

URKIA bar is our last stop in Somera. The real drinkers get cañas of Mahou, Bea a soy decaf macchiato (she's getting ready for the hipster party, clearly). Ivan makes friends with Carmen, a girl full of vitality and charme, also happening to be a pitbull.

Someone's proposal to continue the evening dancing is welcomed warmly by the remaining people. We head to MITOTE, a bar-night club in Belostikale. To our dismay, though, they do not have cañas! We decide to include the place all the same, because the amount of awkward but energetic dancing and raspy choruses happened there is worth of a (dis)honourable mention. The guys order bottled Heinekens; beers are soon accompanied by gin tonics, purple shots and whatnot.
The magic rythm of Latino disco music, Livin' On A Prayer and Hoy No Me Puedo Levantar soon gets everyone hitting the dance floor; the last song mentioned above is worth a Youtube search in case you are not familiar with it: Ivan especially requested it, after being thrilled of discovering this 80's pearl at his language lessons, and from the moment he learnt that all Spanish people know it, he's been using it to scientifically measure the Hispanic quotient of everyone he meets. 
Some pictures follow, for your benefit only.

We would like to conclude this episode with the following wise words dispensed by Iván:

"Hidalgo hidalgo

Hijo de puta

El que deje algo"