Friday, August 1st: After a very, very short night we wake up and pack up the Grrrmaneta for the last time in Santander. Everything is a mess, there is no system anymore, and I don’t want to work on it. I feel the emotional hangover creeping up on me, but I refuse to let it begin. I have another concert tonight to enjoy.
On the parking lot I put an Ardebogofans sticker on Grrrmanetas back door. We check out and leave Santander. Next stop Alpaka Fest.
Spain is a fascinating country. You start at the coast under the clouds, in the rain and like an hour later you crossed some mountains and are driving through a desert. „South of Burgos the weather gets better“, did the guy with the dog in Hondarribia say. I see it now. With the sun, the mood also brightens. I am looking forward to Ultraligera tonight and put the emotions about the Arde concert somewhere deep inside the mess in our car.
In Salas de los Infantes we stop at a supermarket. The navigational system then says we should turn left and sends us down a dusty road right through the fields. On the way suddenly a huge black cat appears on the way (seriously, what kind of animal was that? Any ideas, anyone?) and kind of leads the way. This cat thing is not healthy, but I swear the hardest drug I’m doing now and then is an over-the-counter medicine against migraine.
We arrive on the top of Hacinas and after a nice little drive through the town we discover not only the comfortable street that would have led us here if we had turned RIGHT at the supermarket, but also the sign that says „only residents“. First impressions, German style. How embarrassing. We find a camping spot and there are already other cars parking. Speaking of migraine, I get knocked out by one the moment the motor goes off. I somehow manage to take the medicine and fall asleep for an hour right where I am sitting.
When I wake up, the camping area is kind of crowded already. We wonder if we can leave at night at all and decide to take Grrrmaneta to the regular parking lot.
The festival is incredible, you can feel and see that this is a team effort of the whole town. The decorations are lovely and the view is stunning. We get our bracelets and walk around a bit. We see the last song of Collado Project and the Skaifas gig which is really cool. The kids having very hot spiced fries for dinner and they love it. Fast food at ten in the evening, I think they are also already Spanish converts. We meet the Ultragamberras and some of the lovely people we met yesterday.
Nacho Pistacho seem to be a big crowd pleaser, the audience is quite on fire when they finish. At midnight it’s time for Ultraligera. I somehow manage to join the folks in the first row. A woman next to me is plucking the flag I’m holding. It’s not the one with the Niedersachsenross, it’s a plain Germany flag which I decorated with the UL logo, the words „Ultraligera fans Germany“ plus logo and date of the Alpaka Fest. The woman is asking what kind of flag it is and then she stares at me in disbelief: „You came here all the way from Germany to see a concert???“ Yeah, not quite. I tell her the story and she as well as her two friends start cheering: „Oh, we like Arde Bogotá as well! We will see them live next week!“ Her male friend is a bit confused: „But those are Spanish bands. You know they sing in Spanish, right?!“ Imagine a Loriot-esque, „Ach.“ If I had a Euro for every time I heard this those past days.
Several songs later the nice woman is smiling at me, grabbing the flag and makes sure the band sees it. We call it „Völkerverständigung“ and I think it’s beautiful.
The gig is as spectacular as I thought it would be, though it’s a completely different world than what we experienced yesterday. It’s a lot of show, but nevertheless it’s great. We were joking when we arrived if we should maybe park Grrrmaneta on the festival grounds to provide some climbing options, but obviously straw bales are working just fine. When the concert is coming to an end, one of the Ultragamberras throws my flag on the stage. Before they leave, she is giving Gisme signs that it is for him and pointing to me. He picks it up, smiles at me with his grown-up rascal’s grin and takes the flag with him. That’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back – I can’t hold back the tears, the emotional hangover is kicking in with more power I had ever expected.
All the time I expected to experience this breakdown on Thursday, during Exoplaneta or La Salvación or the Ooooo of Virtud y Castigo, like I was crying like a baby during Entre dos Tierras last year because it completely throw me off the track – but there were only some tears of happiness and being overwhelmed. And now I am standing in front of the stage of a festival in the middle of the most beautiful nowhere, hugging a woman I have met only hours ago for the first time in person and crying that I don’t want to leave Spain. I expect Hollywood to call any minute asking me to tune it down a bit.
Instead, Wonderland things happen and I go home with a setlist and a guitar pick. I’ve met the most amazing people here. I will miss you all and I hope we will soon meet again.