Wednesday, August 7, 2019 Rest Day In Santander

I know what you all have been thinking, “Mark really needs a haircut. He is starting to look like a shaggy haired bum.” I can do something about the shaggy hair but the bum part is permanently pressed into my persona. No amount of sprucing up, scrubbing, or dressing up is going to change that. Trying to take the bum out of me would be like putting lipstick on a pig.

I looked at a number of barber shops in Santander this morning trying to find just the right spot to get my locks shorn.

Elite Barbers 💈. That sounds pretty impressive. These barbers are beyond great, they are elite. But they are Traditional Turkish Barbers and I have no idea what that means. Am I going to come out of this place with a traditional Turkish shaved head? Yikes!

This place specializes in hair tattoos.

Those are not hair tattoos. Those are just bad haircuts. The novices at Heck’s Barber College did a better job at a much cheaper price. And besides, I don’t want a hair tatoo! I am not a Marine just out of boot camp. I want a haircut that won’t make me cry 😭 when the barber is done and I get my first glimpse of his or her handiwork.

This barber shop looked interesting.

It takes a great sense of humor to name your barber shop 3 Stooges Barbers. When these three tonsorial specialists picked this name for their barber shop did they really expect a lot of first time customers to walk by and say to themselves, “I need a haircut and I have always wanted to get my hair cut by one of the Three Stooges?” How would you choose which one of the 3 Stooges to cut your hair. Moe had that terrible bowl haircut. You wouldn’t want that. Curly was bald and I would never get my hair cut by a bald barber. That would be like taking your car to a mechanic who rides the bus to work. Larry had that wild Albert Einstein hair that looked like it had not seen a comb or a barber in months. I’ll opt for Albert Einstein if I am having a problem with Relativity, but I don’t think Einstein would be a good choice when I need a haircut. I would be afraid that old Al might hair tatoo E=mc squared onto my head. And then people would stop me on the street and expect me to explain the theory of Relativity, in Spanish. I don’t need to layer that hassle onto what is already a difficult Camino.

The Hair Company seemed like a safe choice.

The hospitalero at the Hostel Royality, Raquel, recommended this place and said that she gets her hair cut there. Raquel seems like she has pretty a pretty mainstream haircut so I am going to give it a shot.

And, it is only a block away from the Hostel so I won’t get lost going there. I called the Hair Company and The Colorado Cowboy 🤠 On The Camino got an appointment at high noon to get a haircut.

This morning I sacked in until 8:00 AM and then went outside for a walk around Santander. I stopped at a cafe and had first breakfast, a tortilla.

Fifteen minutes later I had second breakfast, a chocolate croissant. When I got back to the Hostel Royality they had a breakfast buffet set up so I had third breakfast, fruit and a muffin. I hope I can control my ravenous hunger until lunchtime and avoid eating a fourth breakfast.

It is now high noon and it is time for my haircut. I told the middle aged matron that was going to cut my hair that I wanted to look like this when she was done.

She laughed, pointed at the picture and said: “I’m a barber, not a plastic surgeon. You will need to find Ponce De Leon and his Fountain of Youth if you want to look like this guy.”

This is me in the barber chair.

I tried to get her to take a little more off the front. She crossed herself and looked up to the sky and implored God to shut me up and let her do her job.

This is me, shorn like a sheep and ready to get back on the Camino.

I hate it when a barber puts gel in my hair. It’s too much of a metrosexual look. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

After the haircut I wandered around Santander for a few hours and then settled down at a sidewalk cafe for a leisurely lunch.

First course paella negro.

I love paella.

Second course cod balls.

Third course cheese cake.

This is the Cathedral in Santander. I stopped in and said a prayer for Anna and everyone else on my prayer list.

That’s it for today. I hope everyone had a great Wednesday.

Good evening from Santander, Spain.