Wednesday 6th August, after dropping Michelle off at the bus station, Victor and I headed back up to the bbq. By the time we got there, it was winding down and people were leaving. So we all headed back down to the beach and went swimming in front of La Cochera. We were all there for a while, and when it got dark, we took Wali and Fabiola back to Almunecar. Then back at home, Victor and I made dinner, watched LOST and then bed. Our 3 weeks of vacation in paradise was off to a great start.
Now I wasn't very good at keeping notes on what I did during these 3 weeks. But I think it will be ok because we mostly did the same thing for 3 weeks. Victor is so tired from traveling so much that when he gets a break he just wants to veg out and do nothing. Fortunately, his parents own a lovely beachfront apartment in the perfect pueblo for doing so. The first few days may be more descriptive than others as I introduce all the La Herradura vocabulary, but then, maybe closer to the end, it will become more concise.
Here is a mini recap of what was usually our daily schedule. Normally people wake up, go to the beach, eat lunch around 2 or anytime thereafter and then go back to the beach around 5 or so. But since we were on vacation and staying out late everynight, sleeping in everyday, that pushed our whole daily schedule back as well. I would wake up around 10 or 11 or later, Victor woke up even later, usually when I went into his room to wake him up. Then we would have breakfast around noon and go down to the beach maybe around 1. In the mornings we would go right out in front of the house or in front of the Chambao de Joaquín. A Chambao is a resturant on the beach. Joaquín's chambao was on one end of the beach that had good snorkeling nearby. We would usually meet Santi and Floren there in the morning. Unfortunately, Floren would leave to go to lunch soon after we got there, and Santi a bit later. The nice thing about going down to the beach after everyone has gone to eat was that it was quiet and not crowded. Then when we got hungry around 3 or 4 we would go home, make lunch, watch several episodes of LOST and relax. Then around 6 or so we would head to La Cochera. La Cochera is the most awesome bar/cafe in the world. Every year they give it a new decoration theme, mirrors, 1st communion pictures, etc. and its always awesome and unique. It has WiFi internet, an outdoor terrace under the shade of many trees, and people go there in the afternoons for their afternoon coffees, shakes, teas, your beverage of choice to catch up and play cards. Sometimes we would meet people there, or go straight to the beach in front of La Cochera, depending on what we felt like and what time we got down there. Most of the time we missed the cafe part and showed up for the beach part. Then swimming and sun till the sun went down around 9:30 and we would head back home. Shower up, dinner and more LOST and then whatever plans we had for the evening. Victor's house was right in the middle of town and became the unofficial, and at times unwanted meeting place, wether we watned to go out or not. So the gang would all meet at our house, usually around 11 or 12, and head down to get a botellon, or go to a concert at La Cochera. If it was a good evening we would stay out till 4 or so and on our way home would stop by the bakery which was opening up and selling the freshest and most delicious baked goods on the planet. Then with a full tummy after a day of greatness it was easy to fall asleep, sleep in and repeat the process the next day.
Back to the calendar: Thursday 7th of August I woke up and tried to organize all the stuff that I brought and just dumped everywhere. Between the two of us, I also had to do a load of laundry as well. By then, Victor had woken up, or I woke him up and we warmed up to the day by watching a few episodes of LOST. We are totally hooked and had most of the second season to finish and the whole 3rd season waiting for us. After that we headed down to the beach for a swim and some sun. Victor would swim out to the bouys several times a day to practice and I would go about halfway. There are also these really cool floating platforms just off the shoreline that have diving boards and a slide on them for everyone to use. They were really fun. After a while we came home and I made fajitas which turned out delicious! We watched Lost and then went and hung out with the gang at La Cochera, went swimming and then probably came home, ate dinner, watched more Lost and then did soemthing in the evening. My notes have a question mark and then say "no idea." :)
Here are my notes for Friday August 8th: "Same, cochera @ nite, jose." So yeah some of my notes are really bad. What this means is that we repeated the same beach process and in the evening went to La Cochera. It was nice because our good friend Jose, who was not on vacation and hanging out with everyone got off work and was able to come down and hang out with everybody. I remember it was fun. :)
Saturday 9 August we did the same thing. I remember I didn't really feel like going out much in the evening but we did because it was the last night El Gallego was going to be there. El Gallego, or Javier is a friend from Galicia, who comes there every summer.
Sunday 10 August we did the same. That evening though, at the beach in front of the Cochera, Antonio and Bea had the idea to have dinner at our house. It came from me suggesting and inviting them to lunch several times when I was going to make fajitas or some other special American dish I had been saving. So they invited themselves over for mexican, but unfortunately it was Sunday evening and nothign was open, so I could not do Mexican. I even went on a motorcycle ride with Antonio to see if the campground store was open but it wasnt. We invited them over anyways and I delegated stuff for people to bring, mostly drinks and snacks. We then went home and showered and started getting stuff ready. Victor went and ordered pizzas, I made a salad and whipped out some deviled eggs (my first time!) I don't know how we did it but we made a huge salad, cleaned up, a dozen deviled eggs and were ready to have company in record breaking time. We had a good crowd, Antonio and Bea, Santi and Floren and Victor and myself. Dinner was a success and afterwards I showed them how to play Uno and Pit. It was so much fun! They loved Pit and it was seriously so fun. I love sharing American stuff!! It was a really good evening.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Michelle's Beach Birthday
So still the evening of Monday, August 4th after a crazy day on 3 hours of sleep, Victor and I packed up the car with a ton of stuff and Michelle and headed down to my favorite place in the world, La Herradura. We got there and unloaded the car which only moved the disaster of stuff I had brought from one place to another, but it sufficed. Then we went to the best bar in the pueblo, La Barrica. We got tapas and a rosco for dinner. The bar was packed as always but we totally succeeded and got a table and 3 chairs, because of positve thinking and because it was Michelle's birthday eve. After dinner we then headed back up to the house and freshened up. It had been a long, stinky, hot day. Then we were invited up to Santi and Antonio's house for a botellon. They have a beautiful house right on the sea cliff so its always nice to go there. It was pretty fun, but after sitting for a while, I started to feel the effects of 3 hours of sleep and such a hectic day and I was getting really tired. It was also the first time all the summer beach friends were reunited so they had a lot of catching up to do that left Michelle and I a little out of the loop. We were there till probably 3AM, before going home and going straight to bed, all in all a wonderful welcome back to the world of La Herradura.
Wednesday August 6th, I woke up and went to the store. Victor's beach friend, Maria, had invited us to a potluck bbq at her house that day and I had volunteered to make potato salad. After getting the ingredients for the potato salad, Michelle had woken up and we went to the bakery again for breakfast food. Then Michelle headed down to the beach, and I made the salad. Then we all went down and we met up with Wali and Fabiola, who were also going to the bbq. Then all 5 of us headed up to Maria's huge, impressive house and enjoyed the bbq and pool. There were a lot of people there that I knew, but also a lot that I didn't know. Thankfully, my potato salad was a huge success!! Lots of people kept going back for seconds or thirds and there was only a little bit left at the end of the day. I love it when people enjoy American dishes that I make. There was a lot of delicious food there, meat, fish, and salads. Unfortunately, we had to take Michelle back to the bus stop so she could get ready and be back for work on time, so we did that. As we were leaving we saw a really cool cameleon walking across the driveway and saw it changing colors. Back down in the pueblo, we stopped by the bakery, one last time, and dropped her off at the bus stop. I love Michelle and I know it was hard for her to spend a lot of time alone in Granada this summer, but I really hope she had a great birthday weekend with us at the beach.
The Voice of Oligra
Nacho's company is called Oligra, the first video I did. The second part of their company is called Fergamar. This is a little clip from the second script I recorded. It's silly but it's pretty cool to be the voice of Oligra. :)
Mayhem
Monday August 4th, despite going to bed at 5 or 6 AM, I was up at 9 and called to get a waxing appointment, which thankfully they had later on in the morning. I started a much needed load of laundry and used the internet for a bit. I took a shower and was in my room getting ready when the doorbell rang. I figured it was Pepa and as I was getting ready to go answer the door, the door opened. I instantly knew it wasn't Pepa and I also knew that Adrian was in his room asleep. There was only 1 other person who it could be: the landlord. Fear struck my heart. I'm not sure what I posted in my blog about what had been going on with the landlord since I left but heres a recap. Near the end of June, the landlord came and gave us all our deposit back. I told him that I wasn't coming back next year, but I didn't tell him that I wanted to stay there all summer. He told Adrian that he could stay there during the summer and just pay the utilities. I told Adrian that I would split the utilities with him, and he said that was fine, the landlord never stopped by anyway. So then Rosa and Zore moved out and stole the bed which ruined everything. The landlord was there all the time with Adrian trying to sort things out and therefore noticed that I hadn't moved out. Adri told him I left on a trip and would move out soon. Well we don't know what made him want to stop by on that particular morning I had just gotten out of the shower but he did. So I was in my room, scared to death and listening to see what he was doing, praying he wouldn't come in. I called Adrian and sent him and text message but he had his phone on silent so he didn't hear it. I heard the landlord walking around, lower the shades in the living room and then I didn't hear anything. I stayed trapped in my room for a while longer trying to hear. I finally convinced myself that he was gone, and if he wasn't I didn't care. So I ventured out to explore and to my relief he was gone. I was so scared and didn't know what to do. Michelle came over, after having been friend deprived for so long and we went to my waxing appointment together and chatted. I got something to eat on the way home and back at home we entered the living to find the landlord sitting there reading the paper!!! I asked him what he was doing there, and he said he was just in his house taking a look around and asked what I was doing there, since he had returned my deposit and that meant that I was no longer living there. I explained that I was a guest of Adrian and had just returned from a long trip, which he didn't buy. I got tired of arguing with him and he said that in a little bit he would wake up Adrian and we would all talk. Michelle went and hid in my room for a while, shocked at what had taken place. After a bit, I moved my laundry to the dryer, called Victor and Michelle and I just left without saying goodbye. We went and saw Michelle's new house she had moved to while I was gone and visited for a while. Then Victor called me and picked me up from Michelles, we stopped by my piso for a last minute laundry fix. There I saw Adrian and he told me that the landlord had woken him up and left me a note on my door. It said that I had to be out by that evening or we could work out a reasonable amout to pay. I grabbed my note and ran downstairs to where Victor was waiting in the car. We went to Los Ogijares for la quick unch with Pepa and Emilio and then back to Granada. Then before 4 we headed to another pueblo in Granada. Nacho had called me while I was in Greece about an English speaking job. Victor had called the people while I was gone and set up an appointment to do it that afternoon, before we headed to the beach. So we went and did that. I was recording the script into English that I had translated earlier in the year. The guy was a friend of Nacho's and really nice and we got the first video done and then took a break. We watched a video Nacho and Raul and a bunch of his friends made as a gag. It was really funny. Then we recorded the second script which went much smoother than the first and then we went home. Back at my place we frantically started shoving stuff into garbage bags and suitcases and carrying it downstairs. So I invaded Pepa's house with all my junk completely unorganized. I thought it was going to be much worse that it was, but since all we had to do was grab everything and since I didn't actually organize anything, it was over pretty quickly. Then I grabbed a bunch of stuff I wanted to take to the beach, including food. Michelle came over and after a crazy day of mayhem we headed to the beach!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Saturday 26 July I slept in a bit, woke up and went and had breakfast with Mada and Jose in the kitchen. I took a shower, got ready and we loaded up all the food and gear necessary to make a giant paella on the beach. The whole family, Jose, Mada, Guanchi and me loaded up into Jose's orange Volkswagen van along with several surf boards, the food, towels and gear to set up camp. We headed out on the town and drove through windy roads for quite a ways. We finally got to the special beach we were going to and started to set up camp. Jose has an awning that attaches to his van and we set that up. Then Mada and I climed over the volcanic rocks to the water's edge. Then we laid out on the rocks and chatted and sunbathed. Then Sergio and Koki got there and more and more people eventually did as well. The paella was underway, cutting and cooking. It's a long process, but Jose was the master chef. Mada and I went down to the beach for a bit, also pitch black sand and sat with other people. Finally around 5PM the paella was ready. It was pretty good, especially since we were all so hungry. Someone had brought a special chocolate cake for Magdalena, since chocolate is her favorite food in the whole world. After lunch people took naps in their vans, cars and on the rocks and beach. Eventually people started leaving and we cleaned up and left too. It had been a long, fun day. Back at home we unloaded, I talked on the phone to Alicia and Victor. We took a shower and we ate a light dinner while watching Eddie Murphy's 1988 movie, Coming to America. Afterwards I went to bed.
Sunday 27 July I woke up again and met Jose and Mada in the kitchen for breakfast. Jose had to go meet with his dad and there wasn't really a plan for the day, so I just watched tv. Mada had told me, after telling me I could come whenever, that the dates I did choose weren't really good for her. Jose works two jobs and she is busy getting her her dental laboratory up and running with Sergio. It's not that I was a burden, she just wasn't going to be able to entertain me and run me around and show me things like she wanted to. I assured her it was ok and planned my trip to include 2 weekends to take advantage of. I was a little dissapointed that on a Sunday I was watching tv, but oh well. We walked the dog and then got ready to go to their friend's Sunday morning concert. It was pretty good, a Spanish band that sang in unintelligable English, but it was fun to go to a concert, like I used to in my old college days. Then afterwards we came home and Mada cooked up a pasta and we watched the Gooonies on tv, and slipped into a siesta. After that, Jose went to exercise or something and Mada and I took Guanchi to la Isleta, the little island off the coast of Las Palmas, which is now connected by a big bridge. We drove around a bit, rented a movie with George Clooney in it, Michael Clayton. Then as per the usue at the end of the day, I went to bed.
Monday 28 July I woke up and was all alone at home. I dinked around most of the morning doing goodness knows what, and finally showered and left the house. I used the map I picked up in the airport to get to the nearest tourist information office, which, because Mada and Jose live far away up on top of a mountain, was about 30 minutes away. I got all the info I could want on Las Palmas and headed to the bus stop that would take me to Triana, the shopping district of the city. I found the park where the bus stopped, looked around and got on the bus. It took a while, but when I saw an H&M I knew I was there and got off. Unfortunately, they didn't have the sunglasses I wanted so I kept shopping. I found a cd store and bought a cd for my guitar teacher Antonio and a Jarabe de Palo one for me. Then I found a Bocatta and had a nice salad, sandwich, yougart with a drink meal deal. Then I continued on to Vegeta, the historic area of the city. I visited the cathedral, the mueseum inside it and took the elevator up to the top of the bell tower. By this time I was pooped and took a nap on a bench in a square in front of the cathedral. Then I wandered around some more, and talked on the phone for a long time to my mom and dad, bringing them up to speed on some of my more recent adventures. Then I headed into the Casa de Colon, or Christopher Coloumbus' house. I know that dude has more birth and death places and places of residence than any other famous person, but he has a house in Las Palmas too. It was actually a pretty cool museum about his journey to the Americas, with a lot of old cool maps and interesting, nerd, touristy stuff I just love. After that I looked around in more shops, stopped by a church, bought a bus pass and finally headed home. When I got back Mada and I walked the dog, made and ate dinner with Jose, watched tv, I talked on the phone and went to bed.
Tuesday 29 July I woke up early because their cleaning lady came over. I took a shower, ate breakfast and got a waxing appointment at a salon next door. Then I tried to buy some milk but gave up and because it was overcast, decided to go to a nearby mall. Victor had asked me to get him a specific t-shirt in Greece, which despite my best efforts, I never found. I searched for the appropiate gift in Mallorca and was once again unsuccessful. I had also been looking for some beach cover-ups for my mom sister and I. So I was on a mission and had to complete it in Las Palmas. Mada had told me there were some cool souvenir/ traditional Canarian stores in the mall I went to every store in. I missed them or she was mistaken, because it was just like every other mall in the world, nothing typical or traditional about it. Slightly frustrated I headed towards el Pueblo Canario. Mada and my tourist info told me it was a small area set up like an old time pueblo of the Canary Islands, that had cute resturants, and lots of shops with great gifts in them. Maybe because I got there close to closing time, or because the tourist book had to exaggerate to get people to go there, it sucked. There was 1 really expensive resturant and 1 really crappy store and a museum I didn't feel like going into. Also by this time, the sun had come out. During the month of July Las Palmas suffers from La Panza del Burro. Where all the clouds get trapped between the mountains and keep it cloudly and chilly almost always. Taking this into consideration and the gloomy weather the day began with I planned on doing indoor touristy things, both of which flopped at an early stage in the day. Now I was really upset. Giftless, swimsuitless and foodless, I took the bus back, got ripped off by ordering a way too expensive salad and wandered into an internet cafe. I bought a 3 hour internet card for the rest of the week. It had been so long since I had used the internet and I was so frustrated, that I used up all 3 hours at once, checked my 85 emails and chatted with Michelle online. Sometimes you just need to spend a day on the internet. Then I headed back home. Mada's housing complex has a pool, gym and sauna and she said she was going to show me where they were. Otherwise there was no way I was going to find them. Her housing complex was a maze of houses, but this provided a challenge. No one tells me I won't be able to find something. So I changed clothes and set out to find them, which, of course I did. I went for a run on the treadmill overlooking the water, went for a dip in the pool and then a session in the sauna. I went back home and showered and started working a bit on my Greece blog. Then Mada came home and we made dinner watched tv and went to bed.
Wednesday 30 July Mada woke me up for a change of plans. The original plan was for me to wake up when I wanted, (I was planning on running again) and then calling Mada for her to come get me and take me to work with her. Turns out she was going to go in later so I could go with her, as in right then. So I went with her to the laboratory, which was really cool to see. She hadn't let anyone see it yet, but since I wasn't going to be around for its opening, she let me see it early. So I saw it in like 3 seconds and then used the internet in her office. It would have been great had I not spent 3 hours the day before on the internet. I still had emails to read and can always waste more time on the internet, but since her computer was a Mac, I coudln't bring up the document I had worked on the day before for my blog. So that's what I spent my morning doing. I went and had breakfast with Sergio, who treated me at a nearby cafe, but other than that just used the internet. Then we went home and had lunch with Mada and Jose and watched tv. That afternoon, Koki picked me up and took me to the beach with him. It was a neat beach and I laid out while he surfed. I swam a bit, but the waves were pretty big and not really swimming water. The bummer part was when a large group of adolescent hooligans next to me decided to get in a large scale sand fight and didn't apologize or say anything when I got caught in the cross fire. After a bit Koki came back and we headed back to his house. I used the internet a bit and bought a ticket to the Painted Caves of Galdar the next morning. Then we went down to the beach and had a drink and a tapa on the waterfront. Mada came and met us when she got off work for round 2. Then Mada took me home, I showered and we watched tv, ate dinner and went to bed.
Thursday 31 July I slept in, went for a run and then swam at the pool. Then I came back for a shower and met Mada and Jose for lunch. In the afternoon, Jose's sister Laura took me to Galdar to the painted caves. Even though I had bought a ticket for the morning, the night before when she offered to drive, I changed my plans and went in the afternoon. We got there a little early, bought tickets and walked around. I was on the lookout for gifts but had no luck. The caves were pretty cool but had a 3D video which I can't stand. The caves are the old home of the aboriginies that lived on the Canary Islands. It had their old hosues and had a lot of information about how they lived and when the Spanish came and took over. The main event is a cave where you can see their cave paintings. It was pretty cool, but I was a little underwhelmed. After that on our way to the car, this guys stopped Laura in the street to hit on her. It was amazing! Then back at home I went on a walk and to a small shopping center near Mada's house. I talked for a while on the phone to my dad and then when I got home talked to Mada. She was feeling sick and not hungry, and didn't know what to make for dinner so I offered to make dinner for Jose and myself. I made scrambled eggs with cheese and tomato sandwiches. He liked it a lot or at least faked it really well, and we watched tv and went to bed.
Friday 1 August I woke up and went running, took a shower and went to get my legs waxed. It turned out to be a huge dissapointment as the girl did a horrible job and wouldn't do what I wanted her to do and charged me a ridiculously expensive price for such a bad job. I was so angry I called Michelle to vent and asked her to look up the number for the place I got to in Granada so I could make another appointment. Then I stopped by the internet cafe for a quick minute and headed on the bus to Triana. I looked around a few of the tourist shops and finally found a gift for Victor, a cool painted plate, typical of the islands, and a magnet for me, Jose and Mada and some honey rum. Then I visited the Museo Canario, which was actually really cool. It had a big section of mummified bodies and skulls, where they could see evidence of them having cut holes in their skulls for medicinal purposes. It was pretty cool but the guy working there was quite rude. Then I talked on the phone to my mom while shopping for lunch at a grocery store. I finally bought sandwich stuff and headed back towards the beach on the bus. I went to the beach closest to Mada's house, which in the hub-bub of the week I had neglected to go to. I left to got back to meet Mada to go pick out costumes for a party we were going to. On my way up the mountain, I actually ran into Mada and Sergio in the car. I hopped in and we went shopping. I ended up finding 2 cover-ups for my mom and sister, but not one for me. We bought Mada's costume and some shoes and Koki met us. Then we went to Jose's mom and sister's house and picked up a costume Laura was letting me borrow. Then the 4 of us went to this really awesome cliffside cafe and had a few rounds of drinks and tapas. Then we dropped the boys off and went home, showered and went to bed.
Saturday 2 August we woke up early and Mada and I headed South to the touristy beaches of Maspalomas. This was the area of the island that is all hotels and bungalows and tourist-town. We had to park the car in a paid parking lot and went to the beach. We also bought some cold water. Then we headed to the beach. It was really hot and the tide came up really fast. So fast in fact that it caught us by suprise and soaked our towels. It was a long beach with a lot of sand, a big row of the pay umbrellas and seats and then the water when the tide came up. So our only choice was to move back behind the pay chairs into the scoarching desert sand. We tried that for a while, till Mada said she would treat me to a drink from the Kiosk. As with most things in tourist areas, it was really expensive and after paying for it, Mada realized that she didn't have any more money. I also only had about 5 Euros. We were going to get sandwiches and ice creams too, but realized we had to pay to get the car out of the parking lot too. So we decided to go, sans lunch, and had barely enough money to get the car out. We headed home, stopped by an ATM, and I ate some leftover spaghetti for lunch. We showered and got ready to go to the Romeria. Mada did my makeup, always an adventure and we dressed up like peasants. We were going to la Romeria de Santa Brigida. The festival of a nearby town. We were having a private bus take us and 40 other friends there at 4:30, drop us off and then pick us up at 3:30 in the morning. Our costumes were ridiculous but awesome because everyone dressed up. The romeria was fun, lots of people, food, dancing, a procession and craziness. I had a good time telling jokes and hearing them as Koki and Jose are joke masters. It was really fun and nuts, the only bad part was trying to order sandwiches, which took over an hour because of all the people. Mada and Jose left early, kind of ditching me, but I was still with Sergio and Koki. We stayed till the bus got us as 3:30 and then when it dropped us off again in Las Palmas I took a taxi home and called Mada to let me in. Exhausted after a great night of Spanish ridiculousness, I peeled off my peasant clothes and crawled into bed for some much needed sleep.
Sunday 3 August despite my non-alcoholic hangover, I woke up at 8 to pack, organize and transfer my pictures to Mada's computer. Jose brought us churros for breakfast and said goodbye as he had to go meet with his dad. I visited with Mada and she showed me her pictures and I showed her ones from the last year and my family. Then I had to shower and get ready to leave. She took me to the airport and dropped me off. I was sad to say goodbye. Then I checked in and went through security. I had a lot of time to shop and sample all the types of Canarian food they were trying to sell. Tasting all the different types of Mojo Picon they sold ended up being a bad idea after romeria food and churros. I bought a soda to settle my stomach and walked up and down the airport shopping. My flight was late and I was getting more and more frustrated with Vueling. I had originally chosen my flight to leave at 8AM, so I could arrive in Madrid at 12, and then to Granada at a decent hour after that. But they changed it to leave at 3, pushing my arrival to Madrid back to 7 which meant I had to book it to the bus station to try and catch the 9:30 bus. It seems like I would have more than enough time, but I had dealt with airports, the Metro in Madrid and the bus station enough times to know that it was going to be close. So my flight left almost an hour late. When I got to the airport, I called Alicia and made plans to meet her in the Metro. She rode with me and we chatted to the bus station where I rushed to the ticket counter by 8PM. To my dismay, but not necessicarily to my suprise, all 3 9:30PM busses to Granada were sold out. I almost started crying as I bought a ticket for 11:30PM. Victor called to see what time I would be in and I told him the sad truth. 4:30AM. Alicia and I tried several times to go to the shopping center next to the bus station and finally succeded in escaping from the maze of the Metro/bus station. We went and had dinner at the Corte Ingles and then shopped around for a wedding gift for her friend. Then we had some more time to kill in the It was really great to spend some time with her as I knew I wouldn't see her again before I left. She sent me off on the bus and I headed off on my last 5 hour journey to Granada. I read the Davinci Code as I was trying to finish it so I could give it back to Adrian. It seemed like the longest trip ever but I finally made it back to Granada and Victor picked me up and took me home. It was so great to be done travelling and living out of a suitcase and to be with Victor again. Little did I know what the next day had in store for me...
Sunday 27 July I woke up again and met Jose and Mada in the kitchen for breakfast. Jose had to go meet with his dad and there wasn't really a plan for the day, so I just watched tv. Mada had told me, after telling me I could come whenever, that the dates I did choose weren't really good for her. Jose works two jobs and she is busy getting her her dental laboratory up and running with Sergio. It's not that I was a burden, she just wasn't going to be able to entertain me and run me around and show me things like she wanted to. I assured her it was ok and planned my trip to include 2 weekends to take advantage of. I was a little dissapointed that on a Sunday I was watching tv, but oh well. We walked the dog and then got ready to go to their friend's Sunday morning concert. It was pretty good, a Spanish band that sang in unintelligable English, but it was fun to go to a concert, like I used to in my old college days. Then afterwards we came home and Mada cooked up a pasta and we watched the Gooonies on tv, and slipped into a siesta. After that, Jose went to exercise or something and Mada and I took Guanchi to la Isleta, the little island off the coast of Las Palmas, which is now connected by a big bridge. We drove around a bit, rented a movie with George Clooney in it, Michael Clayton. Then as per the usue at the end of the day, I went to bed.
Monday 28 July I woke up and was all alone at home. I dinked around most of the morning doing goodness knows what, and finally showered and left the house. I used the map I picked up in the airport to get to the nearest tourist information office, which, because Mada and Jose live far away up on top of a mountain, was about 30 minutes away. I got all the info I could want on Las Palmas and headed to the bus stop that would take me to Triana, the shopping district of the city. I found the park where the bus stopped, looked around and got on the bus. It took a while, but when I saw an H&M I knew I was there and got off. Unfortunately, they didn't have the sunglasses I wanted so I kept shopping. I found a cd store and bought a cd for my guitar teacher Antonio and a Jarabe de Palo one for me. Then I found a Bocatta and had a nice salad, sandwich, yougart with a drink meal deal. Then I continued on to Vegeta, the historic area of the city. I visited the cathedral, the mueseum inside it and took the elevator up to the top of the bell tower. By this time I was pooped and took a nap on a bench in a square in front of the cathedral. Then I wandered around some more, and talked on the phone for a long time to my mom and dad, bringing them up to speed on some of my more recent adventures. Then I headed into the Casa de Colon, or Christopher Coloumbus' house. I know that dude has more birth and death places and places of residence than any other famous person, but he has a house in Las Palmas too. It was actually a pretty cool museum about his journey to the Americas, with a lot of old cool maps and interesting, nerd, touristy stuff I just love. After that I looked around in more shops, stopped by a church, bought a bus pass and finally headed home. When I got back Mada and I walked the dog, made and ate dinner with Jose, watched tv, I talked on the phone and went to bed.
Tuesday 29 July I woke up early because their cleaning lady came over. I took a shower, ate breakfast and got a waxing appointment at a salon next door. Then I tried to buy some milk but gave up and because it was overcast, decided to go to a nearby mall. Victor had asked me to get him a specific t-shirt in Greece, which despite my best efforts, I never found. I searched for the appropiate gift in Mallorca and was once again unsuccessful. I had also been looking for some beach cover-ups for my mom sister and I. So I was on a mission and had to complete it in Las Palmas. Mada had told me there were some cool souvenir/ traditional Canarian stores in the mall I went to every store in. I missed them or she was mistaken, because it was just like every other mall in the world, nothing typical or traditional about it. Slightly frustrated I headed towards el Pueblo Canario. Mada and my tourist info told me it was a small area set up like an old time pueblo of the Canary Islands, that had cute resturants, and lots of shops with great gifts in them. Maybe because I got there close to closing time, or because the tourist book had to exaggerate to get people to go there, it sucked. There was 1 really expensive resturant and 1 really crappy store and a museum I didn't feel like going into. Also by this time, the sun had come out. During the month of July Las Palmas suffers from La Panza del Burro. Where all the clouds get trapped between the mountains and keep it cloudly and chilly almost always. Taking this into consideration and the gloomy weather the day began with I planned on doing indoor touristy things, both of which flopped at an early stage in the day. Now I was really upset. Giftless, swimsuitless and foodless, I took the bus back, got ripped off by ordering a way too expensive salad and wandered into an internet cafe. I bought a 3 hour internet card for the rest of the week. It had been so long since I had used the internet and I was so frustrated, that I used up all 3 hours at once, checked my 85 emails and chatted with Michelle online. Sometimes you just need to spend a day on the internet. Then I headed back home. Mada's housing complex has a pool, gym and sauna and she said she was going to show me where they were. Otherwise there was no way I was going to find them. Her housing complex was a maze of houses, but this provided a challenge. No one tells me I won't be able to find something. So I changed clothes and set out to find them, which, of course I did. I went for a run on the treadmill overlooking the water, went for a dip in the pool and then a session in the sauna. I went back home and showered and started working a bit on my Greece blog. Then Mada came home and we made dinner watched tv and went to bed.
Wednesday 30 July Mada woke me up for a change of plans. The original plan was for me to wake up when I wanted, (I was planning on running again) and then calling Mada for her to come get me and take me to work with her. Turns out she was going to go in later so I could go with her, as in right then. So I went with her to the laboratory, which was really cool to see. She hadn't let anyone see it yet, but since I wasn't going to be around for its opening, she let me see it early. So I saw it in like 3 seconds and then used the internet in her office. It would have been great had I not spent 3 hours the day before on the internet. I still had emails to read and can always waste more time on the internet, but since her computer was a Mac, I coudln't bring up the document I had worked on the day before for my blog. So that's what I spent my morning doing. I went and had breakfast with Sergio, who treated me at a nearby cafe, but other than that just used the internet. Then we went home and had lunch with Mada and Jose and watched tv. That afternoon, Koki picked me up and took me to the beach with him. It was a neat beach and I laid out while he surfed. I swam a bit, but the waves were pretty big and not really swimming water. The bummer part was when a large group of adolescent hooligans next to me decided to get in a large scale sand fight and didn't apologize or say anything when I got caught in the cross fire. After a bit Koki came back and we headed back to his house. I used the internet a bit and bought a ticket to the Painted Caves of Galdar the next morning. Then we went down to the beach and had a drink and a tapa on the waterfront. Mada came and met us when she got off work for round 2. Then Mada took me home, I showered and we watched tv, ate dinner and went to bed.
Thursday 31 July I slept in, went for a run and then swam at the pool. Then I came back for a shower and met Mada and Jose for lunch. In the afternoon, Jose's sister Laura took me to Galdar to the painted caves. Even though I had bought a ticket for the morning, the night before when she offered to drive, I changed my plans and went in the afternoon. We got there a little early, bought tickets and walked around. I was on the lookout for gifts but had no luck. The caves were pretty cool but had a 3D video which I can't stand. The caves are the old home of the aboriginies that lived on the Canary Islands. It had their old hosues and had a lot of information about how they lived and when the Spanish came and took over. The main event is a cave where you can see their cave paintings. It was pretty cool, but I was a little underwhelmed. After that on our way to the car, this guys stopped Laura in the street to hit on her. It was amazing! Then back at home I went on a walk and to a small shopping center near Mada's house. I talked for a while on the phone to my dad and then when I got home talked to Mada. She was feeling sick and not hungry, and didn't know what to make for dinner so I offered to make dinner for Jose and myself. I made scrambled eggs with cheese and tomato sandwiches. He liked it a lot or at least faked it really well, and we watched tv and went to bed.
Friday 1 August I woke up and went running, took a shower and went to get my legs waxed. It turned out to be a huge dissapointment as the girl did a horrible job and wouldn't do what I wanted her to do and charged me a ridiculously expensive price for such a bad job. I was so angry I called Michelle to vent and asked her to look up the number for the place I got to in Granada so I could make another appointment. Then I stopped by the internet cafe for a quick minute and headed on the bus to Triana. I looked around a few of the tourist shops and finally found a gift for Victor, a cool painted plate, typical of the islands, and a magnet for me, Jose and Mada and some honey rum. Then I visited the Museo Canario, which was actually really cool. It had a big section of mummified bodies and skulls, where they could see evidence of them having cut holes in their skulls for medicinal purposes. It was pretty cool but the guy working there was quite rude. Then I talked on the phone to my mom while shopping for lunch at a grocery store. I finally bought sandwich stuff and headed back towards the beach on the bus. I went to the beach closest to Mada's house, which in the hub-bub of the week I had neglected to go to. I left to got back to meet Mada to go pick out costumes for a party we were going to. On my way up the mountain, I actually ran into Mada and Sergio in the car. I hopped in and we went shopping. I ended up finding 2 cover-ups for my mom and sister, but not one for me. We bought Mada's costume and some shoes and Koki met us. Then we went to Jose's mom and sister's house and picked up a costume Laura was letting me borrow. Then the 4 of us went to this really awesome cliffside cafe and had a few rounds of drinks and tapas. Then we dropped the boys off and went home, showered and went to bed.
Saturday 2 August we woke up early and Mada and I headed South to the touristy beaches of Maspalomas. This was the area of the island that is all hotels and bungalows and tourist-town. We had to park the car in a paid parking lot and went to the beach. We also bought some cold water. Then we headed to the beach. It was really hot and the tide came up really fast. So fast in fact that it caught us by suprise and soaked our towels. It was a long beach with a lot of sand, a big row of the pay umbrellas and seats and then the water when the tide came up. So our only choice was to move back behind the pay chairs into the scoarching desert sand. We tried that for a while, till Mada said she would treat me to a drink from the Kiosk. As with most things in tourist areas, it was really expensive and after paying for it, Mada realized that she didn't have any more money. I also only had about 5 Euros. We were going to get sandwiches and ice creams too, but realized we had to pay to get the car out of the parking lot too. So we decided to go, sans lunch, and had barely enough money to get the car out. We headed home, stopped by an ATM, and I ate some leftover spaghetti for lunch. We showered and got ready to go to the Romeria. Mada did my makeup, always an adventure and we dressed up like peasants. We were going to la Romeria de Santa Brigida. The festival of a nearby town. We were having a private bus take us and 40 other friends there at 4:30, drop us off and then pick us up at 3:30 in the morning. Our costumes were ridiculous but awesome because everyone dressed up. The romeria was fun, lots of people, food, dancing, a procession and craziness. I had a good time telling jokes and hearing them as Koki and Jose are joke masters. It was really fun and nuts, the only bad part was trying to order sandwiches, which took over an hour because of all the people. Mada and Jose left early, kind of ditching me, but I was still with Sergio and Koki. We stayed till the bus got us as 3:30 and then when it dropped us off again in Las Palmas I took a taxi home and called Mada to let me in. Exhausted after a great night of Spanish ridiculousness, I peeled off my peasant clothes and crawled into bed for some much needed sleep.
Sunday 3 August despite my non-alcoholic hangover, I woke up at 8 to pack, organize and transfer my pictures to Mada's computer. Jose brought us churros for breakfast and said goodbye as he had to go meet with his dad. I visited with Mada and she showed me her pictures and I showed her ones from the last year and my family. Then I had to shower and get ready to leave. She took me to the airport and dropped me off. I was sad to say goodbye. Then I checked in and went through security. I had a lot of time to shop and sample all the types of Canarian food they were trying to sell. Tasting all the different types of Mojo Picon they sold ended up being a bad idea after romeria food and churros. I bought a soda to settle my stomach and walked up and down the airport shopping. My flight was late and I was getting more and more frustrated with Vueling. I had originally chosen my flight to leave at 8AM, so I could arrive in Madrid at 12, and then to Granada at a decent hour after that. But they changed it to leave at 3, pushing my arrival to Madrid back to 7 which meant I had to book it to the bus station to try and catch the 9:30 bus. It seems like I would have more than enough time, but I had dealt with airports, the Metro in Madrid and the bus station enough times to know that it was going to be close. So my flight left almost an hour late. When I got to the airport, I called Alicia and made plans to meet her in the Metro. She rode with me and we chatted to the bus station where I rushed to the ticket counter by 8PM. To my dismay, but not necessicarily to my suprise, all 3 9:30PM busses to Granada were sold out. I almost started crying as I bought a ticket for 11:30PM. Victor called to see what time I would be in and I told him the sad truth. 4:30AM. Alicia and I tried several times to go to the shopping center next to the bus station and finally succeded in escaping from the maze of the Metro/bus station. We went and had dinner at the Corte Ingles and then shopped around for a wedding gift for her friend. Then we had some more time to kill in the It was really great to spend some time with her as I knew I wouldn't see her again before I left. She sent me off on the bus and I headed off on my last 5 hour journey to Granada. I read the Davinci Code as I was trying to finish it so I could give it back to Adrian. It seemed like the longest trip ever but I finally made it back to Granada and Victor picked me up and took me home. It was so great to be done travelling and living out of a suitcase and to be with Victor again. Little did I know what the next day had in store for me...
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Mallorca
So Monday 21 July we got up really early and walked to the airport. My flight left at 6:50 or something like that so it was a really early morning. Our little group was Rosa, Toni, Alicia and me. Rosa and I waited in the long line and checked in, and then Toni and Alicia went to see if they could hitchhike with our plane there, since that is what pilots and flight attendants do. Thankfully they could and we all went to Mallorca. We got there and Toni drove us to Petra, the birthplace of the founder of California. I didn't know who the founder of California was so he told me Fray Junipero Serra. I was shocked!! Father Serra was also the founder of several California Missions, including the Carmel Mission, which I had visited, studied, built a model of, and written a report about! And I remembered. I was really excited to be visiting his hometown. We were going to eat breakfast there, but unfortunatly it was the morning after an all night party for the town so everything was closed. We walked around a bit, saw a famous church, where supposedly on the inside has all the cities and saints of California in order, example, San Diego to San Francisco. It was closed as was the house and museum where he was born and another church. Apart from everything being closed, my experience was slightly ruined by Alicia and Rosa, who could care less about podunk pueblos, but I really liked it and thanked Toni for taking me there. Then we stopped to eat breakfast at a truck stop place and had the typical island breakfast, Pamboli. Pamboli is several large slices of bread with tomato, pickled vegetables and your choice of toppings. I had good ham and cheese. It was delicious! I also loved hearing Toni speak Mallorquin, the dialect used there, which we would hear all throughout the trip. Then we stopped and bought a melon and headed to Toni's house. It was a really nice house in a great location in another pueblo, La Colonia de San Jordi. He is in the process of remodeling and fixing it up, as it it his secondary home, so Alicia and he started to clean and put things together. Rosa and I went to the store and got water and few other things, and then while they were cleanign we fells asleep for a nap. Around lunchtime we woke up and we went to get lunch. Then we went to a beach, which was really nice. The beaches in Mallorca had white sand and the wather was really warm. It was great for swimming and playing around. Also behind you, there was nature, bushes and trees, a change from the buildings typical to other parts of Spain. So after a bit on the beach we headed home and Toni and Alicia showered. They had to head back to Madrid (hitchhiking on another plane) to work the next day and left. Rosa and I then showered, ate dinner, watched tv and went to bed.
Tuesday 22 July I woke as someone rang the doorbell and came into the house. Turns out it was the painter, who was under the impression there was no one there. He felt horrible, but I told him not to worry and to continue with his work. I went for a run, went to the store and bought some cereal and milk and came home and ate breakfast. Rosa finally woke up and we went to the port to reserve our tickets to Cabrerra the next day. Then we walked to the beach and were there for a while. Mallorca has a high population of Germany tourists, and two little German boys came up to me and said something to me in German. I told them I didn't speak German and they proceeded to stare at us the rest of the day. Rosa and I tried to play paddle ball, but we're both horrible. Then after a bit we went home and bought something for lunch at the store. The painter came back and we headed back to the beach. On the way home, we stopped in a few shops, got home, showered and went to bed. Things were going well with Rosa. It was strange to be on vacation with someone I barely knew, but we got along well enough, despite a few differences in what we wanted to do.
Wednesday 23 July we got up early and headed to the port to go on our trip to Cabrerra. Cabrerra is an island off Mallorca that is part of a National/Natural Park. You can only go on these special trips and so we headed off at 8 or so. When we got there, the first thing we did was head up to an old castle, used for Moorish defense. It was a difficult walk in flip flops, including towels, water and food, but we made it and there were pretty views from there. One thing that was cool was seeing a ton of Baleric Lizards. These were little black lizzards native to the Baleric Islands, and since there were no cats or predators in the National Park, there were tons of them! Then we went and headed to the beach. I got bored after a while and headed up to a museum about the island, and a monument to the French people who died there. The island had a long history of different uses, from farming, to wars. One of the things I was really looking forward to was a snorkeling tour, where they gave you a waterproof MP3 player. The tour was cancelled for the day and when I got back to the beach, Rosa was out snorkelling. She got back and we ate lunch and she went out snorkelling again. We only had 1 snorkel to share, which was a little frustrating. When she got back I went out and discovered that there were underwater signs for a self guided tour. There were 5 or so big signs that were placed in different areas and described the different types of sea life that lived there. It was getting close to the time we had to leave so I swam really fast to see all the signs and get back. It was a little freaky because I was by myself, and in Mallorca there is a lot of seagrass, so at some parts I was almost touching it, which is always kinda freaky. So I saw the whole tour and booked it back, which was not the best idea because I had just eaten. I started feeling sick about halfway back, but forced myself not to barf because I didn't want fish to come and attack me to eat my barf. I finally made it back and we rested a bit before packing up and going back to the boat. I never threw up, but felt sick. On the way back, the boat stopped at the Blue Cave. It is this cave on the side of the island that for some reason the water is a deep, rich blue color. The boat stopped there a while and let people jump off and swim if they wanted. It was amazing and such a neat experience. I snorkeled a bit there too and got back in the boat. Then we headed back to town and back home. There were 2 guys on the boat staring at Rosa, who is a little boy crazy, and I tried to get her to talk to them, but she was too afraid. At home we showered and took naps and then went out and shopped a bit. I bought a magnet for the pueblo we were in and we talked as we walked around the walkway that takes you from he beach to the port. Then back at home we fixed dinner, watched Ever After on tv and Alicia called us to say that she was coming to suprise us. I made dinner for her and she got there late. We chatted for a bit and watched tv and then all went to bed.
Thursday 24 July we woke up and packed sandwiches to go to another special beach. It was a protected beach where you could only drive there if you were from the pueblo or walk about an hour there. So we trekked to the beach and laid out, swam and played paddle ball. All of a sudden it started to rain. So we frantically grabbed all our stuff and huddled under a sign that had a tiny roof on it. Just as suddenly as it got cloudly and started to rain, it stopped and the sun came out. By that time we were upset and didn't want to set camp up again, so we ate under the sign, packed up and headed home. On the way home I stopped by the aquarium which was really cool. Rosa and Alicia didn't want to go, and they had been getting on my nerves by calling me gitana all week, which means gypsy, and translated culturally, something like thug. Apparently they think I have a low cultural level and find it hilarious to call me on it. Anyway, I enjoyed the aquarium and a break from the girls. Then I got home and showered and we got all ready and dressed up to go out. We were going to go to Palma, the capital, which I wanted to do to visit the cathedral and see some of the sights there. I knew they just watned to go to party but I figured I could at least see it. So they other girls finally got ready and we all headed out, Alicia driving Toni's new car he just bought from his Aunt 2 weeks ago. The radio was blasting Kylie Minogue and Alicia was pulling out onto a street, when I noticed a green box car coming towards us. I said, the Spanish equivilant of "Oh crap!" as I watched in slow motion the car crash into us. The car hit our passenger side front bumper and spun us around 90 degrees. It was scary but no one was hurt and Alicia instantly started crying hysterically. As in most small towns, there were quite a few passserbys and people looking on. One of which told us to shut off the car and get out in case in exploded, which we did. Apparently Alicia had turned the wrong way down a 1 way street and therefore didn't see the non-existant signs that should have told her not to pull out into the street. People were so nice and comforting telling her that she ran the stop sign, and then when they figured out what she really did, telling her that. It really is strange how rude and dumb people can be when they feel like they have to share their opinion. Then we waited for the police to come, Alicia all the while in hysterics, with no chance of calming her down. So began the event of the rest of the evening, and ruined our trip to Palma. The police came, Alicia had to call Toni, who was on horseback riding trip in the mountains of Colombia and wouldn't be back to the hotel for several hours. It was a huge mess because the police filled out the forms as Alicia driving Toni's car, and the other driver driving his brother's car. My favorite part of that was Alicia asking Toni, who she has been dating for about 6 months if his name was Toni, Antonio or Antoni, because she didn't know. A close second favorite part was when she had to fill out the liscence plate number for the car. She didn't know it, so I went over and picked the liscence plate off the ground and brought it over to her for her reference. I could only laugh because it didn't happen to me. After everything was taken care of Alicia called the guy to see if they could fill out more forms putting Toni as the driver and the brother if the wanted. So we sat in a cafe and waited for Toni to get back to the hotel, to figure out how to tow the car without using his insurance's towing service, since they couldn't have Alicia tow the car for an accident Toni had while he was in Colombia. She also has barely met his parents or family, so didn't want to call them to help because that would be too embarassing. So finally, his sister just happened to walk by, and she called her mom, who arranged for a tow truck to come. It finally did, and towed the piece of mangled metal that used to be Toni's car to the mechanic. Then we went and ate dinner at an Italian resturant, where the waitress spoke to us in German. Then we stopped by an internet cafe so Alicia could print up pages to fill out other reports fro the next day. Back at home, I packed up and got everything ready to leave early in the morning. Now that we didn't have a car to take us to the airport, we were going to have to take a bus to Palma, and then to the airport. Thankfully Toni's parents offered to take us to the airport, so we had time to do stuff during the day. We finally went to bed.
Friday 25 July, I still got up early because I wanted to go running. I did so, ate breakfast, showered, and got everythign packed up. Then Rosa and I went to the port and I bought a magnet for Mallorca, then we bought a bottle of water, which was more expensive because it was cold and walked to another store where I bought some shoes. They are red and the typical sandals of the islands. Then we came home and watched tv while Alicia tried to sort out her life. Turns out the other guy couldn't meet to sign the paperwork so she was going to have to stay behind and work everythign out. Toni's parent's convinced her otherwise and took us all to the airport. We checked in and ate an expensive airport lunch. Another great part of the morning was that Rosa woke up with a small bite on her eyelid, that made her whole eye swell up. Throughout the day her face kept getting bigger and more swollen. Our flight was really late taking off which at first I wasn't worried about because I had almost 2 hours to make my connecting flight. Turns out I got there pretty late and after asking, I found I had to go halfway across the airport to my gate, which was already boarding. I said a hurried goodbye to Rosa who now looked like Sloth from the Goonies and ran to find my gate. Alicia was able to come back to Madrid with us and was also trying to take my flight to Las Palmas for Magdalena's birthday. She got denied because the jerk pilot said he didn't take flight attendants from other companies. So I got on the flight and left Alicia to decide what she was going to do. We said goodbye, not knowing if it would be our last. I got on the plane, exhausted and a short while later my SpanAir flight reached Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Magdalena, my old roommate came and picked me up and we talked the whole way home. It was great to see her and catch up. She was pretty tired because she works so much but we got home and walked Guanchi her giant presa canaria, an enormus beast of a dog. Then she started making dinner for some people to come over for her birthday. Jose, her boyfriend came home and then her friends Sergio, who I knew from Granada and Koki came over. Later Jose's mom and sister came over to give her presents. I also gave her some presents from Alicia and me. We all chatted and later the boys went out for a drink, but Mada and I were tired so we stayed home and went to bed. So ended my adventures in Mallorca and began my time in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
Tuesday 22 July I woke as someone rang the doorbell and came into the house. Turns out it was the painter, who was under the impression there was no one there. He felt horrible, but I told him not to worry and to continue with his work. I went for a run, went to the store and bought some cereal and milk and came home and ate breakfast. Rosa finally woke up and we went to the port to reserve our tickets to Cabrerra the next day. Then we walked to the beach and were there for a while. Mallorca has a high population of Germany tourists, and two little German boys came up to me and said something to me in German. I told them I didn't speak German and they proceeded to stare at us the rest of the day. Rosa and I tried to play paddle ball, but we're both horrible. Then after a bit we went home and bought something for lunch at the store. The painter came back and we headed back to the beach. On the way home, we stopped in a few shops, got home, showered and went to bed. Things were going well with Rosa. It was strange to be on vacation with someone I barely knew, but we got along well enough, despite a few differences in what we wanted to do.
Wednesday 23 July we got up early and headed to the port to go on our trip to Cabrerra. Cabrerra is an island off Mallorca that is part of a National/Natural Park. You can only go on these special trips and so we headed off at 8 or so. When we got there, the first thing we did was head up to an old castle, used for Moorish defense. It was a difficult walk in flip flops, including towels, water and food, but we made it and there were pretty views from there. One thing that was cool was seeing a ton of Baleric Lizards. These were little black lizzards native to the Baleric Islands, and since there were no cats or predators in the National Park, there were tons of them! Then we went and headed to the beach. I got bored after a while and headed up to a museum about the island, and a monument to the French people who died there. The island had a long history of different uses, from farming, to wars. One of the things I was really looking forward to was a snorkeling tour, where they gave you a waterproof MP3 player. The tour was cancelled for the day and when I got back to the beach, Rosa was out snorkelling. She got back and we ate lunch and she went out snorkelling again. We only had 1 snorkel to share, which was a little frustrating. When she got back I went out and discovered that there were underwater signs for a self guided tour. There were 5 or so big signs that were placed in different areas and described the different types of sea life that lived there. It was getting close to the time we had to leave so I swam really fast to see all the signs and get back. It was a little freaky because I was by myself, and in Mallorca there is a lot of seagrass, so at some parts I was almost touching it, which is always kinda freaky. So I saw the whole tour and booked it back, which was not the best idea because I had just eaten. I started feeling sick about halfway back, but forced myself not to barf because I didn't want fish to come and attack me to eat my barf. I finally made it back and we rested a bit before packing up and going back to the boat. I never threw up, but felt sick. On the way back, the boat stopped at the Blue Cave. It is this cave on the side of the island that for some reason the water is a deep, rich blue color. The boat stopped there a while and let people jump off and swim if they wanted. It was amazing and such a neat experience. I snorkeled a bit there too and got back in the boat. Then we headed back to town and back home. There were 2 guys on the boat staring at Rosa, who is a little boy crazy, and I tried to get her to talk to them, but she was too afraid. At home we showered and took naps and then went out and shopped a bit. I bought a magnet for the pueblo we were in and we talked as we walked around the walkway that takes you from he beach to the port. Then back at home we fixed dinner, watched Ever After on tv and Alicia called us to say that she was coming to suprise us. I made dinner for her and she got there late. We chatted for a bit and watched tv and then all went to bed.
Thursday 24 July we woke up and packed sandwiches to go to another special beach. It was a protected beach where you could only drive there if you were from the pueblo or walk about an hour there. So we trekked to the beach and laid out, swam and played paddle ball. All of a sudden it started to rain. So we frantically grabbed all our stuff and huddled under a sign that had a tiny roof on it. Just as suddenly as it got cloudly and started to rain, it stopped and the sun came out. By that time we were upset and didn't want to set camp up again, so we ate under the sign, packed up and headed home. On the way home I stopped by the aquarium which was really cool. Rosa and Alicia didn't want to go, and they had been getting on my nerves by calling me gitana all week, which means gypsy, and translated culturally, something like thug. Apparently they think I have a low cultural level and find it hilarious to call me on it. Anyway, I enjoyed the aquarium and a break from the girls. Then I got home and showered and we got all ready and dressed up to go out. We were going to go to Palma, the capital, which I wanted to do to visit the cathedral and see some of the sights there. I knew they just watned to go to party but I figured I could at least see it. So they other girls finally got ready and we all headed out, Alicia driving Toni's new car he just bought from his Aunt 2 weeks ago. The radio was blasting Kylie Minogue and Alicia was pulling out onto a street, when I noticed a green box car coming towards us. I said, the Spanish equivilant of "Oh crap!" as I watched in slow motion the car crash into us. The car hit our passenger side front bumper and spun us around 90 degrees. It was scary but no one was hurt and Alicia instantly started crying hysterically. As in most small towns, there were quite a few passserbys and people looking on. One of which told us to shut off the car and get out in case in exploded, which we did. Apparently Alicia had turned the wrong way down a 1 way street and therefore didn't see the non-existant signs that should have told her not to pull out into the street. People were so nice and comforting telling her that she ran the stop sign, and then when they figured out what she really did, telling her that. It really is strange how rude and dumb people can be when they feel like they have to share their opinion. Then we waited for the police to come, Alicia all the while in hysterics, with no chance of calming her down. So began the event of the rest of the evening, and ruined our trip to Palma. The police came, Alicia had to call Toni, who was on horseback riding trip in the mountains of Colombia and wouldn't be back to the hotel for several hours. It was a huge mess because the police filled out the forms as Alicia driving Toni's car, and the other driver driving his brother's car. My favorite part of that was Alicia asking Toni, who she has been dating for about 6 months if his name was Toni, Antonio or Antoni, because she didn't know. A close second favorite part was when she had to fill out the liscence plate number for the car. She didn't know it, so I went over and picked the liscence plate off the ground and brought it over to her for her reference. I could only laugh because it didn't happen to me. After everything was taken care of Alicia called the guy to see if they could fill out more forms putting Toni as the driver and the brother if the wanted. So we sat in a cafe and waited for Toni to get back to the hotel, to figure out how to tow the car without using his insurance's towing service, since they couldn't have Alicia tow the car for an accident Toni had while he was in Colombia. She also has barely met his parents or family, so didn't want to call them to help because that would be too embarassing. So finally, his sister just happened to walk by, and she called her mom, who arranged for a tow truck to come. It finally did, and towed the piece of mangled metal that used to be Toni's car to the mechanic. Then we went and ate dinner at an Italian resturant, where the waitress spoke to us in German. Then we stopped by an internet cafe so Alicia could print up pages to fill out other reports fro the next day. Back at home, I packed up and got everything ready to leave early in the morning. Now that we didn't have a car to take us to the airport, we were going to have to take a bus to Palma, and then to the airport. Thankfully Toni's parents offered to take us to the airport, so we had time to do stuff during the day. We finally went to bed.
Friday 25 July, I still got up early because I wanted to go running. I did so, ate breakfast, showered, and got everythign packed up. Then Rosa and I went to the port and I bought a magnet for Mallorca, then we bought a bottle of water, which was more expensive because it was cold and walked to another store where I bought some shoes. They are red and the typical sandals of the islands. Then we came home and watched tv while Alicia tried to sort out her life. Turns out the other guy couldn't meet to sign the paperwork so she was going to have to stay behind and work everythign out. Toni's parent's convinced her otherwise and took us all to the airport. We checked in and ate an expensive airport lunch. Another great part of the morning was that Rosa woke up with a small bite on her eyelid, that made her whole eye swell up. Throughout the day her face kept getting bigger and more swollen. Our flight was really late taking off which at first I wasn't worried about because I had almost 2 hours to make my connecting flight. Turns out I got there pretty late and after asking, I found I had to go halfway across the airport to my gate, which was already boarding. I said a hurried goodbye to Rosa who now looked like Sloth from the Goonies and ran to find my gate. Alicia was able to come back to Madrid with us and was also trying to take my flight to Las Palmas for Magdalena's birthday. She got denied because the jerk pilot said he didn't take flight attendants from other companies. So I got on the flight and left Alicia to decide what she was going to do. We said goodbye, not knowing if it would be our last. I got on the plane, exhausted and a short while later my SpanAir flight reached Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Magdalena, my old roommate came and picked me up and we talked the whole way home. It was great to see her and catch up. She was pretty tired because she works so much but we got home and walked Guanchi her giant presa canaria, an enormus beast of a dog. Then she started making dinner for some people to come over for her birthday. Jose, her boyfriend came home and then her friends Sergio, who I knew from Granada and Koki came over. Later Jose's mom and sister came over to give her presents. I also gave her some presents from Alicia and me. We all chatted and later the boys went out for a drink, but Mada and I were tired so we stayed home and went to bed. So ended my adventures in Mallorca and began my time in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
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