Last days in Madrid

So we went to the Reina Sofia museum a few days ago and that was amazing. I really enjoyed seeing all the Picasso and Dali works and the Guernica was outstanding. We went to lunch with Brian before and met up with Yasmine there. Then we went to Spanish Jamba Juice and just sat for a bit. We were all pretty tired from staying out as late as we had been.

We walked back to the hostel and Alicia and I made last minute plans and arrangements to go to Portugal for two days before we leave. Then we got ready and went to the hostel drinking games night. We went with three guys we had met before and two new girls from cali, James our other roommate and his friend Megan.

So the main event had too many people so we were shuttled into a room which we called the leftover room. It was interesting to say the least but we made it fun.

Afterwards James and Megan led us to el tigre which is madrids best kept secret. It is a tapas bar where for six euro you get a liter beer and a plate of mixed tapas. The food was delicious and we had a blast. Then we went on the ultimate search for a kareokee bar. We finally found one and had fun even if we were the youngest people there. Alicia, Brian, and I performed a terribly wonderful version of bryans adams summer of 69.

The next day Alicia and I packed up and checked out. Brian came with us and we went and bought our night bus tickets to Portugal and stored our luggage. We had a difficult time finding the correct station but we finally made it. Afterwards we went and did free activities around Madrid. These included the blind museum and a egyptian temple.

The blind museum was interesting. Everything there was famous artwork designed for people who couldn't not see and you were allowed to touch everything, it was recommended. There was an exhibit of textured black and white photographs which I found amazing. There was also a section on major national and international monument models. That way blind people could get a grasp for what they looked like by touching them along with a voice recording. I thought that was awesome as well.

We then went to an egyptian temple that was gifted to the city of Madrid. It sound great but it was actually quite small. Brian joke that it was shipped over in a mini van. While the temple wasn't superb the park around it was and we sat around in it for quite some time. Tons of PDA though but it made people watching interesting.

We walked back towards plaza del sol with the idea of getting tapas for dnner but came across an advertisement for tacos and were instantly sold. We all had been craving Mexican food and enjoyed our baby corn tacos immensely. We then said our good byes to our lovely new friend Brian who lives in San Diego and is someone we are staying in touch with for sure. We then took the subway to the bus station.

Luckily we left when we did because we were scrambling for time and barely made our bus. I hated every minute of my night bus experience. it was terrible, but now we are in Portugal and I'm freezing which makes me worried to go home I know anything. not 100 degrees is going to be cold. We are waiting to buy our tickets back and are then going to find our hostel.
We are here for one night and two days. We take a night train to Madrid tomorrow and then fly out the morning we get in. It worked perfectly. The end of our trip is wearing on us and now Alicia is now having trouble with the bank as well. Luckily we have my credit card but our cash flow is depleting quickly. This has been the best adventure of my life but home has never sounded better.

Thankfully we have a new city to explore for a. bit. Internet is spotty here so ill write when I can.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Complete letdown

So santa claus isn't real and pelicans don't rips pieces of their flesh off for their young it is a religious myth...

Brain is back to complaining
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Way hostel pub crawls and our wolf pack

So mom landed safely and Alicia and I moved to Way hostel. It is in a really great location and so far has been a blast. We checked in but we couldn't move into our room so we killed time shopping and picked up groceries for the week. Lugging all of our stuff back was a bit much but we managed the metro with armfuls of bags we have gotten good at this.

We checked in and met one of our roommates Brian who is hilarious and I refer to him as my bestie and Alicia calls him bry bry. We also met Yasmine another one of our roommate and she is wonderful. Her and Brian together are a so funny.

Alicia has been dying to see a movie for quit some time now, so for the sake of being a sister I sucked it up, bought snacks and went and saw Eclipse while I was on vacation. It was terrible. I laughed during the serious parts which I don't think you are supposed to do.

We got back to the hostel and I made a salad for dinner and then we got ready. We met Imad and Andrew two more of our roommates as well. It is crazy all of these people are travelling a lone I don't think I could do it. Oh yeah it was the weirdest thing Sergy one of our roommates from Malaga is staying in our room here. It was too strange.

We went on the pub crawl that night and it was hilariously fun. Most of the people staying here are great and I don't know if Madrid was ready. The six of us Imad, Andrew, Yasmine, Brian, Alicia, and myself had made plans to go to Toledo the next day and literally had to peel our hungover selves off our beds the next morning sorry again for not censoring haha

Imad was great and motivated us all to go. We got to Toledo and had lunch and then took a tour of the city on this train thing. I though I was going to die the cars to the train were creaky and kept bumping into the one ahead of it. We saw the panoramic view of toledo and learned that pelicans are the only animal that rips pieces of its own flesh off to feed their young. They are the ultimate sacrificial animal and the narrator connected this Jesus and the cathedral we saw.

Brian was complaining the entire time except for when he heard that wonderful little tidbit of information. We were a group for sure. I considered us a wolfpack haha. We wandered Toledo and saw the sites and then headed back around 6ish.

Last night I made a pretty good lentil curry but it definitely needed something spicy for it and we had nothing. I played bs the card game with Brian and two guys from LA and then got ready. Last night Brian Alicia, Yasmine, the three guys and I all went to meet Brians friend Nick who just finished studying here. We went dancing and were out way too late. Alicia and Brian are still asleep and I wish I could sleep more. Today is a really basic day just tapas and the Guernica.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Madrid day 2

So as I predicted yesterday was an amazing day. We went to our market for lunch and had a bunch of different tapas and tasted new things. I do enjoy it there.

Afterwards we walked to the Palace. It was absolutely amazing inside. To walk the rooms and think that people lived there is insane. The rooms were very ornately decorated one was even lined in red velvet. We went to armory as well and the minute you walk in you see 8 fully replicated knights on horseback. With lances and all. It was stunning.

After the Palace we wandered back and shopped for a bit, mom got an adorable poncho cover up thing. Then we came back to our room napped and got ready for dinner.

Dinner was amazing. The waiters all wear white coats and jackets and carry white napkins. We sat in the lower section which is slightly underground. We ordered a bottle of cava to start and then got a basic house salad.

For entrees we all got something different and shared three ways. I got roast baby lamb, mom got braised veal, and Alicia got the roast suckling pig. We got green beans with Iberian ham as our side. We found it slightly ironic that all our meals were baby animals. We were a vegetarians nightmare. All the meat is cooked in their special oven which hasn't changed since the mid 1700's. we were so full after but decided to have desert anyways. We had pineapple with caramel and Spanish cream puffs. We left feeling so very full but very happy.

We had a few drinks out and came back early around midnight because mom had to pack. She just left for her train to barcelona where she is going to stay in a hotel and gets on her plane early tomorrow. Alicia and I are still in the hotel because alicia is sleeping. She didn't feel well last night and didn't fall asleep till 5. We moves to a hostel today and are taking it easy.

See you all next week!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Madrid

So we are starting our second day in Madrid and so far it has been lovely. Our last night in cadiz we went and watched the sunset which was stunning but opposite our hotel, which is why we never saw it. Afterwards we got gelato and walked around. There was more carnival festivities going on but this time we found the professionals. We watched four or five performances (from nightmare before christmas to men dressed as tables) and then went back to our hostel and packed.

We took a train to seville and I have become professional at laying down on two seats and napping. We had tortillas which are potato and egg pie type things, and are amazing (I know crazy I've been eating egg) and mom had a cafe con leche.

Our train to madrid was nice because they showed a movie and if you found the right channel it was in english, I finally saw sherlock holmes. We got into madrid and found our hotel with no problem. It is in a very good location and is beautiful for what we are paying.

We unpacked and went and saw the prado, the parts mom wanted to see and what Alicia and I missed. Afterwards we had a cold drink in a park and people watched. Alicia has been craving Asain food so we found her a thai restaurant and had an early dinner. It was refreshing to not have spanish food. Don't get me wrong I adore spanish food but after a month and a half its getting a bit much when that's all we have been eating.

We came back and napped and read then mom and I started getting ready to go out. Alicia decided she wasn't up too it so we left her at home. Mom and I created our own informal pub crawl and went everywhere from bars with stuffed bull heads on the wall to swanky outdoor patios. We ended up crashing Alicias night in by bringing euro beers back and sharing our fun.

We are taking mom to our market today and going to the palace, then we are eating at el botin the oldest restaurant recorded by the guiness book of world records. Should be a great day
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Cadiz

So we have been very lazy in this city and therefore I have been very lazy about posting. Cadiz is beautiful and the beach are amazing. For the past two days all we have done is sleep in go to the beach have lunch and take a nap.

The first night we were here we just went out for dinner and took it easy. We had calamari with a lemon herb aioli, a salad, and paella de mariscos and walked around for a bit, we found a bunch of kitties who live in the rocks by the beach.

The bext day we woke up and went and bought groceries and our train tickets. We are definitely getting better at the train system because all trains to madrid were booked and we figured out how to get there through seville and multiple tickets. We got groceries for salads and bocadillos at a small grocery store

We made our sandwiches and wrapped them up and headed to the beach. We tanned and swam until we were exhausted from the sun. We came back and napped at the hostel. We woke up at 5 and went on the free walking tour of cadiz offered by our hostel. It was our guided second time giving a tour in cadiz and you could tell most of his info was from Seville where he worked before. Overall it was terrible haha. Half of the information I swear was wrong.

We made salad for dinner and I don't know if ill ever use salad dressing again. The olive oil vinegar mix here is fantastic and we figured out how to recreate the perfect ensalada mixta. So good.

We got ready and went the a group to experience the cadiz carnival festival. This usually happens in February but since it rained so much they planned one in July. It was an experience for sure. Mostly satirical acts were performed in various locations by people in odd outfits. Everything from lobster to men with bald eagle puppets.

After watching for a bit were went on a pub crawl and had a blast. Alicia had a bit too much fun and her night ended with scarfing down a bowl of cereal well the more accurate term is troughing like what's pigs do haha. All in all very funny night some guy from Switzerland kept telling alicia they were getting married and was asking mom for her approval. I'm pretty sure at one point his sister welcomed Alicia to the family. So strange.

Now we are back on the beach with our friend Caryn who we met last night from Amsterdam after having kebab for lunch. It is crazy hot here but we are soaking up our last day of beach time. Tonight is another extension of carnival and you are supposed to wear masks when you go out, we'll see if we do that.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Last Day in Granada and onto Cadiz

Our last day in Granada was spent very leisurely. We slept in and then walked to Plaza Nueva and had cafe con leche and orange juice. Afterwards we went shoipping for a bit. I got the most wonderful purple tapestry for my room, ahh I love it. I had absolutely no room for it what so ever but the pack is stuffed and everything fits.

We had lunch and are finally managing to order tap water haha it took awhile to figure out what to say. After shopping we went back to where we had breakfast and had the best guacamole and chips with sangria. Alicia planned out everything she has to do when she gets back and mom and I wrote postcards.

Then we went back to the hostel and read our books and napped. We ate the rest of our pasta salad packed and got ready.

We went and watched a flamenco show at La Chien Andalou which is the club where the teacher of a man who works at our hostel plays. They make a delicious mojito and we got a free tapa with our drinks. Granada is one of the few cities in Spain that still sticks to that old tradition.
The performance was amazing but we had terrible seats that hurt our backs. We had tea by our hostel and went back around 1 and read and went to sleep because we had to get up early today.

We are on a train now to cadiz where we plan on laying on the beach till we shrivel up and eating whatever someone will bring us haha. We definitely need a break some of these cities have so much to do.

I come home soon, bittersweet, but I am going to be ready.

The new train album, the entire thing is wonderful. Also discovered Ben Harper is the one artist I have found continuity with between all the places I have been or people I have met.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Perfect day/night in Granada

So we woke up this morning and had breakfast and showered. Afterwards we purchased our tickets for the Alhambra and went to a cafe close by to the palace to wait till our entrance time.

We got gazpacho and a lomo or pork bocadillo for lunch. We waited in a fairly large line and finally got in. The grounds are beautiful and the history here is crazy. We walked around the generallife which is where the food was grown and some people lived. Typically 2000 people lived in the Alhambra. We explored the Palace and stood in the room where Columbus gave his proposal and everyone but Queen Isabell said no and made it all happen. The ceiling here was made out of 8000 pieces fit together like a puzzle.

The learned about each room and spent a great deal of time here. You couldn't use flash so I apologize for the pictures I post they won't do the place justice.

After that we went to a different cathedral that was stunning and we just sat inside and tried to take in everything. Afterwards we shopped for a bit and I finally found my perfect gypsy pants. I have been looking since Morocco and I love them. Mom got an embroidered piece of fabric to use as a table runner.

The gypsy culture here is amazing and we discovered today that our hostel is one of the few houses in our area and most are half house half cave. The lifestyle and people are amazing and very different.

After shopping we went to the grocery store and got the makings for pasta salad and coca cola. We made dinner back at the hostel and had a great time just sitting outside talking with everyone staying here. There are so many people from all over the world Belgium, Germany, Mexico, Australia, Italy, Japan, France and then us. We sat around till the sun set drinking and eating and listening to a guy who works at our hostel play gypsy guitar. It was perfect

Around 1ish the two Italian girls, Ester and Ilaria, Alicia, Ivy and Louie a college couple from Australia, and Red the guy who works here went into town and met some people in a plaza. Red played with a guy from Morocco playing a gimbre and the music was amazing there were various groups of people some playing music some dancing flamenco. Ilaria and I frolicked around dancing to peoples music, singing, and playing in the park.

Around 2ish we went to the basement of a club to watch a flamenco performance but it wasn't really going on that night so we listened to a few people play and headed back. After a few chocolate digestives we said our goodbyes to our lovely Italian friends since they left this morning and went to sleep. We slept in today and it was glorious, its our last day here and I am going to miss Granada so much. The city the people the culture I dig it.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Granada and recreating Morocco

So on the night train to Granada we got chairs not sleepers I guess we booked wrong and ended up struggling to sleep for 8 hours. It was terrible.

We got into Granada and had breakfast by the train station and took a taxi to our hostel. We are staying at Rambutan guesthouse and it is wonderful. It is this little gypsy run joint on the top of a hill (not fun with the packs) but it has the most amazing view of the Alahambra. Granada is heavily influenced by the arabic and moorish people who migrated here long ago. This is still evident in the various districts. We are staying in the Albaizin quarter which is very much influenced by arabic peoples. So it felt very much like Morocco. They sold all of the same products and the food was similar even down to the mint tea.

We made plans to go to the Alahambra tomorrow and wandered into town. We ended up taking and Arabic bath which was amazing. So you wear a bathing suit and when you walk in they explain how there are three pools one ice cold one bath temp and one hot. You are supposed to go warm, hot, to cool. It was lovely. The place was beautiful and dimly light and smelled of cinnamon. We went from pool to pool and then had the freedom to sauna, lay on a heated stone, soak, or drink mint tea. We soaked for a bit and then got our massages. Alicia got a exfoliating scrub and mom and I got regular massages. Afterwards I layed on the heated stone. I went for 7 twenty minute eucalyptus steam and then showered off all of the oil. We ended with a glass of mint tea and a soak in the warm pool. Overall an extremely relaxing experience. We were in the same baths that the people of the Albaizin used to bath in.

Afterwards we went on an epic trek to find a restaurant in moms travel book.. We ordered a plate of fried seafood and a salad as recommended. The fried squids and shrimps were delicious but some of the whole fried fishies were too much for me. The mid sized were fried in rings with the mouths biting the tails it was awkward.
Afterward we came back to our hostel and napped. We read and got ready for dinner leisurely. Our gypsy hostel is good for that. They are all very zen and live very much at peace where they are.

We had light tapas for dinner. Mom and I had Galacian Empanadas and Alicia had broad beans with jamon, a Granada favorite, all were great. The empanadas had tuna, onions, tomatoes, and other yumminess in them. Yes I made that word up, it seemed fitting. We ordered sangria only to find out halfway through it was a heavy spiked sangria not the regular. This had rum and vermouth in it. Not my favorite. I like the original.

We were going to see a flamenco performance given by the teacher of the man who runs our hostel but got the time wrong and are now going day after tomorrow. We ended up talking for a bit and heading back.

I am currently sitting with Alicia as she writes in her journal looking at the beautiful Alahambra which is lit at night. Tomorrow we go there and explore the town. The Alahambra is the castle where Columbus received his grant from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to find America. Crazy right. All three are buried here and we are going to see their tombs tomorrow as well. The history is amazing such a surreal experience.

I found this quote when we got to our hostel
"El mundo es un libro, y los que no viajan solo leen una pagina" Saint Augustine

In english it read the world is a book and those who do not travel only read a single page. I think it is so true, this world has so much to offer. I plan on exploring for the rest of my life.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Valencia

So we started our day in Valencia by taking the bus back to the train station to get our tickets to Granada. It took two hours of waiting in line until we booked a night train for the next day to Granada. We did find out how amazing the train station bar is and enjoyed snacking on pinchos or pieces of bread with little tastes on top. I particularly enjoyed the herbed chorizo sausage and the jamon with cream cheese. We also purchased our tickets for the bull fight later that evening.

After our epic ticket ordeal we bussed to over to Las ciudad de las artes y ciencias or the city of arts and science. This consists of five beautifully designed modern buildings that house things such as their science center, imax, and aquarium.

L'oceanographic is their aquarium and is supposedly the largest in Europe. We had a blast here. They divide the park into different seas and it is amazing to see what lives where. In the artic they had beluga whales and walruses. It was great. They even had a shark tunnel and I stood they looking up for quite some time. We also saw the dolphin show which is the best I can remember seeing. They would launch their instructors off their noses and did tricks I had never seen.

After the aquarium we went and shopped for a bit and mom sat and had a glass of wine. By this time we decided to look for someplace to eat dinner and chose a nicer restaurant in a beautiful plaza. There was a wedding going on which made people watching fun. I have seen so many people here get married in the most beautiful places, it is crazy.

We shared a mixed salad, paella of duck and shitake mushrooms, and a bottle of brut cava. After dinner we headed over to the bull ring. We grabbed a few beers and our seats and it began.

There was an orchestra playing music and tons of families. Bull fighting is a very cultural event. The show started with the master of ceremonies riding around on a horse, then the presentation of the matadors. There were two main and then their helpers. The first bull was released and it was very intense to see how the procession of events occurred.

1. The matador dodges the bull and the crow shouts ole or toro when he narrowly escapes.
2. They take two cotton covered spears and jab them into the bull head on. This is tricky because you could easily get gored. They do this about 3-4 times so around 6 spears hang from the bull. You can see it worked when the cotton turns bloody. (Yes this is extremely brutal but it is the culture, kids of all ages were here)
3. The main matador uses a red cape and hid a sword behind it and when the bull runs through the cape he get stabbed. This happens until the bull is so weak the matador can almost touch it.
4. The bull finally dies and is drug off my horses and cooked the next day in the market.

Blunt but true

The first followed suit but the second was rouge, he even tried to jump over the fencing much to two little girls horror. The matador killed him quicker and was carried around the ring in celebration.

After that they brought out the large castrated steer whom are huge but very calm. They had bells around their neck and looked frightened. Then they released one crazy black bull at a time and he chased them around because the bell aggravated it. They released more black bulls and it got to be quite chaotic.

They sequenced through this a few times and one time two of the black bulls ran into eachother head on an fell unconcious for a bit. The first one that got up started goring the other and rolled him about 6 times until he died. It was insane.

Bull fighting was very interesting but not necessarily my cup of tea. I'm glad we got to experience it though.

This morning Alicia didn't feel well and we packed so we got a late start. We stored our luggage at the train station and went for lunch on the beach. After lunch we walked the beach and shopped at some of the vendors. Alicia got bbq corn on the cob since she hadn't had it since her braces were off.

We then stumbled upon what we thought was a final game for a beach futbol tourney but it turned out to be futvolley, the craziest game ever! Think volleyball net and all with no hands. They srved by kicking the ball off of little piles of sand. We got free hats, noisemakers, and tshirts and became instant futvolley fans.

Afterwards we bought a water and took the bus back into town. We had heard from Jimmy and Kyle and decided to go meet them for a goodbye drink. On our way to their hostel we randomly encountered two guys who were looking for the same place we were going. They were from france and had just driven down to Spain. Crazy right.

We finally found the guys had had cervesas limons or beer and fanta lemon. They were pretty good, not bad but I would rather have a plain beer. We said our goodbyes and Alicia mom and I picked up our luggage and had some tapas in the train station bar haha.

Now we are sitting a little later after our actual dinner of kebab.. So good. And are waiting for our train. I am so excited to go to Granada there is so much to do in that city. Valencia was beautiful but the pace of life is slow here which makes it ideal for vacation but their really wasn't a ton to do.
Hopefully I can sleep on this night train. :/
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Waking up late, Pinoxtos, and Montjuic

Yesterday we woke up around 11 haha funny enough after our night in. We woke up, got ready, and headed back to El Mercat de Sant Joseph and went to Pinoxtos bar in La Boqueria market. This place is in all the books, was visit by On The Road Again a tour of spain with Gwyenth Palltrow and Mario Batali, and appeared in the washington post early this month.

The food and service lived up to the hype. It is a sit down counter in one of the busiest parts of the market. We waited a bit an snagged a few barstools. Immeadiately we were waited on my an older gentleman we find out later to be the owners nephew. The owner is this great old man in a lime green vest and white shirt. All of the employees are his family members with a few exceptions.

We started with a round of cava becsuse mom had never tried it and she loved it. No surprise there. Sparkling Spanish white wine, what's there not to love. We told our waiter to bring us tastes of different tapas, and he did amazing. We never order yet these intricately flavored yet simplistic dishes kept arriving

He brought us three jamon croquettes to start and these little fried things have stolen my heart. A plate of those and a glass of cava and I would be solid.

He then brought mussels on the half shell. They were soaked in a pico de gallo and vinegrette creation and were out of this world. W ate them with crusty bread. Next we had salt cod salad. They scooped rehydrated salt cod, tomatoes, egg, onion, and a few other things I couldn't place into a silver can and tipped it out .sand castle style onto a plate. It was then drizzled with balsamic and olive oil. I didn't think I would like this but I did ut had a very fresh flavor and wasn't too salty.

While eating the salad a simple plate of chickpeas arrived. They were mixed with some sauce that I could not place but were tasty. Then we had steamed cockles which were terribly sandy but in this case it worked. If you saw past the sand and ate them on bread they were wonderful with the cava.

We had spanish sausage with a small salad, and smoked baby green peppers. They had a very sweet flavor to them and once again were great with the bread. We loved it here and didn't even really want to leave but it is a busy place and felt bad taking up the seats.

We left La Boqueria and took the subway up to Montjuic and the Olympic park. The olympics were held here in 1992 and they did a lot of reconstruction to make the city more accessible to large crowds. Both of these places are up on a large hill and we had to take a different subway to get to the top. Think like a subway that drives like the beginning of a roller coaster. We went and explored a garden up on the hill which was beautiful. We sat out front of the Catalan Art Museum which was in this great building that overlooked plaza de Espana.

Then we got hilariously lost trying to get to the castle Montjuic and ended up practically running to get a cab. The castle was pretty sweet and overlooked the port but it wasn't spectacular.

We took a gondola partway back and saw a lot of the city. Then we hoped on the metro. We decided to just make dinner in and ran around La Boqueria buying fresh vegetables and olives. Everything there was super cheap. Our version turned out pretty good, not even close to Yassines but tasty none the less.

That night Alicia and I went out dancing at a club on the beach but came back fairly early around 3ish because we both weren't feeling it.

We went to get our tickets to Valencia in the morning but all seats were booked till 8:30 so we stored our luggage and went and shopped. Mom bought a really cute dress. We fed pigeons in Plaza de Catalunya and had these huge but delicious faalafel sandwiches for lunch. We went to La Granja M Viader which is one of the oldest milk bars in spain. We ordered majorcan milk, flan, and cheese with honey. There was a mix up between alicia and mom and the flan was supposed ro be creme brulee. Then flan and cheese were a bit odd but the milk was delicious. It was made with honey, lemon, cinnamon, and one other spice.

We got on our train at 8:30 and got into Valencia around 11:30. The hotel I booked is a lot farther away from the city as I expected but oh well... They have a metro system. We woke up this morning and had our complimentary breakfast of pastry, cafe con leche, and Valencia orange juice. About to get going and plan the day.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Barcelona

So we got in to Barca around 10ish and took the subway to our hostel, got a bit lost but that's typical haha. Our hostel is really nice the man who runs them, Gabriel owns a few apartments in the area and rents out the rooms.

We were disgustingly dirty and had to fill out some paperwork. We ended up meeting the two guys who were checking in at the same time, Kyle and Jimmy, who are from California.

We had a good laugh over the rules on the contract we had to sign. Gabriel is a funny little man who takes his job very seriously and is very strict. Some of the rules were things such as no partial or full nudity, no cooking full meals in the kitchen, no bringing people back but stay with whom you want outside of the hostel, no alcohol and so on. Also Gabriel did not like the guys at all. It became a joke between us but their interactions were priceless.

We decided to go for a drink after Alicia and I got showered and we wandered Las Ramblas a main street here where there are street performers and people selling things. We ended up buying beers and sitting by the water and talking. The weather here at night is beautiful... During the day it is freakishly hot.

The next day we all went to the El Corte Ingles, or the grocery store and got breakfast and lunch stuff. We got ham, cheese, bread, cereal, eggs and juice. When we got back it was time for Alicia and I to pick up mom

We hadn't been to the airport yet and didn't really know where it was but we figured to could take the metro. After getting extremely lost we gave up and got a taxi. The man told us it was a 30 min trip. This sucked because I had estimated about 10 and with getting lost we were already late.

I have no idea how it happened but we found mom right when we got there but we were 40 min late. I felt terrible but we learned now that the barca airport is not close to town at all.

We got back to the hostel and mom dropped her stuff off. Then we went to lunch on Las Ramblas and caught up on life. We all had quite a few stories. We got back to the hostel showered napped and helped the boys make some dinner.

Alicia mom and I went for a quick tapas and a beer and then met Jimmy and Kyle for a drink. Mom went to sleep around 12 and then the four of us went clubbing down by the beach. It was a lot of fun and danced until the club closed at four. We walked home on the beach and went to sleep.

We woke up the next morning around 10ish and Alicia mom and I started our morning with eggs and potatoes. We got ready and got on the subway. We saw La Sagrada Familia first which is an unfinished cathedral start by Antoni Gaudi. We went inside and the place gave me goosebumps. It won't be finished for quite some time but Gaudi is an amazing architect who does a lot of organic designs and every part had a meaning. It is supposed to be finished in about 30 years and I would love to make it back and see it finished.

We then had lunch at a sandwich shop and tours Park Guell which features more Gaudi work. It was pretty sweet except is was unneccesarily hot and we got a tad bit lost. We sat in a covered area and listen to three guys play the most amazing classical music. I could have sat there all day.

I forgot to mention today was terrible because I have been having trouble with my bank. I guess there was fraud on my account and so they canceled the card and sent me a new one which is sitting at home. I was going to have them mail it too me but we don't have a permanent location for long enough. The main problem being they notified me of this through a letter which I never got since I am over here. So I haven't been able to get money out and my credit card only goes so far. They don't accept plastic at very many places here. I spent a good portion of today battling my bank and in the end am having my grandma deposit money into Alicias account and withdrawing from there. It was so frustrating though. I wish I would have received a phone call instead of wondering why my card kept being denied. Also after all of my interactions with Bank of America I might change banks, they were in consistent and terrible.

We came back to our hostel and napped for an hour then got ready and went to dinner we tried a bunch of tapas and then explored the port. We are back in our room having a needed night in. The heat makes us sleepy.

Its been really nice having mom here. We were starting to get a little worn from traveling and her excitement is infectious. We are having a great time telling her our stories and showing her things we have experienced.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

One more night in frat city acting homeless

So don't kill us we are safely on a train to Barcelona but these last few days have been slightly crazy.

We were going to couch surf with Andrews friend while we were here because the first time we were here we hadn't heard from him and slept in a park, but when we finally got his message it was the day we got here so when we called him he didn't pick up, that was around 10 ish and we left the phone on so he could call us back but then it died. I was pretty sad that we didn't get to meet up with them not only because we didn't have a place to stay again but because I wanted to meet them. Found out when I finally got to charged my phone that he had called and had talked to Andrew, which makes it worse.

Well while we were waiting for him to call back we went and napped in the sun and read for a few hours. After my phone died we gave up on couch surfing and stored our luggage at the bus station and started to explore Pamplona for the second time. Our first time here we got in so late and just started going out that we missed the city so this time we explored all over.

We grabbed lunch in the plaza de toros and people watched. Around 6 ish we grabbed 40's of San Miguel classy yes sorry to not censor ha and waited in front of the huge screen in the plaza for the game. It was extremely hot and we met some funny people. When it got closer to the game the plaza started to fill and by the time it started there were over 1000 people it was absolutely amazing. We bought some chips and a gallon bottle of sangria again sorry for not censoring it was a night to celebrate for sure.

We were four rows behind the front and it was like a concert. We would all chant and sing the same songs. They had a real live grizzly bear hula hooping and playing the trumpet for a preshow and everyone was hilarious. I have never felt so much energy over a game. Imagine Superbowl times 20 in just one city. When we scored sangria and water were thrown everywhere and people cheered till the game ended.

Afterwards was the most amazing thing ever to be where I was when Spain won was crazy. The city had two reasons to celebrate and believe me they did. We went out after the game and the city was on fire. We fell asleep on a park bench and were woke up a few minute later by two french guys who could not understand why we were sleeping there.

To explain, EVERYBODY well most everyone sleeps outside, benches are hard to find. The area we were in got a bit loud so we moved and slept for about 45 min, and hour of sleep total. We woke up and someone had stolen Alicias shoes. Random yes. She had taken them off while we were sleeping. Since this is frat city the ground is disgusting and covered in all sorts of fun dangerous things, not the best way to wakeup.

We then got in line to get into the bull ring. We walked the route the bulls run yesterday and decided to see the most action we should sit in the stadium and watch the end.

It was crazy, scary, and hilarious all at once. There were screens that showed the entire run and we saw everyone as they filtered into the stadium and saw the bulls run in which was awesome, they are huge. After that they let a smaller steer out with corks on its horns and everyone in the ring taunted and chased it and some people were so dumb and made it crazy to watch. They would change out the bulls and this went on for some time. Alicia and I left early to get to the bus station.

We set up camp at the station and read and slept. We couldn't get a train to barcelona till 6 and we put our luggage and slept in the bus station because it was cleaner and that's what others were doing. We went back to our park from the day before, el parque de los enamorados, and layed in the sun and bought an entire pizza for lunch. So great.

We are now on our train to Barclona and will get in around 10 and we seriously need cleaning up. Showering is a must and we have to wash ALL of our clothes and we need to recoup. Momma comes tomorrow, we pick her up at 1:20 so excited to see her. It is her first time to Europe and I can't wait. She is going to love it.

Overall pamplona was an experience. I am glad to leave only because it was dirty smelled terrible and for the first time felt homeless. Guys I was jealous of a women with a cardboard box, it was getting bad. Haha if anything this is even more motivation to get a career and makes something of myself so I never end up jealous of a cardboard box or have to sleep outside without any blankets.

I know none of you really wanted us to sleep in the park and I'm sorry but it was very much part of the experience and we are safe with all our things except Alicias flip flops.

We have about 20 days left and it is going to fly by.

I miss you all, well I'm assuming if you read this your someone I miss. I feel like I'm missing out on your lives. Send me updates I love hearing them.

On to Barcalona, then Valencia, Granada, Cadiz, Sevilla, and then back to Madrid.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

San Fermin in Pamplona

Running with the bulls is the celebration of San Fermin. We took a train to San Sebastian and this city is beautiful. Out of all the places we have been all of the 5 haha but seriously I could live here in a heartbeat. It is like malaga and madrid in one city.

We missed our bus into Pamplona because Alicia forgot the name of the hostel we were staying and we went on a quest to find it. We finally did and just put our stuff in our room, talked with the guys that were already there, and then went to get new bus tickets. We couldn't get tickets till 8:30 so we decided to get food and walk to town.

We went to this little natural groger and got bread, apples, cheese, cava, and jamon for bocadillos. We mis understoof the butcher cutting the jamon and ended up spending 22 euro on finking jamon and he had already made them into sandwhiches for us we had to buy it. It was the best ham I have ever had so I mean oh well.

We ate our picnic in a park and saved the cava for later. We wandered the city and finally got on the bus at 8:30. We were meeting Quynn, one of Alicias sorority sister at a park there and so we sat and drank our cava and waited.

This city is insane right now, there are thousands of people all wearing white and red and everyone is drunk. We finally found Quynn and she had met a few guys, Craig and Mitchell and they were really awesome.

We met up with Craigs cousin Patrick and this friends and went out with them for the night. It was a crazy night and some people got a bit out of hand but it was all part of the experience. We slept in the train station park for two hours and then woke up at 7 and parted ways. Alicia, Quynn, and I went to watch the bulls run.
And the guys got on a train to barcelona.

People were still partying at 7 in the morning and the entire city look and smelled like the worst frat house ever it was a mess. We were trying to get to the arena and saw the path people ran but missed the bull since they only run for 3 minutes and we got lost finding the stadium. It was terrible. All of us were feeling the effects from the night before so we decided to just head out since it was over anyways

We got back into san sebastian and Quynn stayed at our hostel with us. We met two different guys who were now in our room and we all went to the beach. I wandered the town with Alicia taking pictures for a bit.

Then we showered and took naps and then we went and watched the third and fourth place game at a tapas bar. I am glad Germany got third. I think they deserve that. We met some sweet people at the bar, and talked with them. Afterwards we got gelato and just went back to pack for today. We woke up at 6 to get on a train to barcelona, only to find out they are all full, so we are headed back to pamplona to watch the game and try and see the bull run in the morning.

Excited for those two things but not to gop back to frat city, it was disgusting. Also I feel bad because we were supossed to meet up with craig and patrick and gang to watch the game and we have no way of telling them we won't be there. I feel terrible. Momma comes in two days and we are so excited!

Hope you all are cheering for Espana tonight! I will celebrate here for you when we win ; ).

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Random few days of recovery in Madrid

So we got into Madrid around 8:50 about twenty minute into the game. We booked our tickets to San Sebastian and then started our trek up calle Atocha to our hostel. We have discovered now that it isn't too long of a walk but with our packs it was terrible.

We heard about the first goal as the city went crazy as we were walking. It was awesome. We finally found our hotels which was very difficult to find because it is on the third floor of this building. It is a great little place right by the plaza mayor and we have our own room and bathroom.

We watched the end of the game in our room and debated going out but were so drained from Morocco that we both needed a break.

Today we woke up and wandered the city. We found this great little covered market and tried a bunch of different things. It reminded us a lot of pike place but with wine bars and all in one place plus a lot cleaner. Then we walked to the Palace Real and the Gran Via and did a bit of shopping. I got the best dress ahh I love it. We weren't to stressed on doing a lot because we will be back at the end of our trip.

Then at around 5 ish we met up with Elian who is a friend of mine from school who is working as an au pair here in Madrid. We took him to our market and we had a glass of cava and talked about what we have been doing.

The Prado museum is free from 6-8 so we all decided to go since Elian hadn't been either. We saw a few things but were kicked out at exactly 8 before I could see what I wanted too, definitely need to go back.

We went for dinner and made plans to meet up when we got back into Madrid and also planned a day trip to Toledo. After we parted ways Alicia and I felt like doing something but since we are going to pamplona tomorrow well today actually haha its like 1ish here, we figured we needed sleep and opted not to go out.

We decided to try and see twilight and went on a quest to find the english theater. We never found it and walked forever and were both tired and frustrated. We came back to the plaza mayor and had chocolate churros and now are packing for tomorrow.

I cannot wait for San Fermines. We get into San Sebastian drop off our stuff and then buss it into Pamplona and are just staying up all night and leaving after the bull run the next morning. I will write about it I promise.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

The actual Sahara

I know I titled the last posting the Sahara but in reality we hadn't hit it yet, we were still on the outskirts.

I want to start off by saying yesterday wasn't real. The whole experience seemed out of a movie.

We started our day with breakfast at our hotel. Moroccan crepes are delicious and the breakfast tea is exceptional. We got back into the bus and continued our drive to .Merzouga. We stopped at a gorge that was really very pretty. So many years of wear and tear created this thing and it was crazy to see. Alicia rode a donkey down it for a bit the picture I have on my good camera of her is of pure joy. She loved it.

Alicia and i shared tagine and a salad for lunch. We have become quite obsessed with tagine. We went on a tour of the berber peoples summer village. The berber are the nomadic people of the sahara who typically live in tents but in the hot summer months they return to the villages.

We toured a carpet making facility and had tea with them. We also walked through the town gardens and saw how dates and olives are harvested. Alicia and I both have grown to love olives while over here, and I am starting to eat tomatoes atleast I have been in Moroccan salad.

After our tour we drove to Merzouga which is the town on the border or the Sahara. we crossed into the desert and it was crazy to look and see nothing for miles.

We stopped at a adobe building and organized our bags down to even smaller amounts. I just brought my jacket and a tooth brush plus two large bottles of wate.r in my camera bag. Then we had a bit of tea and wrapped ourselves in scarves and hats and got on our camels.

These creatures are so very strange and riding one is very uncomfortable. Despite that we all got on and start our trek into the desert. The sand was very orange and the views were gorgeous. We rode for an hour until we arrived at a collection of tents that seemed to appear out of no where. We unloaded and were told if we wanted to watch the sunset we should climb up the dune we rode over.

After that I then understood why you would ride a camel. It was tough work and when we made it too the top we were exhausted.

Alicia and I sat up there until far past the sunset and long after everyone else. We looked at the city lights that were far off and talked. It was lovely. The fact that we were on a sand dune in the Sahara still blows my mind.

We walked back in the dark and stopped to go to the bathroom, or I did haha. The Sahara is like one big litter box. Sorry if that is gross but its true. Not ideal to try and go to the bathroom in. I have never been more jealous of guys.

We made it back to the tents just in time for mint tea. The center of the tents had been cover in berber carpets and little tables with candles on them. It was beautiful.

We sat in the dark drinking mint tea by candle and starlight, and then a few men started playing traditional berber music. Everyone in our camp was up dancing and having a great time. I want to remind you that all the light we had was from 6 candlesticks stuck in makeshift candle holders.

We had tagine for dinner and how they made it in the desert I still don't know. When its hot out the Moroccan eat hotter. We drank tea and ate tagine which is Moroccan stew and for some reason it all works. We finished our meal with honeydew melon.

Alicia found another kitten and fell in love again. We then sat on the carpets and looked at the stars.. Everyone started to drift off to bed and Alicia and I decided to sleep outside under the stars which sounds great but turned out to not be such a great idea.

A group of people didn't go to sleep till late and Alicia had an admirer, one of the camel guides, who would not leave her alone. At one point he was singing to her. I tried to see if there was an open tent at this point and either camel boy really couldn't understand my request or he chose not too.

Finally Alicia got rid of him and we went to sleep. They woke us up a 5 this morning and we got ready to leave. I'm still in my clothes from yesterday and after the night train tonight they are going to be fossilized. I woke up covered in sand, sleeping in the tents would have been a great idea, and found a large scarabe beetle under my pillow. That's ok Alicia found a few in her shirt haha so rode our camelss back and had breakfast.

We are back on the bus and are headed back to Marrakesh where alicia and I will take the night train to Tangier and then take the ferry to Tarifa and get the rest of our stuff. From there we will take a bus and a train to Madrid. Another few days of traveling. Whoo hoo love these. Hopefully we can meet up with Elian tomorrow night in Madrid. We are only there for a night as we make our way to San Sebastian.

Well ill post pictures when I get proper internet back. The photos from my phone are nothing compared to what I have on my nikon but they work for showing you all what we are experiencing. All in all Morocco was amazing. Anis and Yassine made our visit to Marrakesh and the tour bus was very 'touristy' but necessary. I am going to miss the scenery, communal eating with your hands, the people from our group, and good chicken tagine.

Definitely glad Alicia planned this for us, and that they let us into the country haha. It was a surreal experience.

Also Alicia and I have developed these interesting accents part english spanish french and arabic. French is one of the primary languages in Morocco so we have heard it a lot. Also while we have these accents our english is becoming very broken because we numb it down to talk with the people we meet but have found ourselves talking with eachother this way as well. It is a problem.

Miss you all
Can't believe we have been gone for about 18 days from washington and about 14 from Canada. Time flies.

Also if you are woindering why Alicia never posts it is because she didn't set her blog up for mobile capabilities and still have to do that from a land computer.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Into the Desert

So somewhere between Marrakesh and the Sahara in the back of a bus I realized once again how amazing God is. This country is beautiful and while the people live simpler lives they are given this land to live on. I think we all need to take a look at what is lacking in our lives but then also look at what we have been given, because in most cases there is always something there. I have been alternating between worship music and Ratatat both are perfect for this occasion. I'm in photography heaven here.

We have made a few stops during the day the main one to have lunch and explore a kasbah or an old fortress type castle. Alicia and I are addicted to tagine no matter what kind it is. The kasbah was really pretty but way too hot and we were climbing forever. Along the drive we have stopped for some shops and sites and taken pictures. Alicia and I are very very hot and it is starting to wear on us. We have discovered we are not desert material.

Some of the sites are beautiful and I will probably never see anything like it again in my life. We ended our desert adventure at a great little hotel that was at the base of a canyon. It was outstanding. You could hear the creek at night.

We had dinner with our group and it was cous cous and chicken. We started with a chick pea soup and ended with watermelon. The melon here is so sweet ahh it is delicious. It is our third melon in two days haha

Everything except lunches is included in this trip and for what we are paying we are getting a great deal.

We sat with a couple and their niece. The aunt and niece are Moroccan and the Uncle is french. The aunt and uncle now live in Dallas. Texas and are visiting family here for a family wedding. They invited us to join them to experience the culture, but we can't fit it in with our running of the bulls plans and meeting mom.

Its too bad though it would have been really interesting/ a good experience. Overall we are loving the desert and are back in our bus for another long but exciting day.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Marrakesh day 2

So I forgot to mention the driving here is insane. There are road but no one follows them people drive down the middle of the street sometimes 3 wide on a two car road plus a few mopeds and bikes. I could never drive here. So this afternoon Yessef, Alicia and I explored Bahia Palace. It was really amazing all of the designs on the walls were hand done and the carvings were outstanding. I took some amazing pictures. Outside the palace there was this tiny tiny baby kitty like smaller than ella when we found her and Alicia fell in love, Then we went back to the souk and did a bit more shopping Alicia bought her harem pants for our trek and I bought a small present for all of my lovelies.

We then rushed to meet Anis for the Germany v. Argentina game. We had to sit a few seats back because it was so packed. Anis is a major fan and I felt bad when they lost. Then we went out for a sandwhich and then walked back to their place where we rested on the couches and just taked for a bit. They are hilarious.
They live in a typical guy flat and their kitchen reminded me of Matts place. They have broken most of their light fixtures from playing soccer indoors.. They have stray dogs in their neighboor and we spent a good amount of time feeding them leftovers from dinner the night before and making jokes about them. Then we went to the grocery store and bought ingredients to make dinner.

We sat outside and ate watermelon and then I started dinner. I made my chicken curry for them and they loved it they had seconds and thirds. I was so happy. They gave me this little apron to wear and I had to stand on a stool to see into the pot.

After dinner we sat outside and talked and listened to music. I got pretty sleepy around 1ish and ended up falling asleep on the dryer I had been sitting on and went to sleep and Alicia stayed up for awhile with them.

They were really great guys and I am so happy we chose to do couch surfing. They took care of us, were the funniest people ever, and we left with some great memories. They woke up early with us this morning to help us get a taxi. Definitely going to stay in touch.

This morning we left for our trek to the Sahara. We were at the wrong post office and had to make another call, which we need to stop doing, to figure out where to go. We have been so lucky on this trip we have almost missed so many of our means of transportation.

We are in a bus driving on the craziest road through some of the most beautiful scenery I have seen. It is amazing people live in some of these villages. We stopped for a bit and we bought a fresh squeeze orange juice and watched the guy cut and squeeze the oranges. Doesn't get much fresher. A crazy man in one of the small shops wrapped us in Berber turbans ill post a photo in a bit on my facebook.

Happy 4th of July! Say hi to the lake for me
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Morocco

So today we got into Marrakesh Morocco. We took a night train from Tangier which was interesting. We met a lady with her family in the train station and her two girls were adorable. Her name was Malika and we talked about everything from our travels to religion. She didn't speak a lot of English so it was all fairly fragmented conversations. Her daughter :Haula looked very similar to Alicia when she was little. Malika kept insisting we come and stay with her but we politely declined since we are not planning on spending time in Tangier.

We lost track of time talking with her and my phone never accounted for the time change so we barely made our train. When we got to the room we booked we found that in one of the two remaining beds was an old creepy guy. Alicia dubbed that my bed and I had to go get new linens. They only gave me new sheets but o well we were already late so I didn't care. I took a sleeping pill and was instantly asleep.

We got into Marrakesh around 9 ish and went and changed and freshened up in the station bathroom. While it is ok that we dress how we do with a bit more modesty. most of the women are covered. Not in burkhas but everything but their faces. I feel very strong here and I know that sound terrible but I have so much opportunity and free will it is crazy. Definitely a learning experience being here.

So we took a taxi from the train station to where Anis lives. He is the person we are couch surfing with. We got a bit lost but finally found his place. He was worried because he slept through his alarm and thought he missed us but we were late any way.

We met his roomate who claimed he couldn't funtion till he had a cigarette. then Anis went to get stuff for breakfast as we unpacked a bit. He came back with eggs and bread. I told him I didn't eat eggs so he got out some salami stuff as well. He fried the eggs with cumin and salt and pepper. We ate the eggs, well they did, with our hand and the bred was just on the table. They put the eggs on separate plates though I'm sure if we hadn't been there they would have eaten them out of the pan.

Anis made us traditional Moroccan mint tea. You boil green tea leave and add fresh mint leaves directly then you add a ton of sugar. When you pour the tea it has to be from high levels because it helps mix the sugar and was so delicious. It is served out of little tiny glasses.

After breakfast Anis gave us some maps and Alicia and I headed off to explore town. We went to the Jardin Marjorelle first. It was really pretty and I have tons of pictures to show you all. We had lunch there in the most perfect little cafe the was misting us which was necessary because I forgot to mention Morocco is extremely warm. We had a salad and chicken tagine a typical Moroccan dish of chicken lemon confit and green olives. It was amazing.

Then we decided to keep trekking in the heat to find the souks. We got extremely lost in the Medina, the middle of the city where the souk is and found out most of it was closed today for prayer. We were lost in the back slums of this city and heckling has a whole new name here. Its no wonder the women wear coverings and Alicia and I were very covered, which sucked because it was so warm.

We finally gave in and just took a taxi to the main square where we were meeting Anis and his roommate later on. This was a lot better and there actually shops to look at. We bought some moroccan spices and I got a set of six little tea glasses which also function as shot glasses and candle holders haha.

We tried a fresh squeeze orange juice at one of the 30 stalls ha and it was good especially for 3 dirham which is like 50 cents. We got out time mixed up with when to meet Anis and ended up standing by the bank for a long time which was not ideal due to hecklers. Finally we found them and it was amazing how once we were with the boys all heckling stopped. It made me feel very safe.

I would like to take this time to mention that both boys have girlfriends and are very respectful. By this time the center was getting very packed with snake charmers, people with monkey, food stalls, tumblers, and other odd things. We actually found a man with a table of teeth making dentures.

The four of us went upstairs to a terrance and had a soda and watched it all. I felt very 1950's sipping my glass bottle soda from a straw. After ward Alicia and I offered to take the guys out for dinner as a thank you for letting us stay but they insisted on cooking. We went to the grocery store and got the makings for proper chicken tagine because I was told mine earlier was crap. I watched how this was done and think I can re create it especially since I have the spices. Matt would love this dish because it is full of whole green olives. We drank tinto de viranos which is a drink I discovered in spain. It is red wine, soda water, and limes. They are tasty.

We ate dinner from the pot with bread using out hands and a special method. I kept burning myself which they found funny. After dinner we drank and played cards they taught us a Moroccan game where if you lost you had to perform a task that was typically funny. Alicia had to try and flip a card over by blowing it off the floor, and had to put a key into a sprite bottle while it was tied to the back of her pants. Soo great.then we taught them spoons which they loved

Then they convinced Alicia to dance and then we compared music and I taught everyone to salsa which was great. They had some really funny stories and are really fun to be around. I am so glad we couch surfed here or else I would have hated it. Anis says he has people stay almost every week and has hosted 40 people since december. We finally got to sleep around 3 in the morning.

We slept in and just woke up around 10. We are going to have breakfast, go into town, and then watch Germany play Argentina. The boys just made breakfast, so nice and then we will head out.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Malaga day 2

So we woke up the next morning and decided we should figure out our plans for the next few days. We went to the grocery store and got stuff for breakfast and then started planning. Sergio was really nice and we hungout with him the morning as well.

We had a two hour long freak out about the fact that we didn't think we could get into Morocco because our passports expire in 5 month not 6 which is a major rule over there, but in case you are trying to travel to Morocco anytime soon this does not apply to US citizens.

We went to lay on the beach for a bit and Sergio met us out there as well. Then Alicia and I had lunch on the water. Delicious Paella de Mariscos which is a rice and seafood dish seasoned with saffron. They served us these little shots afterward of a sweet mixture that tasted like liquified peachy-o's so strange yet really good.

Afterwards we planned a bit more. Read. Showered. And just relaxed. We hadn't seen Mark or Luke all day yet they turned up around 5ish. We never met back up with Alina because she went into town and we had a beach day.

That night we finished off the rest of our liter with our three roomates and had a kebab for dinner. We exchanged cultural drinking games, phrtases, and music. We were having a great time and kept trying to involve everyone in our hostel. Around 12 we went into town with the idea of going dancing but didn't really know where to go.

Luke started talking with these two girls and we followed them to a really great club that was free entry for chicas (the boys had to pay 6euro) and had god priced drinks. We had a really great time dancing with our new friends and meeting people. At one point Alicia, the two girls we met, and I ended up on a stage doing the single ladies dance. It was perfect.

The five of us Alicia, me, Mark, Luke, and Serg decided we were going to leave as a group so we could share a taxi. We ended up staying out till 5:30 and Alicia and I had to wake up at 6:30 to leave for Morocco.
It has been a rough morning to say the least but now we are on the ferry to Tanger and will be taking a night train into Marrakesh tonight. We downsized and only have small packs for Morocco so we arn't complete targets and have our luggage locked at a Hostel in Tarifa, the place where our ferry took off. My phone charger might not work over here so if not I'll write again when I am back in Europe.
Africa here we come!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry