Running just as fast as you can...

Out-tourist this tourist


I pretty much went everywhere today and I am exhausted. It is amazing to me after all the cities I have been to and all the walking that I have done, that I can still get that tired. I would think I would be in better shape, maybe it’s the heat or maybe it’s all the drinking, but I am disappointed in my lack of stamina. Today I went to Giardini Piazza Vittorio, Arco di Constantino, Colle Oppio, The coliseum, Palatino, Arco di Tito, Roman and Imperial forums, Plaza Venezia, Fontana di Trevi, Spanish steps, Piazza del Popalo and Piazza Navona.

Rome has so much history and is so old that anyone who wants to feel young should come here.

For lunch I had McDonalds again and I know I should try other things but they have the 1 Euro menu and nowhere else can I get so much food for so cheap. I also learned that McDonalds are extremely helpful in locating tourist attractions. Simply follow the signs towards a McDonalds and you will find a tourist attraction within 100 meters.

I actually paid to go in the Coliseum and I also paid for the audio guide, my first audio guide of the trip. I definitely looked like a tourist with my button down short sleeved shirt and my audio guide around my neck. Here is my tip for anyone coming to the Coliseum either take a tour or get an audio guide to skip the long line. If you don’t want to get either guide then get your ticket at the Palatino because it’s the same ticket for both places and there weren’t any people in line to get tickets at the Palatino.

That’s a pretty lame commentary today but there are a lot of pictures and I had a really great day, tomorrow I am going to the Vatican.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE BELOW TO SEE ALL OF TODAY'S PICTURES

08_31_2009 Rome SMALL

When in Rome

For .68 Euro and with a name like that I was scared, turned out to be pretty good


I woke up very early for my flight, 6:45. I haven’t been up that early in a while and there certainly wasn’t anyone else up from my room at the hostel. I was proud of myself for waking up that early and then I remembered that when I worked I had to wake up that early every day. After I packed my things and headed down to check out I ran into some drunk people coming home for the night and others who were still around drinking.

To get to my hotel in Rome I needed to walk to the metro, take the metro to the bus station, take a bus to the airport, take a flight to Rome, get on a bus in Rome to the metro, ride the metro and then walk from the metro to my hostel. I don’t do anything easy, but I do save money. I flew on an ultra budget airline called Ryan Air. My ticket including taxes was 69 Eur. You have to pay 10 Euro to check a bag, but I haven’t checked a bag anywhere I have been. They also have a 1 bag limit, meaning I would have to put my backpack in my carryon bag, but I knew I had enough room. I thought the maximum weight allowed for the carryon was 14KG but when I got to the airport I found out it was 10KG. I again stated my protest that I am skinny and as such should be able to carry a heavier bag, but they were still not buying it. I started taking things out of my bag and was able to get it down to the 10KG max. I threw my snacks, shower gel, sunscreen and a small shirt to make my bag light enough, I also stuck some stuff in my pockets.

When I got to the gate I got in line because seats are not assigned and a window seat near one of the exits was what I was looking for. A window seat on the right side of the plane to be specific, as I like to tilt my head that way when I sleep. As I went to board the plane a RyanAir official came over and asked me to put my bag in a steel box to show that it would fit their dimensions. I knew that it wouldn’t fit in the box, they make the box really small, but I know it would fit in the overhead. I again explained this to the guy, but he showed me on my ticket where it said that the bag must meet certain size requirements and if it doesn’t I have to pay 30 Euro. I don’t even know if the steel box they have is to the requirements, I suppose we are just to take their word that they are being honest. I argued some more but to no avail and ended up paying the 30 Euro to check my bag at the gate. I have already checked in for my flight to Germany next week without checking any bags for that flight so I will have to call them and see if I can get a bag added for 10 Euro instead of the 30 they charge at the airport.

Once we boarded the plane an announcement came over the intercom that the plan was going to be delayed and we ended up waiting about an hour for some broken part to be fixed. I didn’t really know how long we waited because I just put my head back and went to sleep and woke up just before landing in Rome. The views of the Italian coastline and the Mediterranean were beautiful.

While waiting for my bag, that was now checked, it started to rain. I haven’t seen rain in a really long time. The last time I think I was in Nepal in early July.

Tomorrow I’m going to explore Rome and I guess I will finally get to see what all that “when in Rome” talk is about.


Delicious dinner for under 3 Euro

Italian street

Thanks airport

Murphy Beds in a hostel

Understanding

Put me down!


Yesterday I woke up early to checkout and head to the bus station. I checked the day before and busses to Barcelona were at 10am, noon and 2pm. The earliest I could catch a bus to town was 9am and then I wouldn’t get to the bus station in time for the 10 am bus, but I would hopefully have time to make the noon bus and at the latest 2pm. I made it to the bus station by 11am to buy my ticket to Barcelona but the noon and the 2pm busses were full I would have to wait 5 hours until 4pm for the next available bus. Like any good American I went to the mall to look around and then went to McDonalds to play on the internet. Every item that you buy gives you 30 minutes of free internet, good thing they have a 1 Euro menu.

While walking the mall I spied a man, who I assume to be homeless walking the mall reading a book. I wondered to myself, what kind of books do homeless people read? When he passed I glanced over and saw that the book was in Spanish. Wow, I thought not only is he reading a book but he also knows Spanish. Then I remembered that I am in Spain and if he were to be reading anything it would most likely be in Spanish. I forget that other people speak other languages because my thoughts are always in English no matter which country I am in.

Finally I couldn’t stall any longer and I returned to the bus station to wait. They have an indoor area with doors that they prop open and allow pigeons to walk in and out of. I don’t think they prop them open so pigeons will come in, but it is the result. I sat there and watched the pigeons for a long time. I learned that pigeons, at least the ones at the bus station have an order to how they do things. The first pigeon to find new food has a right to it and other pigeons that come along have to give first right to the finder of the food. The pigeon that finds the food, even if he is smaller, will scare away larger pigeons. They kept me entertained for over half an hour, I know I am easily amused.

My bus was supposed to be at gate 31, but there wasn’t a bus there. There was a bus in the next gate but it had a different location on it and other busses kept pulling in around my gate and everyone would walk over to check the destination but they weren’t ever Barcelona either. Finally around 4:15 the driver for the bus that had been parked in the gate next to mine for 30 minutes returned from smoking and changed the sign on the bus to Barcelona. It was basically a miserable bus experience because the driver was late and drove too slow, which meant we couldn’t stop so I could eat, I sat next to the stinky bathroom, people kept coughing and sneezing, there was a kid behind me kicking my seat and the guy next to me kept shouting into his cell phone.

I think my hostel in Barcelona might be the largest hostel in the world. There are 7 floors, one is reception and half of one is the common area. Assuming all floors and rooms are like mine there are 14 rooms per floor and 16 beds per room. That makes for 1232 possible people staying here. I’m sure it cannot actually be that big and that there must be smaller rooms and smaller floors, but it is a very large hostel.

Why are old people always so ugly? Were they better looking when they were young or is it only the good looking ones that die young? If that’s the case and only the good and attractive die young, then I will nearly live forever!

Today I woke up early, ate cereal from an industrial sized bin, I hope no small children were buried alive at the bottom, then I headed into the city. I was here in 2001 and I only have one day so I decided to take the quick tour and see the big sights from the outside. I went to La Sagrada Familia, a church they have been working on for over 100 years and it still isn’t complete. I couldn’t really see much in the way of changes in the last 8 years, but I’m sure they are making lots of progress. I sat down in a park nearby to rest and look at the church. I noticed behind me was a dog park and I walked over to watch the dogs. A giant golden retriever looked at me and I looked at him and he ran over to me to be scratched and play. He was a fun dog and I kept his attention for a few minutes until another dog came along and he left to play with (hump) her. Then I went to a street with lots of street performers and outdoor pet shops. I don’t really get why they have outdoor pet shops of all the businesses in the world. I suppose someone opened one and was making money and everyone else just copied them. My last stop of the day was Parc Guell, a Gaudi creation that has to be seen.

Tomorrow I head to Rome, I am very excited, though I don’t think I know a single phrase or word in Italian, it should be fun.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE BELOW TO SEE ALL OF TODAY'S PICTURES

08_29_2009 Barcelona small

La Tomatina

Yes, I really am this white


I laid out all of my stuff last night for La Tomatina so that if I woke up late it would only take me a minute or so to be ready. Fortunately that wasn’t a problem I was too excited to sleep. I heard that everything you bring with you will most likely reek of tomatoes and be destroyed.

I bought a pair of shoes for 4.5 EUR, which had pictures of Che Guevara on them. I put some money and TP in a plastic bag and put that in a money pouch under my shorts. Then I put on two thin white undershirts, to hopefully prevent the sun from burning my oh so white skin. I was ready by 8am and couldn’t find anything else to do in my hotel room so I headed towards the bus at 8:15. There was an empty bus waiting with a driver in it and a sign that matched my ticket on the window. I sat in the shade to wait. Another bus pulled up around 8:30 that was mostly full and had the same sign in the window. I decided to hop on this bus because since it was mostly full it should leave sooner and get me to La Tomatina. The driver was from Bunol and knew all kinds of back roads, we made it there very quickly.

Once there I didn’t really know where I was supposed to go, so I just followed the crowds. There was a pole that had been greased with a piece of ham tied to the top. The goal is to climb the pole and then cut down the ham. I kept walking and there were many locals in their houses who were hosing off and pouring buckets of water on the people in the streets. As I got closer the crowds and streets got much more crowded. I made it to a street that was nearly impossible to walk on and then I got behind some guys who were pushing their way through the crowd. As I got close to the middle of the street I could see wet shirts tied in knots being thrown around. I realized that any guy who got close was having his shirt removed and then tossed. The guys were like vampires, once bitten they wanted everyone else to be a vampire also. I quickly went backwards to get away and to avoid having my shirt ripped to shreds.

I was in a crowd that was packed so tight I nearly had to push people away from me so that I could exhale. An announcement came over some speakers in Spanish, but it didn’t matter what was said or in what language because everyone started chanting and cheering so loudly it was impossible to hear. I pushed forward in the crowd back towards the flinging of shirts and got too close. My shirts were grabbed and I gave in and allowed them to be taken. They were quickly thrown someplace else. I knew I needed a shirt to get back on the bus, so I bent down into the street grabbed someone else's dirty shirt off the ground and stuffed it into my pocket for later. Tomatoes came from nowhere and started flying, just a few at first and I thought, is this going to be it? Then I saw a dump truck driving down the middle of the suffocatingly packed street. The back of the dump truck had people in it throwing tomatoes at the crowd. Then the dump truck stopped within feet of me and raised up the back pouring juice and tomatoes into the street. The madness had started. People rushed and pushed and threw tomatoes at everyone and everywhere. I grabbed a tomato and threw it through a gap in the people just as an Asian guy was popping up in the gap and it hit him square in the mouth, he took his tomato and returned fire hitting me squarely in the ear. The throwing continued as three more dump trucks made their way along the street, every time bringing with them more tomatoes. It was amazing and exhilarating and so much fun. After an hour the horn sounded and the throwing was officially over.

Tomatoes were everywhere, in my ears, in my eyes, in my underwear, in my shoes everywhere. Thousands of people were all covered in tomatoes and their juice. As I made my way out of the tomato streets and towards the after party I had feathers from a pillow dumped on me to mix with all of the tomato.

The locals stand on the streets and on their roofs with hoses and spray people down with water to try and assist the removal of tomatoes. I pulled my street shirt from my pocket and discovered that it was only a piece of a shoulder and a front, not really usable. It didn’t take long and I was able to find another shirt on the street and put that on. Now that the fighting was over it was time to get clean-ish, dry off and have a few beers.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE BELOW TO SEE ALL OF TODAY'S PICTURES

08_26_2009 La Tomatina small

Preperation

The daily sunscreen application


I came to Valencia to go to La Tomatina on the 26th, but because I don’t plan things my hotel is located outside of town. I read that I should take the train to Bunol, a 45 minute ride away where La Tomatina is. Unfortunately the bus service that takes me to the train station doesn’t start running until I am supposed to be in Bunol already. I saw a sign for a bus service, but there was no number. I searched the company name online and found a phone number. I called and talked to several people who did not speak English. I asked “A bus, El Salar, Bunol, La Tomatino” and was told again and again “No English” After four calls I spoke to a woman who did speak English and she instructed me to go into Valencia on the farthest side from where I was staying to the Expo Hotel between 5 and 8pm that night. It shocked me that she said between 5 and 8 pm because they use military time for everything here.

I woke up early to catch the first bus to Valencia from my hotel so I could walk around the city and check everything out. In Valencia there is what used to be a riverbank that they have turned into a really long park through the entire city, which is genius. At the South side they have an interesting looking bridge, a science center, an Imax and an opera house. All along the river they have walk ways, dog parks and many futbol fields. I found a giant fake pirate that is made of rope climbs and slides. I had a lot of fun running around with all the children. Next to the giant pirate was his giant hat and inside the hat was another pirate with a hat that also has a pirate inside of it. That is the kind of art I can get into.

In LP I had read about a walking tour of the city and I wrote down street names but once I started I got lost and couldn’t find where I needed to go. Maybe I should try harder to make sure I spell street names correctly and that I write legibly. I ended up really far away, but very close to the hotel I needed to be at.

I needed to waste a half an hour until it would be 5pm and so I went to a bar, a shock I know. Many of the restaurants here have several menus. They have their own menu and then menus that suppliers give them with Photoshopped pictures of the food items. I was looking at the picture beer menu, which had at least 16 beers on it. When the waitress came over I asked her about a beer and she informed me that they actually only had 3 beers from that menu.

When I went to the Expo Hotel to buy my bus ticket I was told that this location only sold tickets leaving from the Expo Hotel, which would not work for me. If I were able to get to town, I would just take the train. The guy called his coworker who was selling tickets from El Saler, where I am staying, and was able to get me a ticket for 7am for the next day.

I walked back to the bus stop and waited for the bus. I was the only one at the bus stop and when the bus came I walked out and raised my hand. The driver looked at me and then looked away and drove off. The busses only come every half an hour, so I went to eat in town. When I finally got on the bus I saw a sign for La Tomatina saying pickup near my hotel was at 8:40, not 7:00am. Now I am in a dilemma, do I want to chance missing my bus and La Tomatina or do I want to risk sitting on the street for nearly two hours. I tried for 20 minutes to explain to my front desk clerk at my hotel what my dilemma was and asked him to help. Once he understood he spent over an hour calling different people and places making sure there was a bus at 8:40 and that I could take it. After he had heard from several people, he was convinced and let me know 8:40 was okay, but I should be there at 8:30.

I am excited for tomorrow and all the unexpected it will bring.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE BELOW TO SEE ALL OF TODAY'S PICTURES

08_25_2009 Valencia Small

Hapiness

Sunset


The bus ride today to Valencia was pretty uneventful except that as soon as we got back on the bus after our break I really had to go to the bathroom, so I just sat there thinking about having to go and not being able to because the bus wasn’t going to stop for another 2.5 hours. When we made it to the bus station there wasn’t any toilet paper and I didn’t have any in my bag either, so I found some napkins and went into the bathroom with overflowing trashcans of unflushed poo toilet paper. The smell isn’t actually that bad it’s more the flies that land in the poop toilet paper and then on me.

My hotel is outside of town and a metro doesn’t run there and neither does a city bus so I needed to take a metro area bus. I had emailed the hotel for directions but they weren’t very descriptive, so I asked at an information desk and was given a map with an “x” on it. I walked to the “x” and met two British women. The British women told me they had been further down the street when the bus had passed 10 minutes earlier and the driver had waved at them to go further up the street. They were now waiting where the “x” was on my map. The spot was on the side of the street where there was no shade and there wasn’t a breeze it was a very long 30 minutes for the next bus, who drove by and again pointed further down the street. We walked further down the street to where it ended in a roundabout. It wasn’t possible to go any further down. I saw another metro bus and decided to investigate. It was the bus I wanted and it was on the other side of the street 3 blocks away from where the tourist information woman had said, with the sign covered with posters so it was unreadable.

The bus took a really long time for people to load in, I’m not sure what they were doing, it took me 10 seconds to make sure it was going where I wanted and to produce the required money. While on the bus I was sitting behind an elderly woman and as the bus stopped people got on the bus. Another elderly woman got on the bus and sat next to the woman in front of me. I thought to myself, how cute the one old woman wants to sit by the other one. Then the woman in front of me suddenly stood up and decided to stand. I guess she didn’t want anyone to sit next to her and if they were she was going to stand.

My hotel is across the street from a forest like park and then on the other side of the park is the beach. I checked into the room and then headed to the beach to check things out. I walked up the beach and watched a naked little girl take a poop on a sand castle, I almost fell over I was laughing so hard. To the north I can see the ports of Valencia and to the south is a town on the sea.

I was walking along the beach, by myself, listening to the waves crash, watching the sunset over the dunes to the west and it was so romantic.

While eating dinner I was watching the two children at the table next to me. They were brother and sister and were filling up their glasses with little shots of water and then racing to drink them the fastest. I had a flash in my mind to 15 years from now when they will be slamming alcohol instead of water. What a fun game for kids to play.

I keep hearing people talk about how they are having fun, but they miss home and cannot wait to go back. I definitely do not feel that way. I love and miss everyone back at home, but this is vacation, this is the life, this is incredible. I would never go home if I didn’t have to pay for all of this fun. When you see a child and they discover something be it their toes, a bell, or pretty much anything they get so excited and that happiness spreads to everyone who sees them. That’s how my life is right now, I never know what to expect or what new thing I will encounter and I am so excited and happy for the next thing and the next day.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE BELOW TO SEE ALL OF TODAY'S PICTURES

08_24_2009 Valencia small

Hello Stranger

So creepy!


I had a late night last night and as a result I canceled my first location of the day, so that I could sleep in a little bit. I was going to go to a giant flea market, but I probably wouldn’t have bought anything and so it’s best that I didn’t go. It’s not like I need to buy anything that I don’t already have. My first stop of the day was the Rieina Sofia art gallery, it’s the first real art gallery I have been to on my entire trip. They had modern art and I enjoyed it even the art that looks like what I drew in kindergarten. I don’t understand how someone who draws like that becomes a professional artist. See my pictures for the example I am talking about. I had decided to buy the audio guide to walk around with because it was free to get in but that was apparently a lot of people’s idea and the line was longer than I wanted to wait so I skipped getting it and made up my own back stories to the art.

After I walked to the other museum Museo del Prado but learned that it didn’t let people in for free until 5pm and so I needed to waste time. I walked all over the town looking at things and found lots of old building and a really nice, large park. When it was time I went back to Museo del Prado and joined the masses of people swarming into the museum. I had read that the museum alone is worth the trip to Madrid. I am not an art critique and I don’t know what is good, or what even makes art good but I wasn’t impressed. There were basically a bunch of paintings of old dead rich people and the paintings of Jesus that they also paid to have done. There ought to be a limit to the number of Jesus painting in an art museum unless Jesus is in the museums title. I feel like the super rich of the time prospered while most of the people in their countries were suffering. The rich people could afford to have ridiculously expensive pictures of them painted and now they are being immortalized. That just doesn’t sit right with me, maybe it was too much heat, walking or art. All of the paintings that I liked were more abstract or done by less famous artists and as a result did not have descriptions in English, so I was unable to learn more about them which was somewhat disappointing.

While walking around the museum a woman walked up to me and put her arm on my shoulder while I was walking and she matched her pace with mine. I quickly moved my hands to cover my pockets and then turned to look at her. At the same time I looked at her she turned to look at me and realized that I was not her husband, she gave a little shriek and made an embarrassed face while I burst into laughter. She quickly ran to her husband and explained the story to him and he too joined in with the laughter.

After both museums and all the walking and the stairs and standing, my knee is hurting me again for the first time in a long time. I am hoping that I just need to rest it and it will feel better tomorrow.

Tomorrow I head to Valencia to stay in the first hotel of my trip in Europe. I found a flight for 4 EUR including tax, which would be much faster and cheaper than a bus ride but it leaves at 6:30 am and the only way I could make that would be to stay up all night and go straight to the airport. I am going to be lazy and spend my money on a bus ticket instead, so that I can enjoy the convenience of going when I please. As a result of La Tomatina, where I will be going on the 26th, all of the hostels in Valencia were booked and I had to get a super expensive hotel room instead. I will also get to have some privacy for the first time in over a week, which will definitely be nice.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE BELOW TO SEE ALL OF TODAY'S PICTURES

08_22_2009 Madrid small

Prostitutes

Huge Knockers


The last night in Granada we met American sisters who were staying in our hostel and Matt invited them to hang out with us. The girls main reason for staying at the hostel was that they had read there were free pancake and waffle breakfasts. Unfortunately that is not true, I really wish it were true. So for anyone who goes to Granada, Spain and stays at The Oasis Hostel there is NOT a pancake and waffle breakfast. We went to this lookout point over the Alhambra that we had been to during the day time and it was even more spectacular at night. There is a plaza where people can sit, drink and enjoy the view of the Alhambra and the city lit up below. Five Spanish guys came into the plaza on horse back and were just riding around the town, they weren’t selling rides, just five guys with horses out on the town. They definitely would have a leg up on most other guys when it comes to picking up ladies. Afterword we went to a tapas bar and I had some ridiculously large tapas, so big I couldn’t even eat them all and they were so very delicious.

The plan was for Matt and I to part ways on Friday, for me to head to Madrid, which is North, and for Matt to head southwest to catch his plane on Sunday. Unfortunately Matt was still feeling sick and is staying in Granada another night. I had already booked a hostel in Madrid so I needed to head out. Matt is happy that in a maximum of three days he will no longer be in Spain, either because he is back in Canada or because he has died. I am hoping it’s the first one because we had a really great time together the past week and I will miss his sense of humor and his accent. Per Matt’s request I would also like to point out that he does NOT ate hart.

On the bus ride to Madrid I had the entire back seat to myself and it was very nice. The only downside was that neither of my seats would recline.

Once I got to Madrid I took the metro to my hostel that is located in the very center of town in an unmarked building. The hostel is amazing, the staff is really friendly and helpful, its clean, there is really cold A/C, the showers are plentiful and hot, the wifi is fast and strong, there are 6 new computers, a full kitchen and a giant grocery store is within 50 meters.

I went out to walk around the town and passed a McDonalds, where an animals rights protest was going on and a guy was showing a video on his laptop of pigs being slaughtered. Do they even have pork at McDonalds? I thought they just had chicken and beef product. When I say I walked by a McDonalds I also mean I went inside and ate, I love McDonalds so much, I am definitely addicted. On my way back to the hostel I saw a woman in a very short dress and too much makeup, I thought to myself that woman looks like a whore. About 10 meters, yes I am using meters now, later I saw another woman who looked similar and I looked ahead to see more women all dressed very scantly and all by themselves. These were hookers after all.

On Saturday and Sundays some of the museums in Madrid are free and I woke up Saturday intent on exploring the city and going to a free museum. I got a call from the American sisters I met in Granada and they were in Madrid and headed to Toledo for the day. Since the museums are also free on Sunday I decided to join them and we decided to meet at the bus station that we had arrived at in Madrid. I went to the nearest metro station and hoped on a train. I got to the bus station in one stop and was really pleased with myself until I realized that I was at the wrong bus station. I asked for help and then had to wait for 10 minutes and then got on the right train to the proper bus station. When I got to the station the girls weren’t there yet, they also had gone the wrong direction. We went to the bus kiosk to buy bus tickets to Toledo but Toledo wasn’t a choice. We asked at the information station and were told to take a SE bus and then L6. We went outside and got on the SE bus and when we arrived at the correct stop we saw the sign for the L6 bus and sat to wait. We waited for at least 30 minutes and were really confused. I looked at the sign for the L6 and discovered that it was a bus that didn’t start running until 1:30 am, something was wrong. We asked for help and were told to take the metro to where we wanted to go for the bus to Toledo. In the metro station we looked at the map and realized that the initial directions that we had gotten had meant metro line 6 not the bus called L6.

We walked all over Toledo in the hotness and I am exhausted. I ate a delicious smoked ham and cheese sandwich. Tomorrow I have a LOT of places to visit, it will be a very hectic day.

At night I was approached by a prostitute who said “Hey sugar, you are cute. I’ll do you for free” I told her no thanks and kept walking. She started to pursue me and I had to start speed walking. As she followed, I must have stepped out of her designated prostitution zone because she suddenly stopped and returned to her place on the street.

I have made more plans, after Valencia I am going to Barcelona and then to Rome before I head to Germany. I found an amazing deal out of Barcelona into Rome and I am really excited about going there.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE BELOW TO SEE ALL OF TODAY'S PICTURES

08_21_2009 Madrid small

The Alhambra and Graffiti (Amazing Pictures)

At the Alhambra


This morning I woke up at 6:30 am to get ready and go to the Alhambra, the big deal attraction in town. We, a couple others from the hostel and myself, learned that there is a credit card line on the other side of the regular line that is usually shorter. We got to the Alhambra ticket window at 7:20 and the regular line was enormous. They sell 400 tickets for the morning session and 400 for the afternoon. We found the credit card line and it wasn’t very big. We waited until tickets went on sale at 8:00 and were able to get tickets to enter the main attraction at 9am. The Alhambra has several historic sites that each on their own, are nice but not spectacular however all of them in the same place is marvelous. There are towering walls that overlook the entire city and have the excitement of being on top of a mountain without having to actually climb one. Everything at the Alhambra was very well maintained and clean. I felt almost as if I was in an amusement park.

While walking around I heard some birds chirping under an archway and looked up to see them just in time to avoid the falling bird poop.

I spent the afternoon seeking out the amazing graffiti that is in many places around town. I’m not a big fan of someone writing their name, but when they make pictures, I am very impressed. Be sure to check out the pictures they are incredible.

Matt has been sick the entire time I have known him and he finally broke down and went to the doctor yesterday. The doctor told him he was missing the good bacteria from his intestines and shouldn’t eat for 24 hours and then only to have soup and gave him some medicine. Unfortunately for him the liquid diet does not include alcohol.

I was talking with John from Australia and he was telling me about a program government and large companies offer their employees. The companies realize that after young people have been employed for a few years they have an itch to scratch. The young people had been in school for 4-7 years and then started working and might want to explore the world. The companies also realize the cost to find the right replacement and to have proper training. The companies then allow the young employees to leave for a period of a year or more to pursue their other ambitions in hopes that they will return and become career employees.

I’m sitting in a bar right now drinking beer, eating olives (I don’t really like olives), while playing on the internet. A elderly woman just walked in and ordered a large glass of milk, quickly drank it, shouted things in Spanish at a commercial on tv and then left the bar. I’m at a bar drinking beers playing on the internet because the internet at our hotel is not very good, it keeps disconnecting and going very slow. I went to a coffee shop, but beers are cheaper and I like them better.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE BELOW TO SEE ALL OF TODAY'S PICTURES

08_20_2009 Granada small

Best Deal Ever

They have large sandwiches also


Yesterday was a cool day in Seville with temperatures in the high 90’s instead of the 100’s. It was still very hot and walking down the street leads to massive amounts of sweating. Putting on a new shirt is pretty much futile as it quickly becomes wet and stinky. I am still in Seville but have made a plan for the near future. I will be heading to Granada today for 3 nights and then to Madrid and then Valencia. Hostels, which I like much better than hotels. Hostels provide a great way to meet and interact with other travelers whereas a hotel keeps you isolated from the other travelers. Booking at least a week in advance at hostels can yield a great discount, so I made hostel and hotel reservations when no hostels were available. It is also much cheaper to be able to go to the grocery store and buy food to make in hostel kitchens versus eating out.

Today I went to the local grocery store to get some things I needed and I was like a kid in a candy store. I was in there for well over an hour just walking the aisles and looking at things I haven’t seen in forever. I was even looking at things I couldn’t possibly have a need for like dishwasher detergent, just to see familiar things.

Matt ates hart. Meaning he hates art, but he would pronounce the sentence I hate Art as I ate hart. Silly french speakers. I don’t actually know if he hates art but it’s how he would say it if did hate art.

We went back with a larger group to see the free Flamenco again last night and this time they had different performers. The woman looked like a man with very large breasts, we joked that is was cross dressing night at the free flamenco. We were able to see the full set this time and it was very entertaining even though it was way too hot in there.

When we were walking home from the Flamenco I saw several piles of concrete powder that were going to be used to make concrete once they were mixed with water. I strategically placed .01 EUR coins in several piles throughout the city. So that one day someone could come back and look in the building and find old Euro coins, in essence making me legendary. It seemed genius at the time.

Today we took the bus from Seville to Granada and we will spend a couple of days here. Then Matt and I will part ways. He has already been to Granada but he really liked it, so he didn’t mind coming back.

In Granada they have tapas bars, I am sure they are in lots of other places, where you get a sandwich, burger, or many other items with a beer for 2 EUR. That means I can get three burgers, three fries and 3 beers for the price of a meal at McDonalds. What a deal!!

The internet at my hostel might just be the slowest most cumbersome internet I have ever experienced.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE BELOW TO SEE TODAY'S PICTURES

08_18_2009 Granada Small

Drinking and Eating

Inside the cathedral


Matt and I Joined up with a couple also from Quebec in Canada, meaning they also speak French and had them show us some things they found and liked in the city. We went to Plaza de Espagna which was built for a 1929 Exposition and was very beautiful from a distance but has not been kept up and has many missing tiles.

For lunch we went to a restaurant that has a paper menu with 100 small sandwiches on it. You pick as many sandwiches as you want, they are 1.2 Euro and then you get a 2 Euro beer for 1 Euro. So basically you get a giant beer and a tiny sandwich for 2.2 Euro, not a bad deal. The food and the beer were both really good. Then we headed for dessert of ice cream at a place that had specials on 1 EUR ice cream cones.

We went to a park and they had this angled wheel that you can climb or stand on and it is like a horizontal hamster wheel for people it was really fun even though I could only stay on it for a few seconds before I fell off.

Matt has had an upset stomach for days and headed back to the room to rest. I went out with the Quebec couple to waste time with them until their train left later that night. We walked along the river and then went for some snacks and beers.

Later that night I met some more Canadians, they are everywhere! We went out with the new Canadians and some Australians. We went to a pub and it was rather expensive so I suggested the place where you can get a sandwich and a beer for 2 EUR and we decided to try and find it. I knew there were two of them, but I couldn’t remember where one of the two was. I later learned it was 4 businesses away around the corner from where we were, we ended up walking across town to where I knew the other one was. Sandwiches and beer are quite delicious.

The next day I went to the cathedral in town which is very large, nice and similar to other cathedrals in Europe. I spent the rest of the daytime walking around the town looking at things. I really like Seville, it’s clean and organized. We hung out in the main room of the Hostel and met even more Canadians and Australians. We had a room full of everyone being Canadian and Australian with the exception of me. At night we went to see a free flamenco show and caught the last 10 minutes of the last show of the night. It was entertaining.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE BELOW TO SEE ALL OF TODAY'S PICTURES

08_16_2009 Seville Small

Cruise

Anyone want to join me on a 12 night Transatlantic cruise from Spain to Miami Florida on November 9th 2009?!?! If so let me know ASAP!

Bull Fight

Nosebleeds


Matt and I woke up in the morning and moved to the youth hostel that I had reserved online. There are several rooms with a total of 8 beds in the room and shared showers and toilets. There is a common room with couches and a TV for meeting other people and relaxing.

I got my clothes laundered today, which is the first time in a long time. I had my clothes laundered in Morocco once in the first week and haven’t cleaned them since then.

We went to the famous Cathedral but it was only open for another half an hour, so we bypassed it and decided to come back later. Then we went to Reales Alcazares, a mix of a palace, a garden and a museum. It was amazing and so beautiful. I got in for free with my Student ID from Truman that has no year, I’m going to use that ID forever! I saved 7.5 EUR today and hopefully can save more soon.

Last night we went to a bull fight, I have never been to one and I didn’t know what to expect. First the bull fighters all come out to music in their ballet slippers, tights, spandex and sequins and they walk around making macho chest flaring movement. Then the bull fighters get their red capes, which were actually pink and make sure they like the way the capes perform. They seem to have something in them to give them a specific shape and appear to have weights on the bottom so they drape. The arena is a giant circle enclosed with wooden walls and there are several areas where a small wall is up so the bull fighters can hide behind it from the bull. A single bull would come out and men from behind the walls would drape their cloths to make the bull charge at them and then they would duck behind the wall. The bull fighters would do this to make the bull run all over the ring and get tired. Then a man on a horse with a spear would come out. They would get the bull to attack the protected horse and the man with the spear would stab the bull in the back several times. Then men with wooden sticks that have spikes on the end would come out and they would stab the spikes into the bull in the same spot it had already been stabbed. Then the bull fighter would come out with his cape and his sword. He would make the bull run all around him getting tired and dizzy. Then the bull fighter would stab his sword deep into the same spot on the back of the bull. Two more bull fighters would come out and make the bull dizzy until it fell down. Then a final bull fighter would come out and finish the bull off before it was dragged away by a team of horses. The bull fighter that got the recognition was the one with the sword and if he could get the sword all the way in on the first try and quickly bring the bull down the audience would stand and wave handkerchiefs and then the bull fighter would walk around getting flowers and gifts from fans. The identical process above was repeated on a total of six bulls without any differences or variation. The bulls would never go for the guy waving the cape, it would always go for the cape. One of the bulls knocked a bull fighter to the ground and then the bull went after the cape on the ground instead of the bull fighter. The bull fighter that got knocked down got a gash on his head and he was bleeding all over his face.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE BELOW TO SEE ALL OF TODAY'S PICTURES

08_14_2009 Seville Small

Customs

Delicious Beer


I took a taxi from Chefchaouen to Tetouan and from Tetouan to Ceuta, which is a Spanish controlled city in Morocco. I had to go through customs to enter Ceuta to leave Morocco and enter Spain. This was the biggest pain in my butt ever! I had met a Moroccan guy in the taxi and he was also crossing the border and offered to help me. He asked someone for me in French-Arabic, which gate was for foreigners and was told I needed to go to gate #5. I waited in line for 20 minutes and when I got to the front I was told to go to gate #4 instead. I waited in the hot humid sun for over an hour and a half. People kept trying to cut in line and lots of verbal fights broke out. There were curse words flying in every language all over the place. Once I got to the window it took less than two minutes to get my passport stamped to leave Morocco and then I could head into Spain customs. Spain customs were pretty much non existent, a guard checked to make sure my passport had an exit stamp from Morocco and that was it. I had to exchange my Dirhams for Euros and then I hopped in to a cab to the ferry terminal, to catch a ferry to mainland Spain. I was imaging an old building with some booths to buy tickets that was very shady. Instead I was greeted with something representing a modern airport. I walked around to the different counters run by different ferry companies and found the one that had the ferry leaving soonest and bought my ticket. The ferry wasn’t leaving for an hour and a half so I took my time to walk around and look for some food. I didn’t find anything very intriguing and decided to head through security and see if they had any restaurants on the other side. Once I got through security I saw that I could board my boat and I did. Shortly after I got on the boat it left, there had been an hour time change and I was lucky I didn’t miss the ferry. I call it a ferry because that is the word they use but its more like a mini cruise ship, everything was really nice.

The ferry brought me to Algeciras Spain from where I needed to catch a bus to Seville. I was helped to the bus station by a beautiful Spanish girl with shiny new red luggage and a yellow belt, shirt and matching sandals. She didn’t speak English and I don’t speak Spanish but she was able to figure out what I wanted and I was very grateful for her help because the bus station wasn’t well marked. My brain is still in French mode and I keep asking people questions and giving responses in my made up French that I learned over the past few weeks in Morocco. I have several Spanish language learning CD’s on my laptop that I could have listened to, to try and pick up something but I am to lazy, it’s easier to watch a movie then try and learn Spanish.

Within the first 20 minutes of arriving in Spain I saw two different couples openly tongue kissing each other. I use the phrase tongue kissing instead of french kissing because they were going at it with such vigor and openness I could see their tongues massaging each other. That is definitely something I have not seen in a while and I puked a little in my mouth both times.

I am already being quickly reminded what an advanced (probably not the politically correct word, but you know what I mean) society is like in comparison to the recent countries that I have been in. Shops carry more then 10 items and they carry familiar brands. I am no longer the least stinky person everywhere I go, in fact I am probably the most stinky. Girls have breasts, and they are beautiful. Things are more expensive but in lower denominations. Now a twenty in my pocket is a decent amount of money. If I lost a Rupee it would be $.02, if I lost a Dirham it would be $.13, if I lose a Euro I’m out $1.40.

On the bus I met a Canadian guy named Matt from Quebec so he speaks French and English regularly. He is spending three weeks in Spain on vacation from work and we hit it off really well. I didn’t know if I would make it to Seville in the same day so I didn’t make a reservation anywhere. Matt had made reservations at a hostel and we decided to see if they had space for me. We walked all over town, this way, that way and this way again but we couldn’t find the hostel. At first Matt didn’t know the street name and then he found that but we couldn’t find the street and no one in the area knew the street either. We finally found the hostel and there was a long line, I let Matt wait and I headed to the air conditioned bar. Yes, the hostel has its own air conditioned bar, it’s like the Ritz of hostels. I hadn’t had a beer since I arrived in Morocco and I forgot how delicious they are. Beers here are 1 EUR, a pretty good deal. The hostel didn’t have space for me and since I had walked around with Matt forever trying to find the hostel, he also decided to leave and to share a room with me at a nearby hotel. The hotel was very cheap, but had 1 large bed, a small bed, A/C, a private bathroom with toilet paper and a private shower, so nice.

We had both traveled far that day, Matt had left the night before from Marrakesh and taken the train. He was on an overnight train and had intended to use it to sleep. Unfortunately two conservative women came into the chamber where he was sleeping and insisted on talking on their phones and chatting with each other, both very loudly. Matt gave them evil looks to try to shut them up but they kept at it. He asked them politely to be quieter and they ignored him. Finally at 2am when they were still going he sat up in his bed and said to them, “If you continue to be so loud, I am going to have to get up, turn the light on, get naked and read”. He was met with silence that persisted throughout the night, it had worked.

We both stank and were joking of our stinks fighting each other in a death match of stink. I took off my tennis shoes and socks and I could smell the stink from my feet, it was awful. Matt removed his shoes and said “my feet really stink”, I looked at him and smiled, “that’s not your feet you smell, those are mine” I replied. He took a step closer to me and gagged, it was my feet not his that stank. I’m like the people in the Indian planes, I stink so much I convinced other people that they stank when it was really me. We both took showers and then headed out to town. We found a bar and had a couple of beers and then started to walk the streets. A half an hour after midnight we came upon Salsa lessons in the park, on a Thursday night. Not something you would see in many other places. Tomorrow we are going to try and head to the hostel I have reservations at and explore the city.

Click on the picture below to see all my pictures from today.

08_13_2009 Seville Small

In Spain

I made it to Spain, safely and happily. I don't have any time to post a real blog now but I will soon.

P.S. Spain is amazing!

Spain

After spending some time looking at a calendar and at places I want to go and things I want to do I have decided to head to Spain tomorrow via the ferry.

Getting High

Up in the mountains


I woke up early Monday morning to find another hotel. I went to all three of the budget options from LP and none had anything available for a single. One had a triple room and I decided to take it. Yes, it is more money but when I’m in Europe, the money spent here will seem like change. I spent all day either in bed or in the bathroom. I quickly went out to resupply my water supply and get some bananas and bread to eat. I felt really weak and I didn’t like it.

I hoped to be recovered on Tuesday to go hiking in the area but I was still up most of the night lying in bed or in the bathroom. Tuesday during the day I could tell I was feeling better and went for a little walk around town. My legs felt so exhausted it was like I hadn’t walked in weeks instead of one day.

I woke up this morning, Wednesday, at 6:30am and was out the door to hike the mountain hovering over Chefchaouen by 7am. I read that I should bring lunch with me so yesterday I bought a Snickers and then planned to buy some more food this morning. At 7am no shops or restaurants are open, everyone is sleeping so I headed out with my snickers and 2 water bottles. I had to work my way through the streets to get to the top of town and then on a road to where the trail starts. I came across some barking dogs and stopped. I stood looking at them for a minute and then started walking toward them and they cowered and ran away, they were scared of me. The sun was on the other side of the mountain lighting everything but not yet able to make things hot and it was wonderful. As I hiked I heard a rustling sound and looked to my right to see a wild pig. I stared at it and realized that it was tied to a tree and couldn’t get me so I relaxed.

The trail followed a gravel/dirt/4 wheeling road up and over the mountains. I stopped at every outlook to take pictures and to rest. The wind would blow and I would throw back my head and close my eyes and feel like I was flying, it was an incredible, I love that feeling. As I approached a turn I saw a mother dog and her teenage pups. The mother started barking at me and the pups stared. I gave them as wide a birth as I could and put my hands in a way to show that I meant them no harm. For no reason the mother moved towards me in an aggressive way and her pups started to bark and they started to encircle me. My mind flashed to a scene from Shantaram where the main character and a boy are attacked by dogs. Then my mind flashed to Prajwal and the dogs of India and me telling him to use the bottom of your foot to their noses if they ever attack. I started to talk to the mother in a soft tone and made gestures to let her know I wasn’t a threat. They kept coming and barking and I was scared, really scared. Then suddenly a burst of rocks exploded in front of the mother and she whined and backed up still barking. Another explosion of rocks hit in front of her and the pups scattered and she ran over the hill and away from me. I turned to see a little old woman hurling rocks the size of her fist. She looked like a Major League baseball player hurling those rocks. I went to her to thank her and she told me through her motions, never show them kindness or fear, show them anger and rocks and they won’t be a problem. I thanked her and continued on my hike.

I passed through fields of corn and then I passed through fields of marijuana. Not to say that I hadn’t expected that it was a possibility to see fields of marijuana but to actually see them was something else. That is definitely something I haven’t seen before. Shortly after that I reached the end of my hike at the top of the mountain and turned around to head back home.

One the way back I heard some dogs barking and I quickly grabbed two large rocks in case these dogs were also interested in attacking, luckily they weren’t and left me alone. I passed a kid who was watching his family’s goats and sheep and he saw I was listening to my mp3 player. He asked me he could listen and I obliged him, knowing he wouldn’t like it and he certainly did not. I was listening to an audio book in English. He asked me if he could have the mp3 player and I told him no, but we smiled and were both happy. I had forgotten how much I love hiking, it’s so free, in all senses, and exhilarating.

CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S PICTURES

Sick Again!

A bee in my coke


The showers at my hotel are in a central location, not in the individual rooms, and they only have hot water for 2 hours every morning. I woke up with 2 minutes left so I quickly stripped, grabbed my towel and ran to the showers. I was lucky and there was an empty shower, I jumped in and was able to enjoy a hot, luke warm, shower the entire time I was in there.

On my flight from Abu Dhabi, I sat next to a Moroccan kid who suggested places that I visit and one of them was Chefchaouen, my destination for the day. The only way to get to Chefchaouen was to go through Tangier and then through Tetouan. Getting a grande taxi to Tangier was easy and fast enough. When I got to Tangier I asked where the line for Grande Taxi’s to Tetouan was and was told there isn’t really a line. There is no order like all the other Grande Taxi stands. What people would do is crowd around the gate and wait for a taxi to pull in and then ask the driver where he was going next and people would fight their way in if it was there they wanted to go. I didn’t want to do this, I would feel bad throwing an old lady to the ground and got lucky in finding people who were also going to Tetouan and we were able to hire a driver on our own, so we didn’t have to fight. Then when I got to Tetouan I was told that there were 2 Grande Taxi stands in town and I was at the wrong one, so I had to take a petite taxi to the other Grande Taxi stand, where I was able to get a ride to Chefchaouen. It was much more complicated than necessary and I was lucky to have the help of several people.

When I reached Chefchaouen I wandered around town to find the old medina and then once I found it I went from hotel to hotel on my list looking for a place with vacancies. When I had been in central morocco finding a hotel was easy and they were often vacant, it seems that northern morocco is much more crowded this time of year, especially from the Spanish. I intend to head to Spain within the week and start my European adventures there. I had difficulty finding a hotel on my own and finally accepted the help of one of the many young men in town with awfully dirty teeth. Its almost like a sign, the dirtier the teeth, the more likely they are trying to sell you something or get money from you. I went to several hotels that had single rooms left but they were all very musty, dirty and under staircases. Once I found a hotel with a nice guy at the counter and a sufficient room, I tried to pay the guy who helped me find the hotel, but all he wanted was for me to buy some hashish from him. This part of the country is famous for their hashish and something like 40% of Europe’s hashish comes from here.

My room smells like semen and both the door and window only open into the building preventing a breeze from coming and clearing out the smell. I decided to investigate to see if I could find the source, better to suffer through one strong undesirable whiff then to suffer all night. First I checked the unemptied trash can, it was not the source it smelled of plastic and stale only. Next I tried the thick blanket at the foot of the bed, it only smelt like wet dog. The comforter? No, that only smells like urine. The sheet, pillow and mattress all only smell of must. I looked under the bed, the only place anything could hide and there was nothing. I don’t know where the smell is coming from. I will be switching hotels in the morning, even if that means I have to leave the town.

I wrote the above entry on Sunday and since then I have switched hotels and have mostly been laying in bed with an upset stomach and everything that usually accompanies them. I am feeling somewhat better today and hope to be better by tomorrow so I can explore the area around Chefchaouen and then I will most likely head to Tangier to take the boat to Spain before the week is out.

Pictures from today's adventures

I must be getting old

On a Cliff


I read in LP that there is a beach 3km south of town called Paradise Beach and that there is a trail along the coast that leads to it. You can also get there on the back of cart pulled by a donkey but I don’t know where they pick up and the walk along the coast sounds nice. I put on my tennis shoes and decided to spend my day walking to the beach and enjoying what it had to offer. With a name like Paradise Beach the expectations are very high. As I worked my way south along the trail it gradually got smaller and the terrain got rockier. The trail went in and out of several construction zones and also ended on the top on cliffs several times, all making it rather difficult to follow.

I kept seeing other groups of people around me so I knew I had to be going in the right general direction. The other people was encouraging but it seemed to me that I had traveled further than 3km already and there was nothing but rocky cliffs in sight. Suddenly I was in a spot where I couldn’t see any of the other groups, I knew I was going the correct direction because the ocean was still on my right though. I decided that when I reached the top of the next hill I would reevaluate the situation if I didn’t see the beach. When I came to the top of the mountain all I could see was the beautiful flat beach laid out below me. What had been nothing but jagged large boulders was now a beautiful beach. The beach here is beautiful and amazing, it’s not too crowded and there are chairs and umbrellas for rent along with food and drinks to purchase.

I walked to beach once looking for a prime spot and picked the best location I could find and got myself an umbrella and a chair to relax in. The beach here is very deep with the water furthest away and then a large flat sandy area that people were playing soccer in and then rows of chairs and umbrellas and lastly restaurants and snack bars.

As the day progressed the water started creeping up the shore and slowly submerging everything in its path. First the soccer fields were taken by the sea and then row by row of chairs and umbrellas had to be taken down to prevent being washed out to sea. I was in the third row of chairs and by 4:30 pm I had waterfront property for about 30 minutes until my area was also taken by the sea.

The people at this beach are definitely more western than any other beach I have been to in Morocco. There are many more girls here than other beaches and the ones that are here are actually wearing swimming suits. There are also plenty of fat people wearing clothing that is far too revealing. There ought to be a rule that women over 200 lbs have to become practicing Muslims and keep all of their flesh covered.

At night I went out to the street to find a place along with thousands of others to drink tea and watch people walk by. I found a couple of vacant tables but decided they weren’t in prime spots so I kept looking. I found an immensely dirty table that was in a decent spot and vacant so I quickly snatched it up. I turned the table so the dirtiest part was away from me. The table was covered in discarded peanut shells and spilt drinks. There was a table next to mine with three guys who yelled at the waiter to clean up my table for me. Men here yell at each other over everything in such an aggressive way that I often expect it to come to blows between them. It never does though, just as quickly they lower their tones in resolution and often end the conversation in an embrace and air kisses to the cheeks. As the waiter cleaned my table and took my order one of the men at the table next to mine started to talk to me in English. Two of the men were also accountants and quickly invited me to join them at their table so we could continue our conversation. The men offered me some Moroccan snacks they were eating and I had a small piece. It tasted like two pieces of thin bread with some kind of mild cheese or butter between the pieces. It was nice of them to share and they insisted that I finish the snack off. They informed me that they were going to join the masses wandering around the streets and invited me to join them. I accepted their invitation and gathered my belongings while they paid for my tea.

I learned that the purpose of all the walking is to see friends, but more importantly to look for girls. We wandered the streets all over the town with the other masses looking at the places, entertainment and the people. Of course we each took turns with our own commentaries of the things we saw. We stopped and spoke with a couple groups of girls, they spoke, I smiled and laughed when everyone else laughed, then we would move on to find a new group of girls. Shortly after midnight I asked them how long they normally walked until and they told me 2 or 3 depending on the rest of the crowd. I thanked them for the tea and the company and wished them luck in finding some girls, I was tired and ready for bed.


Click here to see today's pictures

Notebook

Unfocused self portraits are the best!


I bought a paper notebook to carry around with me in addition to the small notebook I carry in my pocket and my laptop. I think the new notebook will be a better way to record my thoughts and feelings as I have them. This should allow my blog to provide more insight into my random thoughts than I am currently doing.

I feel like I have three jobs right now, none of which are particularly difficult. I need to most importantly enjoy myself and take in as much as I can from around me. Secondly I need to keep in contact with friends and family through emails and my blog. Thirdly I need to figure out what to do with myself when I do return home, what changes to make and how to make them. Of course the first two aren’t very difficult, though the second one can be time consuming. I also feel like both of the first two items will help me with the third item. I have put a lot of thought into the third item and I started a list of things I do and don’t want to do once I return to Saint Louis.

I have finished reading all of the English language books that I had. The problem in this country is that all of the books are in either French or Arabic and I cannot read either. I could probably struggle through a French book if I also bought a dictionary but where would be the fun in that. I have no desire to learn French. I would definitely like to learn another language in the near future though. I think the two that would be most beneficial to me would be either Spanish or Mandarin (Chinese).

Yesterday (Thursday) I walked around Larache and headed south along the coastline to see what I could find. I again followed people down a walkway that lead to the ocean. The wind picked up and I was greeted with a disgustingly foul smell. I tried to ignore the smell and kept walking towards the water. The road was on a high mountain above the ocean and the mountain was covered in trash. I saw a van pull up, open the back and start launching bags of trash out of the van onto the hill and into the ocean. It was such an awful smell I kept walking south towards the cemetery to try and escape it.

I found another trail along the coast and saw some people in swimming wear taking it so I followed them. The path lead around some cliffs and then down to some rocks at the ocean where people were swimming and diving in. I found a nice place in the shade of the rocks and settled in to relax and enjoy the beautiful day. There wasn’t much trash here and the weather was perfect, I stayed for a long time simply relaxing, it was really nice.

All of these Moroccan men with their amazing bodies make me so jealous and self conscious. I want to look like them. Then I start to work out and it’s hard, it’s really hard to work out. It’s not like in the movies when they show someone working hard in a couple of vignettes and in two minutes after an inspirational song has been played they look amazing. It actually takes a long time with a whole lot of hard work to get a good looking body. Then there is the food aspect of getting a good looking body. I tell myself, I am going to eat healthy and then the waiter brings me a plate of fries. I tell myself one won’t hurt and the next thing I know the whole plate of fries it gone. Then on my way home I smell waffle cones cooking and I see ice cream for sale. That cannot hurt I tell myself, the muscled Moroccans are eating them. I will eat it one last time and then be done with it. The problem is I always tell myself this will be the last time and it never is.

This (Friday) morning I took a Grande taxi from Larache to Asilah with three hotels written in my small notebook to check out. All three of them had similar reviews and identical prices. I didn’t know exactly where they were, but figured I could wander around and find them. I went to the first one and it was fully booked for the night. Then I went to the second and it too was fully booked. Apparently there is a festival going on in the old medina and as a result the town is very full this weekend. There was a man on the street who offered to help me look and I accepted his help knowing that he probably preferred certain hotels and I would have to pay him. We walked around to at least 10 hotels and at all of them I was told they were full unless I wanted to pay $50 a night, which I certainly did not. I was finally able to find a place that had 1 room left and more than I wanted to pay but still in my price range. I paid and thanked the guy for helping me find a hotel and he headed off, with all of the change in my pocket. I put my bags in my room and headed out to explore the town.

First thing I needed was some lunch and I stopped at a sandwich shop to get something. The only meat they had was fish and since I don’t eat fish I had an interesting sandwich filled with egg, tomato, rice, onions, french fries, carrots and lettuce. Moroccan people love to put french fries in everything they eat. I have been looking for a backpack since I came to Morocco and I found a second hand shop, looks like a mix of a salvation army and a garage sale inside of a shop, that had a 1980’s looking backpack. The price wasn’t terribly expensive for a second hand bag but everything from my suitcase would fit snuggly inside and then I would still have my smaller backpack to deal with. I’m not sure if I should buy the big backpack and see how much I can cram inside or wait and hope the wheels of my rolling bag hold out on me.

Asilah is similar to most of the other small towns along the Atlantic ocean, they have an old medina that is surrounded with newer building and a beach area to the north and south of the medina. The town is different from others that I have been to though because inside the medina there are very few shops and all of the buildings are kept up very well. I believe the houses in the medina are owned by Spanish people who use it as a summer vacation home and as a result these homes are very expensive.

I wandered the streets with the crowds of people until a little after 11pm and then I went up to my room. My room is in a room on the roof of a hotel with a great view of the street. I kept my door and window open to allow the cool night breeze in until around 1:30am when I decided that it was too late for me. I looked at the street again and it was still crowded and very loud. I closed my window and door and put my ear plugs in and slept very soundly.

In case you cannot tell there are 2 different links to 2 different sets of pictures:

Thursday's Pictures

Friday's Pictures