Bus tour day 4, 5, & 6

Bare with me, it was a wacky trip. I'm still trying to catch up on what we did on the bus/coach trip.

Tarifa, the bottom of Europe
After Lagos we got off of the bus and there was so much wind! We stayed in a tiny town called Tarifa which is the most southern part of Europe and only 14km from AFRICA. The main reason why this little town was chosen was because there was day-trip offered to go into Morocco for an evening. Most everybody on the bus went but a couple of us stayed behind, including myself. Why didn't I go you ask? Well it seemed like a rushed trip and I'd rather go all out and see much more of Morocco. So I stayed back, had a siesta, and went into downtown with my bus mate, Guy, a kiwi, and had one of the best dinners so far. We ordered a simple meal of patatas bravas, chicharrones, and tinto de verronna (which is red wine and lemonade and surprisingly delicious). A group of mariachis played for us and the waitress complimented me on my espanol! We waited for the tour get back from the late ferry which just meant we got to do some sight seeing. We walked out onto a point which had the Mediterranean sea on one side and the Atlantic on the other and so much wind! Everything was warm and chilly at the same time. It was gorgeous. One of my more favorite days from the trip so far.

Ronda, the prettiest place I've seen
We made a quick stop on our way to our next hostel in Ronda. This is a city high on a steep cliff and is connected on both sides by a bridge. Originally this is where a bunch of oppressed people in Spain (Jews, Muslims, gypsies) made their home to get away from it all. It seriously is in the of middle of nowhere and very high up in the Serra Nevadas. But it has a sad past... a jerk king didn't like what they were doing so he had every person in Ronda killed. It makes me sad to hear about the oppressed people all over the world and how much they get screwed just because they do their own thing. I haven't traveled much but in the places I have it's always the same story (Spain, Scotland, Puerto Rico, ...). But back to the beauty of this place. I got the best sandwich here! A guy makes his own chorizo and cheese, puts it on a roll with tomato and olive oil. The homemade cheese was almost too creamy and the chorizo was almost too perfectly flavored. Sheer perfection. I took it to a gazebo which sat on a ledge that gave at least an 180* view. In the center of the gazebo was a guy playing the Spanish guitar. I don't think he was in it for the money or fame, he was just doing something he loved in a beautiful place. I sat near him, no one else was around, the wind was still but warm and it was heavenly. I haven't been in a place of that serenity in a long time.  I want the moment to last forever but I got about five full minutes out of it until the tourists came back and I had to get back on the bus.

Grenada, home of the best idea ever: tapas
Our first night in Grenada we had a tapas crawl.  You made have heard of pub crawls but this takes it up a notch. Traditionally tapas are a little something served to you gratis (free) when you buy a drink. It typically is only a couple of bites and you never know what you're getting but with the a mount of alcohol a person can consume in one evening having a little something in their bellies helps. The most common idea of why this became a tradition was back in the day a king went out for drinks but there was a lot of flies around. So he put a small plate atop his drink so none of those buggers could drown in his drink. But an empty plate atop a glass looked dumb so the cook put a little bit of food on the plate. Since the guy was the king and loved this it caught on and everybody did it. Eventually the plate started to be placed next to the drink but it still free and delicious. A couple tapas I received have been spanish tortilla, prawns, croquets, mini French fries, olives, jamon, fish salad. Wacky and delicious. You rarely need to buy a full dinner meal.  The tapas crawl went all over but I didn't last long because I was still tired from the early morning bus wake up.
The next day was a very busy day. We went to the Alhambra, the most touristed spot in Spain. It was built by the moors a long time ago and is huge and beautiful. Lots of gardens that provide natural air conditioning, large rooms beautifully decorated, and amazing views of Spain. After a great tour there some of us went to an hamman, a Turkish bath house. Got a massage. Enjoyed quiet time. Drank mint tea. Relaxed. It was welcomed. Then after quick siesta (relaxing is hard work), I signed up for a flamenco class and show. An older lady with her hair in a tight bun and a cigarette in hand taught us the basic steps of flamenco. She was hardcore with little/no English so if we didn't do something right we got the death stare and was corrected on the proper step by being dragged to the correct position. After the class we saw a show by professionals who really know what they were doing. The show was put on in a cave on the hillside on the corner of town which is said to be the birthplace of flamenco. The dance was invented by the gypsies, Jews, and Muslims (see a trend forming?) to what I assume is to let out some of their frustration. Lots of stomping. Chanting. Gorgeous outfits. Piles of true passion for their art. It was all very inspiring. Granada was fun.

Holy Toledo Batman!
In Toledo I saw a cathedral and ate some food. Not too exciting.

Windmills in Consuegra
One of our last stops was in Consuegra which is home to the famous windmills made popular in Cervantes' Don Quixote. We had a photo op. I'll miss these crazy kids I've gotten to know the past week.

Bus tour days 1,2, & 3!

So I'm on a bus tour now.

Madrid to Cordoba
Whoa. First awesome place and it was done well. Smack dab in the center of town is the mesquita which is an old mosque from when the Moors were ruling. It's huge! Apparently an old king of Spain wanted to turn it into a cathedral so he ripped put the middle of the mosque and put in his cathedral. Unfortunately June 30th in Spain is some sort of religious holiday so we couldn't go in. I was really looking forward to seeing the Muslim and Christian world living together in harmony but not this time around.
Next a group of us went looking for fancy patios and saw a couple of really great ones. Ate some quick tapas. Not a bad afternoon.

Seville!
We got a walking tour of the city by the guy who showed Rick Steve's around when he was in Spain. He was great but we were tired. My highlight? I saw the old cigarette factory and prison that were made famous by Bizet in the opera Carmen. It's now a university but I could totally picture all of the songs being performed there.
It was a nice evening of tapas and drinks. Made some friends too! A couple of great Americans (one from Fresno the other from Riverside), handfuls of Aussies, and a great couple of kiwis.

Holy cow, I'm in a different country and they speak yet another language: Lagos, Portugal
Ah Lagos. What a fantastic little place right on the water. It was a cute beach town and our group made the most of it. Instead of one big hostel we were split in "nana houses" which were little apartments and homes all over the city owned by grannies. They weren't there so all 10 of my group got a lovely place to stay for two nights to ourselves. A great backyard patio, a swimming pool (which was freezing but we went in anyways), and a plum tree just bursting with fresh plums that were falling off the tree ripe. It was a good group of people in Nana P's house. Our first night there was epic! Several bars had "challenges" and many in our gladly accepted the challenges. The first bar offered a tshirt if you downed 9 different shots as fast as you can (it was free if you eat your home country's top time). The only person to do it solo was Joe-the-Busdriver. A couple others did it in pairs. I somehow talked a couple of Americans guys in Lagos for holiday to buy the full nine shots so all five us Americans could celebrate our nations independence together. I got the shirt too! I ended up with the creamy shots but the two I had tasted pretty good. At the next bar the challenge was to drink 7 jäger bombs as fast as you can (same rules apply for fastest times for your country). Many of the guys on our trip did that one and Joe-the-Busdriver did it too! He's a pretty sturdy Hungarian guy and could handle his liquor easily. Thankfully he wasn't driving the next morning even though he was feeling fine at 9am. There was dancing on pool tables and general silliness at the second bar. A good time was had by all. I even went in the pool back at out nana's house!
The next morning we did sea kayaking to some caves. It was an amazing experience to be in those semi grottos as the ocean swelled us up and down even it meant I was wicked sore the next day. Needless to say after that I needed a siesta. Siesta's are amazing and now I know why they are needed. The Spanish population can't work too much in the "frying pan" of Spain during midday so take a quick nap. Apparently the amount of time a siesta should take is 23 minutes. Lagos was a great experience. I'd love to go back sometime, it was very relaxed and most everyone spoke english which helped because God knows if I could ever wrap my brain around Portuguese.

Meanwhile, in Lagos...

I lost my voice pretty bad. A bit of a cough but that is just because it's so darn dry here. I will NOT get sick this trip. I will NOT get sick this trip. But I did get attacked by something the other night: I have about six bites on my face. So not cool. A couple over my shoulders. I'm praying they are from some jerk mosquitos or a very angry spider and that it's not bed bugs. Ugh. 

Other than my voice, my cough, and my bites I'm doing great!

The start of a funny joke

Tonight I met a butcher, cabinet maker, and a chipper (construction) guy at a place that sells only Heineken. I had my top bunk mate with me. Tomorrow is the bus trip. Wee!

SFO, AMS, MAD

I got to the airport three hours early and tickets and security took two and a half hours. Grump. No time to down load any movies. Or time to call my bank or credit card. Nuts.

SFO -> AMS on KLM

Watched:
Finding Bigfoot
Albert Nobbs
Hugo
The Simpsons (laughed out loud several times, many dirty looks)
BBC Special In The Human Body

Ate:
Almonds
Cokeo
Veg dinner option of pasta, crab salad (?), cheese/crackers, roll, carrot cake
Red wine
Tea
Chocolate ice cream (!)
Breakfast of eggs, potatoes, corn bread thing, strawberry yogurt with granola, fresh fruit, roll.  Surprisingly the best meal
More tea

Notes:
I was handed a WARM wet wipe to clean my hands. Heaven. And a note to the semi-cute Italian guy on my left… geez, give up the arm rest for a bit! Also the alcohol flows freely on this plane! Got wine with dinner. Offered cognac post- dinner. All no extra cost. Not a bad flight besides my inability to sleeping on planes. I just get too excited!

Seven hour layover in Amsterdam

Now hell did this happen? I could have sworn that it was only an hour, two hours max, of a layover.  I can't get on an earlier flight because of my checked bag. So here are some of my thoughts on the  Schiphol airport. Why is there perfume being sold EVERYWHERE??!? No, i do not want Sabarro for dinner. Who designed an airport that has no way for a very tired person to rest their head to get some shut-eye? I tried in a chair with my head tilted down. Nope. I tried sitting at a high boy table where you access Internet from and placing my head on the table and my feet dangling. Nope, the risk of falling off the chair was too great. I almost let go of all my dignity and curled up on the cruel, hard ground but I didn't even want to imagine the embarrassment of waking up with tile marks on my cheek. So now I've resulted to the shark method: don't stop moving or you'll die. 

Update! I found a place to sleep. A wide cushioned seat about 3 feet by 2 feet. Best part? I over slept. Seriously. I was one of those fools running to catch her flight after the longest layover in the history of layovers. 

AMS -> MAD

This flight I'm next to a nun and a guy who took my window seat. I don't want to fight him for it. But this nuns long flowing sleeve is super itchy on my arm, I don't know how she deals.

Then I slept. Drank some tea. Slept some more. I'm super tired.

Next stop.... Customs!

The next 49 hours

I leave for Spain in 13 hours. I have spent every moment I have had since coming home from my high school reunion cleaning, packing, trying not to stress.

This trip, unlike last year, is much less stressful. Probably because I have not planned out as much but also because I feel like it happened so darn fast. I almost forgot to pack my camera. Lemme go do that now. .... Packed.

I land around 7pm on Thursday and knowing myself I probably won't sleep on the plane so I can just crash when I get to my hostel. Im not totally sure what metro i need to get on when I land but I'm sure I can figure it out.

Wish me luck. Wish Ness happiness because goodness knows I'm not her favorite human for leaving AGAIN. Wish me a fast flight. I'll miss you all while I'm gone but I'll be blogging more than usual because I bought myself an iPad. Squee! So indulgent.

Next time you hear from me I'll be sweating in Madrid!

Hola Espana

I leave in 16 days.  I better get my act together.

Hostel rooms book.  Rental car almost booked.  I should learn some Spanish.