Spain--The North

Wow, it's been a long 3 weeks. I'm on Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands where I used to work before I started grad school. I cannot post pictures yet so check back and I'll add them later. I'll try this newspaper style so I can give an overview first and get into the details and funny stories later.

I spent 2 weeks in Spain visiting Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia City, Cabo de Gata and Granada before flying out to the Philippines. In the Philippines I spent 1 week travelling to a remote area in the north before flying out to Kwaj. I will have two week here to relax, do some school work and visit with friends until I return to Seattle on January 2nd.

When I left the Netherlands I ran into some flight trouble as my flight was changed without me knowing and I missed it. It set me back $200 for a new ticket to Madrid so I could start my travels and meet up with Megan and Ian. I arrived at 1am and we went out for some churros and hot chocolate. Spanish hot chocolate is thick and was best described as "a melted candy bar" and is 'eaten' by dipping sweet breads. Amazing. I will never make runny hot chocolate again. We spent a few days there seeing museums and walking everywhere. The whole time in Spain we hardly ever took the underground Metro because some the the best things to do and see were in the little side streets on our way to the other destinations.

After 2 days we left for Barcelona on an overnight bus and stayed for 4 days. Barcelona is famous for a couple things like parks and buildings designed by Gaudi, The Rambla and the strange rock formations to the north in Montserrat among many others. We did our usual tour in every new city on the first day from the lonely planet book that Megan bought.

One little fun thing we found was this great little old convince store that sold bulk wine out of a 55 gallon barrel. I filled up my 1 liter water bottle for about $2 but could have paid much less for the cheap stuff.

Spain is famous for tapas which are small appetizer type dishes for eating in the evening instead of dinner since lunch is typically the big meal. Megan and I found ourselves in a little tapas bar filled with locals watching a soccer game and I ordered what looked like some potatoes dish. The bartender looked surprised that a foreigner would eat it so he piled it on. After it was heated and served it was actually intestines with a little meat. To the pleasure of the bartender, I managed to eat most because it tasted rather good despite the texture. He ignored our orders for wine so he could make us sample all of the barrel wines they had on tap. We had a great time and left as the bar was closing down after paying only a few euros.

We went to a couple to Gaudi's works like the Sagrada Familia an incredibly detailed church with amazing sculpture throughout and based on forms of nature. It is still in progress and still will not be finished in 20 years or something. We went to a famous park designed by Gaudi that overlooks that city and is filled with typical Gaudi mosaics of glass, tile and stone.

On La Rumbla there are funny street performers, flower and pet vendors. The performers dress up in elaborate costumes and do things when you give them money. I got a picture with a costumed fat lady that will give you kiss and pose for a picture for you they also had space, movie and scary characters that are frozen until you give them money so they come alive and do some dance depending on how much you gave them before freezing again.

Montserrat was a great day trip to get out of the city and go hiking. A monastery was started there way up in the mountains that is accessible by a long tram. Once there we can hiked 6-8km round trip up rugged trails to the very top for 360 degree views of the sea, the Pyrenees mountains and surrounding countryside. It was a little hazy but still amazing, warm and very quiet.