Razzmatazzy

WHOA. This trip has been crazy busy and relaxing at the same time. We have lived in Barcelona for three weeks now, and I think we have a pretty good feel for the city. It is starting to get hot here, last night was the summer solstice, and it was crazy over here. People light fireworks all over the city just on the streets, I had to wear ear plugs because some of the fireworks were so loud and would come from nowhere. We went over to one of Giorgos' friends house for a house party, met many people, ate really good food, and then headed down to the beach where all the parties where. The place was packed, and people were shooting fireworks everywhere, you really had to watch where you were going or where people were lighting or you could walk into them.

Highlights of this trip so far have been:

Seeing Radiohead at the Forum!

The Forum was a really great place to see them, and the show was not sold out, so it wasn´t too crowded. You could go to the back and be in open space and still see the band. We made it close to the front side of the stage for awhile and watched them rock out. They had great stage presence, they were dancing and getting down to their songs, Thom Yorke played a lot of different instruments, and the stage design was really impressive.

Going to visit an Okupa up in the mountains.

There is a slightly new movement spreading through Spain where people move into abandoned houses in protest of involving themselves in the capitalization of society. People will often buy multiple houses, abandon some in order to make it more difficult for others to buy from the market and as a result the prices will inflate. The okupas are a result of people protesting this idea, and some are completely self sustaining. The one we went to, grew their own food, had solar energy, and one woman even had a baby a few weeks ago completely naturally at the okupa. We saw the baby, she was so cute! The owners or government can kick these people out, but the last time they tried with the okupa we went to visity, there were human barriers, and one man chained himself to the house. They make good relations with the town, allow people to visit on Sundays, where they make a really big lunch, and sell some of their produce and bread so that the word can spread throughout the city. The lunch we had was SO good. They made veggie paella in a huge pan where two people had to mix the rice at one point, a salad, a veggie puree, and soy yogurt. It was interesting and inspiring to see people actually living off the earth and that it can be done in a functional and efficient manner.

Eating Croquettes.

This was my new favorite food before I got sick. It tastes like really rich chicken cordon bleu only it has ham in it, and is a fried doughey ball of goodness.

Going north to Cadaques with Jade and Nicole.

We went to a beach town near the French border. It was a really small town that Dali used to live in during the summer time. First we took a train and went to the Dali museum, he was a very eccentric man, and his art was a myriad of good and bad. Then we took a bus into town, found a hotel and layed out on the beach. The beach was stoney, but there was sand where the water was. Why is that? The mediterranean was warm and felt really refreshing. We had a big seafood paella dinner, then watched the last part of the shoot-out between Spain and Italy in the street and went home to sleep. We were all so exhausted from the traveling, the museum, the searching for a hostel in really hot weather, then the sunning on the beach. The next day Jade has to leave early to greet Eric in Barcelona, so Nicole and I stayed for the day. We ate a really big breakfast at our hostel, which ended up being really nice with fresh fruit, breads, juice, cereal and yogurt. We walked around and found some really cute LeSportSac bags, bought them and then went to the beach to transfer all our stuff into the bags. This made us really happy. When I travel I try to see what I can live without, and the past three days I have been wearing the same outfit. It makes everything much more simple. But I was carrying a tote, and I've been wanting a light small day pack so this purchase was perfect. I was trying to see how much I could fit into the bag, and it was never ending!!!! I will take it with me to San Sebastion. Then Nicole and I found a wine store that was selling sangria for 1.90 euros/liter. We bought that and pizza bread, went to the beach, made cups with a small water plastic water bottle and drank and ate our lunch on the beach. It was a nice day then we had to go back to Barcelona for the summer solstice. We continued to talk about how cool our bags were and how we could improve them to be more efficient as far as packing goes.

Now Nicole has left, Jade, Eric and I are going to the East of Spain to a beach town called San Sebastian. I am excited to see the landscape. We will take a 8 hour train ride there. Then I will head back to Barcelona so that I can catch my plane on Friday. Eric and Jade will continue to tour Europe.

It's lunch time now!!!!