Spain

Well, after two days of being the sickest I think I have been in years with the flu, I feel like a million dollars today and am happy to be alive again! This means my sister and I are taking on Barcelona today, me with a renewed energy.

We´re staying in Barcelona until about the 17th and then heading down to my favorite city, Granada, for some Christmas celebrations with family. My sister´s friend is flying into Barcelona on the 11th and then my friend will be here on the 14th...Alex just left and it will be non-stop from here! When I was in Orgiva, we had put out an email to friends saying that, wow, you should come to Spain and see all this, and amazingly we had 4 friends take it up! So it will be hectic but it´s always fun to see things through fresh eyes...also, I have to admit, that while Alex knows more Spanish than either of us, I am looking forward to testing my use of the language as a "translator" with our friends coming that don´t speak it all...kind of like where we were 2 months ago!

Nick, Alex´s cousin has been great...he has let us stay at his apartment longer than planned and this has taken mucho stress off my shoulders as far as $$ is concerned! He has introduced us to some great people and we´ve been invited to a party at a co-op artists gallery on the 16th...I guess anyone who has travelled knows that these sorts of invites are gems as it allows you to hang out with people in their regular environments giving you a much stronger flavor of a culture and people than just the (still amazing) tourist stops...we have had a lot of opportunities like this on our trip and I feel extremely lucky for it!

Today, I think we´re going to try to find some more Gaudi and gawk at it from the street...how amazing it is to be able to touch something that was created by someone like him...this is how I felt at the Picasso museum too...I have taken a number of art history courses, but didn´t realize how much more impacting it is to see the works up close...it´s like live music versus recorded...it´s alive when you´re right there! Also, as we haven´t quite made it to the water yet, I think it might be a nice day to head down to the beach for a juice (no wine...still a bit fragile!)...also a good day to check out the very enticing markets downtown...uh oh....

I am at the point in my travels where I am torn about what my future plans are...I know it´s worked out the best so far to take things as they come, but right now, it´s not as simple as that because of finances...I either make an honest go of it here so that I can stay longer, or I go home and work...but I had a dream that I left and had returned home and I think I must have had my face in my pillow because it felf so suffocating...I take it, that as much as I miss home, I´m not quite ready to return yet...

I finally got batteries for my digital recorder, which i haven´t used for about 3 weeks or so...I put them in and pressed play yesterday and am so happy that I was using it so much at the beginning of my trip...talk about baby steps! We were recording our sister Pam saying "hasta luego" so that we could say it the way Andalucians do!! I also captured my friend Ali, from Granada, talking about some of his work with the International Red Cross at 3 in the morning, which I am so glad for, because that entire night stands out to me as one of those "gems" we´ve had here. Also recorded was some amazing flamenco I captured in an alleyway by an old man and a younger man playing together, some crazy bird singing in a Plaza and about 18 other files I have yet to listen to...might make a good soundtrack to slides at home!

Today, just for fun, I am going to look for work as an English teacher (surprise!) but also the possibility of working with artists´ as a model which I have done a lot of at home...it´s a well-known fact that finding work in Spain is not easy for a foreigner but it´s no excuse for not trying I guess...

So this is enough rambling for today...at this point, I feel like, if anyone is reading and had questions about travelling in Spain, or some of the places we have been to, that I could answer some related questions...so feel free to ask!

Hasta luego,
Savannah

Thanks very much Peter..I´ll take a look at that thread you recommended and I am definitely going to try out your advice for framing the shot and waiting...I´m sure it wouldn´t take long to get something great!

Yes, Barcelona has been wonderful...a very exciting mixture of cultures...compared with Sevilla, Malaga and Granada, it has had the tendency to make one feel like they are in a city that could be in Spain or in another country altogether...but it also has the tendency to make one feel very at home because of this...

Take care!

Savannah

Hola everyone...

Well here we are in the land of Oz...or so it feels to me today after a somewhat bizarre and long night train from Sevilla to Barcelona...the major thing is the switch in language from Spanish to Catalan...my Spanish, by no means eloquent or perhaps even decipherable to some, did manage to get me by when I needed to, and I am now at square 1 again! I am hoping tommorrow after a good sleep will provide more mental availability to tackle this "challenge!"

For anyone taking the train to Barcelona on the route we did, I am torn between saying take a regular seat and gravol to get you thru the night, or taking the berth, which is what we did...True, you get to stretch your legs horizontally, BUT there is no common area on the train to go relax so we were limited to three options:

-hang out in your tiny bunker with 3 other people you´re sharing it with
-hang out in the K-mart 70´s era cafeteria and drink a lot of wine and be the only ones doing it (and therefore automatically the train drunkards
- or hang out in the very narrow hallway outside the door to your bunker which barely allows you to turn sideways to walk down it normally...

Three guesses which option we took! I really think all the staff on the train just thought we were these troublesome, 18 year old drunks...and I promise we are none of those! Especially 18...

But so far, after having spent just a few hours with our very gracious and funny host, Nicholas, I can see that Barcelona has so much to offer and is the cosmopolitan city everyone says it is...today is a holiday so not only were we charged double for our taxi ride (20€!!!) but the streets are bustling and it´s very energetic and lively out...but that seems like Spain to me the majority of the time...I have only one mission in Barcelona, well two actually and first one is to see my friend Krisna and then to visit some Gaudi...I have been drooling over Gaudi architecture for about 5 years, and never dreamed I would have the chance to see it in person!

I have only 4 minutes in this tiny Internet cafe, so will sign out..however, I have a feeling Barcelona will be pretty raucous over the next 10 days while I wait for my friend Tanya to fly in...I am headed "home" for a much needed nap and then Nicholas has made it his mission to have us stay up until probably 4 am from everyday here on in...even, he said, if it means banging pots by our heads should we try to sleep!

Will keep you posted with any adventures and advice on some good places to visit if you are lucky enough to make it this way!!

Adios!
Savannah

!HOla¡

Well, I couldn´t recommend a city more than Sevilla I don´t think...it´s day 2 of 3 here and I still have a lot to see of this country, but this is definitely one of those places that makes you feel like you have seen everything and could go home happy if you really had to! I am so truly in love with this place...I have a krink in my neck from looking at all the AMAZING buildings and cathedrals and palaces, I can´t walk for more than a few minutes to stop and stare....it is such a vibrant, exciting, Spanish city...We went on one of those organized bus tours today, which I have never done, but it was well worth it...you could spend forever and a day walking around in awe, but never knowing the story behind the many places you´re seeing...this gives you an insight to the jewels and exciting history of what you´re looking at...One place we visited was the old 1992 Expo grounds...I felt like I was in a perfect setting for a horror movie...for some reason, they have let almost the whole area go to pot and all these huge buildings that promoted the future of Spain are overgrown with weeds and are crumbling only 14 years later (tax dollars anyone??)...among all these decaying buildings is a very old building that houses Christopher Columbus´ tomb...I am sure he would be sad to see the state of his surroundings...but I enjoyed it!

I am tired today..all the walking we´ve been doing with all our overpacked bags in rain (in Granada) and then heat (in Sevilla), trying to find hostels day in and day out and from sightseeing...buns of steel baby! On the 6th and the 8th are two national holidays....in Spain, what this essentially means, and like in many countries, is going to church, spending time with loved ones and then some massive partying to chase it down with! And in true Spaniard style, if there is a holiday, let alone two in a week, they take the days before and after the holiday off and it´s called a puente (bridge)...it´s crazy, I have often wondered how Spain functions so wonderfully...when do people work around the puentes and siesta?(such a North American perspective, I know)

Today, we were having lunch near the awe-inspiring cathedral here and we could here cop sirens and people chanting...there was a long protest parade going by and from what I could read on their signs they were separatists showing their support for the separation of Andalucia (the province I am in) but without further investigation, I don´t know if that´s right or not??

Last night, which was our first here, we walked around all day, just checking out the myriad of twisting, fascinating streets...when it came time to drink some more and it was evening, we found an outdoor restaurant and setup camp for a couple of hours watching the hundreds of people walk by...Spain is incredible this way...everyone but everyone comes out...families, from babies to grandparents all come out together and it is so lively! Everyone dresses to the nines ( excluding Shiloh and I in our sandals, a total faux pas for style it seems here) and just walks around in all the squares, eating and drinking, going to all the outdoor bookstores, or shopping at all the outdoor kiosks and markets...it´s beautiful too here right now, because although you can tell that it´s Christmas soon, it´s not gross commercialism...it´s lights strung up on all the orange trees and singers and families and socializing...I could have stayed watching this all night...I wish I could store sleep and run off of it for a week...it seems a shame to go to sleep while I am here...

I am also, like elsewhere in Spain, enjoying how completely romantic it is...not for me , but for young and old couples...married with children or not, it feels like the public displays of affection are something we are really missing at home...you get the feeling that someone who may have been married for 20 years, just got married yesterday...everyone is playful, holds hands, kisses each other and flirts...it´s inspiring and rejuvenating...it´s the place to holiday should a relationship be on the rocks is my advice...

I see the sun hitting the cathedral from outside the window at the cafe and think I should sign off so that we can enjoy the sunset down by the river Gualdalaquivir (sp?) and do what else but have a glass of wine (I´m banking on a free tapa for supper tonight...Shiloh is is my sugar mama today and I think her cash is gone for the day)

I feel like there is so much more to say, but it´s only because I have been in a state of awe for about 27 hours...

Will write when I get to Barcelona in a couple of days...

Take care all,

Savannah

humpf!!!!

After a serious update that i have been writing for the last 30 minutes, my computer turned on me and now there is nothing!!! I have no idea where everything went!!

Hmmm...well the wind has been taken out of my sails...so the best i can do right now is something in point form...

- my friend Alex is visiting...
- we went on a journey up the mountains today to some mountain villages...Bubion and Pampaneira....we nursed Alex who survived a vicious hangover and some of the planet´s windiest roads to have him almost fall off the bus as white as a ghost...
- we have two more nights in Orgiva before we head off to Sevilla (most excited!!), then Valencia (home to the world´s best oranges...they can be yours at your local grocery store too!), and then to Barcelona...I am saving up my energy for the high-life here and relishing a bed and clean clothes for these last two days as well...
- I caved!! I bought mitts and a scarf.....my pride is too strong to tell our landlords that we are out of wood for our stove after we told them that we are hardy Canadians and we will be just fine...brrr...
- hmmmm...sigh, I know there was more, but for anyone who is checking up on my blogs, I make a pact right now to update them every 7-8 days to allow for good stories to build and exciting travel advice for anyone who just happens to stumble upon them and is coming to Spain...it will be much easier for both of these things to happen once we are on the move and out of our cozy little house!

- I will miss Orgiva, and i honestly didn´t think i would say this for the first two weeks...but every small town in the world has its characters and these just happen to be extra colourful in my opinion purely because they are Spanish and I can barely understand a word when they come up and clasp your hands and continue to speak when you make it known you don´t know what´s going on...somehow it makes them that much more interesting to me!

- also, Shiloh and i have apparently broken into a sacred boy´s club in town, much to the surprise of our landlords...my favorite tapa place in town is very male-dominated and it´s not lost on me that they wouldn´t exactly turn away two blond foreign females...but, i guess it´s not typically easy to feel welcome there, and I feel like this is where we have made some of our more interesting friends...their reception has been less and less frosty to us each time and I think it´s because we could care less what they think! We just want our cheap beer and home-made tapas! That´s one for the girls!

I have to sign out now...this is a little more than my pathetic budget will allow! But, check in in about a week´s time and we´ll let you know how our ´drifters´ travels are going! Also, I should have a bunch of pictures to post for next week too...I´m ready to kick things up a notch after this month long resting period...

Adios, and talk to you soon...

Savannah

Savannah