12/30/04

We got up and checked out of our little hotel/hostel and caught a bus back to Madrid. We checked at our hostel and they still don´t have any room. So we dumped our bags there and we are going to hang out today maby visit some shops or somthing. ...
...We stayed at Los Amigos hostel in Madridd last night because our regular hostel Barbieri was booked up. At 3 am a group of about 9 italian guys came into our hostel room to go to bed after partying. They turned on the all the lights and made tons of noise. It was pretty rude. So both of us were up for more then an hour after that. We could hear people partying in the streets until 6:30-7am. Spaniards truly love to celebrate life! Neither one of us slept well at all. We got up at 6:30 am to go meet our friend rick at the Madrid airport. We found him with no problem and then navigated ourselves to Barbieri hostel again. We dropped off all our luggage to sto5re there for the day. They we walked around to show rick some good Madrid sites and have breakfast. Rick has a digital camera(alright!) and is letting me(angie) take photos for him(and copies for us!). I am psyched!! Rick wasnt feeling well and was tired from jet lag so he took off to Toledo to check into our hotel there and rest. We made dinner at the b. hostel and watched kill bill vol.1 with Christophe(from germany, he is going to find a spanish girl here and marry her.) We tried to rest a bit, however there were many people milling about the living room. We wernt able to get a room for the night, so we had no privacy to retreat to. It was ok though. We met several people including Ariane from Paris and Raphel from Germany(but studies in holland) At 11 pm the small party of people from the hostel all gathered our wine and grates and made our way towards the Playa del sol to ring in the New year. This guy, o-, that works at the hostel had a big party at his huge beautiful apartment 1 block from the Playa del sol. The apartment had 2 big balconies so we had a perfect view of the street and the playa del sol and the big clock. When the clock striked 12 we ate 12 grapes for each chime for good luck. The only thing is that we didnt know that the grapes had seeds in them so it was cruch-a-rific. The party was tons of fun. Disco ball, lazer lights, and fog and techno made for a legendary new years party. And the whole night cost us 4€!(4 bottles of wine and a locker) Both of us drank WAY to much. Raphael was kind enough to help guide(i.e. carry) caleb home in his excessively relaxed state. We snuck into the hostel and tried to sleep in the living room. Caleb passed out fairly quickly. I on the other hand didnt catch much sleep. We got in after 4am so we almost made it all night.

2/29/04

This morning we slept in until 11am... ahh so nice. It was so dark and quiet that we were suprised at what time it was. We went and had "breakfast" at a little shop. We both had ham and cheese crosonts, I had a cream filled pastery and angie had a strawberry tart, wonderful. We explored the entire aquaduct and then we walked to the Inglesia de sasn lorenzo. It is a very old building dating back to roman times. Next, on the way to Iglesia De La Veracruz we came across this jogger. She had somthing really important to tell us and she thought that we were french. I am not sure but I think that she said somthing about the ice on the road and that she fell. In any case she yapped at us in spanish for over a minute and we pretended like we understood her and thanked her for the information. The Iglesia De La Veracruz is a mysterious building with origons unknown, but what is known about it was once used by the knights templar. It was just a short walk to the Convento De Carmelitas Des Calzos. It was closed, I guess that the nuns were taking a siesta. We walked back to our hostel through a beautful park that was by a stream and it had lots of waterfalls. We think that this is where the towns drainage comes to because it is a low point in the town. It was strange because it was warm down in the vally by the river, but as soon as we got back into town we could see our breath again.

12/28/04

We leave our wonderful hostel in Madrid today to go to Segovia. It has been snowing quite a bit in areas of Spain the past two days. They even had to evacuate some portions of the population because they were not prepared heat wise for the snow and low temps. Many highways were shut down and those people had to stay in hotels or large gymnasiums until the roads cleared. Apprently the roads are better now, but they are expecting more snow. Unfortunately Segovia is one of those places. So we will also get to experience the snow as everyone back home has. I suppose it is winter, even in Spain. ...
...After we checked out of our hostel we got bus tickets to Segovia. Bus tickets are fairly cheap(5.30€/ea). Angie got very sick on the bus and we don´t know why. We were on a bus from Holland to Italy for 22 hours and she didn´t fell ill once. It was snowing quite hard in some areas between Madrid and Segovia. Angie kept her eyes closed and head down to lessen the nausia. We got to see a very rustic looking castle up on a mountian on the way that was very cool looking. Once we got to Segovia it was snowing a very wet snow. We found the hostel that was reccamended to us. It was nice, for the same price that we were paying for a dorm room in Madrid we got a private room with a tv and sick right in it. When we got there we found out that the person running it didnt speak a word of english. So with gestures and the very few spanish words that we know we were able to communicate that we wanted a room for 2 nights. Once we had dumped our gear, we went exploring. We saw the roman aquaduct, actually its kind of hard to miss. From there we walked to the Cathedrial De Nuestra Senora De La Asuncion t de san Frutos. Of course there was a cover charge, so in following with my philosophy I decided not to go in, but Angies curiousity got the best of her and so she snuck into the exit door. When we were done with that we walked to the Alcazar castle. It was the first castle that I have ever been inside of. It was cool, there were old cannons, suits of armor, and other various relics.

12/27/04

This moring we had to say goodbye to our friend Janine, we had become pretty close over this last week and we were sad to see her go.
As of right now we have the 8 person room to ourselves, but I think that will probebly change by tonight. Tomorrow we are going to check out and go to Segovia for a couple of days. We will come back to madrid for new years, and then we are going to Toledo for a couple of days. We are getting really excited to have someone to travel with. :)
We met Sylvia from Australia and two younger guys from Australia and Ricardo from Peru (the actual country not the city-hehe). We met them all in Playa Mayor (the main Christmas market square) and then went from there. We went to Playa del Sol. This is where people will gather for New Years Eve. When the clock strikes 12 you must eat 12 grapes for good luck. You can also write all the things and people you want to leave your life for the next year and then release it into the sky. I can´t wait. Next we went to the Garden-park Retiro. Sort of like Central Park (not as big). It was beautiful. Within the park are two free art gallery-museums. The current installations were both very interesting. One was a ultra modern german painter. The other was housed in an all glass structure. All the pieces were made from red glass, including a very realistic l0oking life size tree. It was amazing to see. From there we went to check on bus and car rentals at the main train station. We made stirfry for dinner and then hung out and played cards with fellow hostelers. Well Caleb did anyway. I read the current Rolling Stone that was laying around. Some really excellent articles on the current political situation in the US and the post election fallout. I recommend it. It was sooo awesome to read english. I have never been so psyched to read political commentary:) Must pack, leaving tomorrow:( Glad we will return to Madrid. We really feel at home here.

12/26/04

Today we went to the sunday flea market. It was HUGE, we spent a couple of hours walking around and we didnt even come close to seeing it all. Sunday is also free museum day in Madrid so first we went to MNCARS(Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia) website: http://museoreinasofia.mcu.es/portada/portada_ING.php
It is a modern art museum. There was a lot of boring weird stuff there,(TÀPIES, TIERRAS) but there were several wonderful things as well. there was a lot of Picasso paintings that we both really enjoyed and Salvador Dali which was wonderful as well.
Then we went to the MUSEO NACIONAL DEL PRADO. website: http://museoprado.mcu.es/ihome.html
This was much more the painting style that Angie studied for art history. Renaissance style art. It was so big that we just started walking and didnt stop. It took about 2 and a half hours to get through, but by the time we were finished we were just exausted. Museums are really draining, but we saw a lot of famous works and it is always exciting to see somthing that you have seen in books in person.
On the way back we walked through another market, but it was more of a trendy fashon market and stuff was really marked up.
We went back to the hostel and had a meal(the first one of the day so you can imagine how growly we both were at each other) and then relaxed and talked with fellow travelers. It only takes a few days and the whole experence is different because of the different people coming in and out.

12/25/04

Merry Christmas everyone! (a little late, but still heartfelt:) We have made friends with a number of the people that were staying in our hostel and spent most of the day with them. We did internet early on (couldn´t believe it was open) and walked around a little. the streets of Madrid were practically empty. Even the Gran Via. But it was cold and we had good food, relaxation and movies waiting for us. This guy, Christophe from Germany, brought many DVDs with him from home so we ended up watching like 3 movies in a row. It was great. Just like home, er, sort of. We didn´t have cheesy potatoes and green bean casserole and ham, but still good food. We didn´t get each other gifts so I guess we will just have to do that when we get home. It was great to not have to christmas gift shop and fight the crowds this year. We have never been so stress free at this time of the year. hehe worry not loved ones, you will still get gifts later.

12/24/04

We got up later in the morning and made a proper breakfast. Then set out to find another hostel. We can only stay in our current hostel for a couple more days. We found a very nice one. But now we may go to Segovia for a couple of days in between Christmas and New Years to avoid high hostel costs and to just get out of Madrid a bit. We walked around to observe the Christmas festivities in the city. Adults and kids alike here dress up, sort of like Holloween, with wigs and crazy clothing and glasses. They also light off small fireworks. I think there will be a big fireworks display on New Years Eve. A lot of businesses, like the US, closed early here today. We went back to the hostel and basically sat around and chatted with our fellow hostelers. All such interesting people. Carlos, another guy at our hostel, is a gormet cook and made dinner for everyone (we didn´t eat until midnight, how european) and we partied into the night. Good fun. Many celebrated Christmas Eve more than Christmas Day in their respective countries.

12/23/04

Today was a pretty laid back day. We found FREE internet!!! woohooo and went grocery shopping because the shops will be closed for the next couple of days. We decided to go to see "Ocean´s 12" with Janine from Aussieland. It took us 4 hours to find a movie theater that had that movie and played the movie in the original language, english. The movie was very good. We recommend it. It made us feel normal for a couple of hours to go see a movie in our language. the movie didn´t get over until 12:30am or so. Luckily the metro was still running because it was COLD last night. At least for having to walk around. Then we went back to the hostal and hung out until sweet sleep. tomorrow night we will have a party to celebrate Christmas Eve with the other hostelers.

12/22/04

Today was a fairly relaxing day. Because we are in Madrid for quite some time, we don´t have to squeeze all the site seeing in quickly. Nice We did see a triumphal arc in the center of the city. We also did a little shopping, but didn´t buy anything. Still too expensive here. We are hoping that Portugal will be cheaper.
The hostel in which we are staying has many nice people. I may have said this before, but everyday reaffirms this fact. We have met yet another cool Aussie, Jeanine. We have decided that our next trip will be to Australia now that we have met so many cool aussies to stay with:)P I (ang) made dinner for myself, Caleb, Cecilia (the girl we met from Seattle) and Jeanine. I made quesadillas and Jeanine had never had them. She really loved them so I felt good about that. It was great to share a meal with others. Caleb and I have found that it is the nature of hostelling to bond with fellow hostellers fairly quickly. The distance that people usually put between each other is not present at all it seems. Hostelling is a new culture that we are enjoying immensely. Hearing others stories and sharing yours feels good.
We watched some spanish tv. A spanish version of Big Brother. Funny stuff.

12/21/04

We awoke and started packing up the mess inside the car. After living in this car for 9 days you can imagine things strewn all about and enough sand inside to have a good sized sand box. Around 9:30 am a couple of the surfers came back to check out the waves. 2 really nice spanish guys who spoke pretty good engilsh. We chatted with them about their recent travels and ours and then took off for the airport. On the way to the airport the car got a nice scratch in it, thank goodness that there was already scratches in the exact same spot. I was getting out of the car to check it back in when I noticed that our milk had leaked all over the floor behind the drivers seat. Shit! Baby wipes to the rescue. We cleaned it up as best as we could and hoped that they wouldnt see how wet the back floormat was. Well she must have missed it because we got our deposit back yay!
We flew on AirEuropa to madrid today: Our friend rick, as we have mentioned before, will be meeting us in Madrid to travelç so we decided to make our temp home here for christmas and just chill. Our hostel is very nice and cheap. The people we have met here have been very nice;cool. We finally ran into Americans. One girl named Cecilia from Seattle and a couple from Louisiana. It is sort of nice to share some time with people whos native language is english. I will never take that luxury for granted again. I now understand how it is for people in the USA who´s first language is not english. It can be very stressful to simply go grocery shopping when you have much trouble asking questions and reading the signs and descriptions on products. We made dinner at the hostel because we have kitchen facilities included. We hung out and chatted with other hostelers. We went to see the egyptian temple in downtown madrid with Alana and Jacob (the couple from Louisiana).

12/20/04

We got up just before the sun came out around 7:30 am. It was still super windy on the beach so we elected to stay in the car for breakfast. Everything smells like campfire from last night. We tried to find a couple of caves on the island but the caves are not well marked at all and they all seem to be off some uncharted dirt road in the middle of nowhere so we decided to find a warmer, less windy beach to read on - we went to cala Xaloc.
We decided to stay at Es Torrant again. Our fav beach by far. There were over 10 people there we we arrived ant at least 5 more car loads came after them. There were about 8-10 surfers in the water at any given time. All the surfers would gather in a sort of circle waiting for a good wave. It looked like a weekly meeting of sorts. Caleb and I were jokeing with each other making up their weekly surfer dude club minutes from the last "meeting". We are planning on havint a fire again we gathered all the wood we needed and waited for the surfers to leave. Once everyone was gone we started the fire and it was burnding like a champ. Then along came the owner of the seaside berachside restraunt in his minivan and made us put out the fire. Then he hung around for 20 minutes to see if he was intimidating us to leave the beach. We stood our ground and he left. The rest of the night we had the beach to ourself. It was by far the coldest night we experenced in Ibiza.

12/19/04

We love Ibiza so much we have decided to satay a coule more days. Just can´t get enough of sleeping in the car! Actually last night we, make that Ang hehe, couldn´t sleep in the car so we moved our sleeping bags onto the beach (oooo nice soft sand!) and slept under the stars. My first time sleeping in just a sleeping bag outside. It was more comfortable than the car though. It felt great to stretch out. Our bags got pretty wet from all the condensatoin but they dried out rather quickly once the sun came up on our part of the beach around 10am. We were supposed to turn in the car today so we were driving through the backroads into town-the airport. we saw this authentic, rustic Ibizan-Spanish older guy, dressed in traditional garb, carrying his hunting rifle in the crook of his arm, and we were all like, "Oh how sweet and old-timey spanish!" and all of a sudden he whips out a cellphone and starts yappin´. Haha Modern times.
We had found enough stray wood to have a fire. There was no sign saying specificly NO FIRE so we obliged ourselves. Thank goodness we did because it was windy and cool all night. We picked up a bunch of garbage that had either been left, or had washed ashore. We have done this at a couple of the beaches we have stayed at. It makes it look better and we figured it is our "rent" for staying at the beach for free :) We stayed up a lot later then a lot of the nights(11:15 PM WOAH!), It helped to have the fire. Oh all the other nights we couldnt do much once the sunset so why not go to sleep? Staying up later helped because both Caleb and I slept through the night. That is a first since coming to Ibiza. Caleb warmed up some water so that I could wash my hair and he dried my pants and shoes by the fire because they got soaked while I was getting my hair wet in the ocean.

12/18/04

Today not much different than yesterday. Last night we had stayed at the same beach as the night before. We both had weird dreams again. We have decided not to stay there again cuz the mojo ain´t quite right on that there beach. We hiked up the hill from the beach to watch the sun come up. Very worth it! It was breathtaking. We took a few photos so maybe these won´t get stolen and we can share it with you all at home:) We checked out all the beaches up the north eastern side of the island today. Each one had its own character. Many of the beaches have junk from the sea,( trash, and sea stuffs), washed up on the shore so some look kinda dirty straight off. But a lot have climbable rocks and trails. We went to one that had a lighthouse, that we found! We took some pics of it too (can´t wait to show you Theresa and Larry!). The hike back was a bit more adventuresome. We didn´t follow the set out path. We figured we could follow the coast back to the car hahahaha how wrong we were. We ended up in the deep, deep woods and kinda lost. Had I known at the time that we would actually find our way out alive and or unscathed, I would have enjoyed it much more cuz the woods were pretty. But it was a tough hike and climb through heavy brush. Good times I guess:) Now we have made our way back to Eivissa (Ibiza) the city to internet it up and possibly go to a club tonight. we shall see. Miss everybody!

12/17/04

We leave the serenity of our "private" beach to find a better vantage point from which to see the sunrise. Our days are filled with looking for the best beach we can find to sleep on, the best spot to see the sunrise, the best spot to see the sunset, and the best places to hike and climb. Doing our "business outside has come back to us naturally. Who needs a stinkin´toilet anyhoozle? Not us! We found a particularly good hiking and climbing trail today. We were looking for a lighthouse and a cave. We never got to the lighthouse, although we took a picture from across the hill. We found the cave after a 40 minute hike and climb...only to see that someone had for whatever reason bricked up the entrance. It was a completely secluded beach. No one, we thought, around for miles. It was beautiful like every other view in Ibiza. If you didn´t get the message already, you should really go to Ibiza if you get a chance.

12/16/04

We found out last night that our friend, rick, from madison is going to join us on our travels in madrid, spain! We are really excited to travel with him. This is another invite for you all to join us at some point. Rick is proving that it can be done!
It was raining again early on in the day so we drove to several beaches. Cala Nova, Cala Mastella, cala lenya, cala de boix(nice looking hostel/rest here), es point des lieo, torre den valls and platja des figueral. Near there we found this little internet cafe. They were playing unreal when we walked in hehe. We went back to fidn our "camping" beach for the night and found it without trouble. We climbed the rocks on the left hand side of the beach. So many had climbed there before us that there was a sor of path. 2 guys were getting ready to take out their boats. They wee speaking a language that sounded like Gaelic. There semms to be quite a few British ex-patriots living here in Ibiza. The boat houses are built right into the side of the rocks by the water´s edge. Some of the boat houses have cemented ceilings so that peole can climb over the other boat houses to get to theirs. Sunset from the vantage point of a boat must be awesome! Maybe we will get that chance?! Both of us washed up a bit and washed our hair in the ocean. The water was, shall we say, "extra refreshing" ie. VERY COLD! But we feel cleaner nonetheless:) Living in a car has its drawbacks and one of them is no shower. We played some cards and along came this old english man from Manchester, England. He was walking his dog, Fudge. We talked with him for some time about many different topics. He kept talking until we were all too cold to stand outside anymore and then said our goodbyes and nice to meet yous. We both slept well. No rain or police interrupting us:)

12/15/04

Wednesday,
we stay parked for the night at cala salada. Around 12 am a cop car drives past. This time bot of us are awake and by the time they turn around Caleb rolls down his window and the car door opens. It is the same cop from last night! Ha! The cop says "looking at the stars again?" Caleb and I start to laugh. and I say"no, this time we are sleeping"! hehe The cop says "cheapest hotel on the island eh?" he waves and tells us good night and drives away. The Ibizan Andy Griffith type sheriff. haha
We both slept well. Man, its rough waking up to a sunrise on a nearly deserted tropical island beach everyday! but someone has to do it :)
We drove to camp vell and hiked and climbed a lot. We climbed to the top of this huge peak and had lunch at the very top. Then we climbed down another set of rocks to a natural pool and relaxed there for a while. It was cloudy off and on all day. We got lucky in that everytime it would actually rain we would be driving on the car. A Little cooler today though. We went to cova de can marca, a very old natural cave that was once used by smugglers. This is the first thing we had to pay for (besides food, and car) since arriving in Ibiza.
This cute little english boy named dylan was there for the tour with his aunt. He was hilarious! "that is beeeaautiful! hthat is magical!" he was like a cartoon. It made even the cheesy light effects man-made waterfall disco at the end of the tour worthwile. It was a cool cave non the less. I would get clausterphobic climbing in those 10-30 cm high tunnels those smugglers crawled in. crazy. We drove back to Eivissa to get gorceries and find internet. We hit both. The search of a beach to crash on...not so easy this side of the island. It took us over 1.5 hours to find a place to stay for the night. It was twice as hard because it was so dark already when we bgan our search, but eventually fate smiled on us and we found our semi-secluded beach. No cops or creepy boats either, bonus! It did rain like a dickes most of the night. Thats okey, cuz we are in a car!

12/15/04

Wednesday,
we stay parked for the night at cala salada. Around 12 am a cop car drives past. This time bot of us are awake and by the time they turn around Caleb rolls down his window and the car door opens. It is the same cop from last night! Ha! The cop says "looking at the stars again?" Caleb and I start to laugh. and I say"no, this time we are sleeping"! hehe The cop says "cheapest hotel on the island eh?" he waves and tells us good night and drives away. The Ibizan Andy Griffith type sheriff. haha
We both slept well. Man, its rough waking up to a sunrise on a nearly deserted tropical island beach everyday! but someone has to do it :)
We drove to camp vell and hiked and climbed a lot. We climbed to the top of this huge peak and had lunch at the very top. Then we climbed down another set of rocks to a natural pool and relaxed there for a while. It was cloudy off and on all day. We got lucky in that everytime it would actually rain we would be driving on the car. A Little cooler today though. We went to cova de can marca, a very old natural cave that was once used by smugglers. This is the first thing we had to pay for (besides food, and car) since arriving in Ibiza.
This cute little english boy named dylan was there for the tour with his aunt. He was hilarious! "that is beeeaautiful! hthat is magical!" he was like a cartoon. It made even the cheesy light effects man-made waterfall disco at the end of the tour worthwile. It was a cool cave non the less. I would get clausterphobic climbing in those 10-30 cm high tunnels those smugglers crawled in. crazy. We drove back to Eivissa to get gorceries and find internet. We hit both. The search of a beach to crash on...not so easy this side of the island. It took us over 1.5 hours to find a place to stay for the night. It was twice as hard because it was so dark already when we bgan our search, but eventually fate smiled on us and we found our semi-secluded beach. No cops or creepy boats either, bonus! It did rain like the dickens most of the night. Thats okey, cuz we are in a car!

12/14/04

We wake up and try to move the car into the sun to dry off some of the nighttime condensation. But we get stuck in the deep, loose sand. Oops! Then these menacing looking guys drive up in a small , white pickup truck. They watch us for about 5 minutes trying to get the car unstuck. Eventually the tuw guys, a huge dark skinned guy that looks like he is out of the WWF and a smaller but stout guy, come over and help push us out. We say Gracias! and get quickly on our way. It is our geuss that those guys were there to pick up whatever that boat was suppost to drop off. But we could have active imaginations :) we spent most of the morning and afternoon hiking the heights.
We would drive up into the hills as far as our car would allow. Then we would pull off to the side. we hiked about 5 miles before lunch. Then another 7 after lunch. We settled on a swimming beach for the night. The water is a bluish green and there are large zebra looking stripes on the sea floor. There are actually 3 beaches here. The first is the one you see when you drive up. A nice beach with soft sand. The second is hidden back along the side. You have to do some rock climbing to get down there. The third is the longest, being a few hundred feet across. Along part of the rocky shore and the 3rd beach there are boat shacks with boards leadijng up to the from the water. Most are made from stones, the rest from bricks. The sunseat is awesome, it seems like the views here keep getting better and better.

12/13/04

The sunrise woke us up. Now with sun on onr little deserted beach we can actually see how pretty it is. There are lots of rocks on this beach, but not regular rocks. These rocks are the most beautiful caleb and I have seen. Coral colors, with stripes of white or orange or black through some. All of them as sooth as glass. Worn by the waves that wash over them. We want to bring them all back with us. Some of them would be perfect for matt flower origonals. We cant believe that we have this piece of sol heaven to ourselfs. Paradise. All the clubs are closed. They are only open from may to the end of september. So debauchery is out, at least club wise. We drove to san antoni and picked up some groceries for the day. Then we drove to a couple beaches all pretty of course. Most of the restaurants and resorts by the sea are closed. We hiked at Cala Bassa andTorre Punta desa, Good hike. Then we went to find a secluded beach to crash on for the night. We found just what the doctor ordered just past a hostel that appeared to be open an a resort rest that was closed for the season. we parked the car right on the beach. the view was stunning. ive never seen so many falling stars at one time in my life. caleb and I fell asleep looing at the stars. we awoke to bright flashlights being shown through the car windows into our faces. The cop knocked on my window on the drives side first. I opened the door. The cop askes"spanish spanish spainsh"(I assume what are you doing here can I have your passport)"we speak only english. Do you speak english"? I ask. He replies"a little, can I see your passports"? So I give him my passport and then he askes for calebs passport so I hand it to him. He gives the passports to another cop to run a check. Then he asks us what we were doing there. Angie replys "well, we were looking at the stars." The cop says "you were sleeping" "yes , well now we are sleeping." Then he askes for the cars papers, so I had them to him. He asks"have you seen any small boats or ships tonight"? "no" we answer. Odd, but whatever. Our passports must have checked out because he said we cold stay on the beach. They just were concerned about us possibly being broke down or something else being wrong because they weren´t used to peole being parked on the beach in the middle of the night. So they drove away. About 20 minutes later Caleb and I were still awake and looking at the sky and we see a light coming from the water. A boat. The boat turns its light off. Weird Caleb falls asleep but I am still awake. About 25 minutes later the light on the boat turns on again. Brighter this time, as if closer. I pop my head out the sunroof to see what´s going on. Straight ahead, sailing for our beach, is a small boat with at least 2 guys on it. There is a bright light on the top of the boat and they have a spot light shining towards our car they just sit there for about 3 minutes drifting a bit closer to shore. Now I am preparing to start up the car for a quick getaway because I think that we inadvertently interrupted some kind of illegtal drop off or somthing. Lucky for us, they decided to turn around and the light disappeared. I relaxed a bit and eventually fell asleep.

12/12/04

So yesterday was the dress rehearsal and today was the real thing. We actuallly did fly from Barcelona to Ibiza on Air Europe. the flight went off without a hitch. we arrived very quickly-only a 45 minute flight! The weather in Ibiza was warm and super sunny. Woohoooo! We decided to rent a car for a couple of reasons. 1. it is way off off season for Ibiza right now. The only public transport is taxis, ot financially feaible longterm, and buses that only run very limite rountes 2 times daily, mopeds-havent seen any open places bikes-havent seen any to rent and walking. now ibiza is a small island but walking acorss it with our gear isnt practical so number2 it was cheaper for us to rent a car to sleep in then to find a campground, get there by public transport somehow and then pay for camping and still have no transport. this would be more expencive and a lot less freedom to move around. we have this tiny litle fyellow ford(model Ka) car that barely fits us and our stuff, but we are lovin´it!
We see that the gas tank is only 3\4 full so we pull up to the entrance door of the airport to run in and ask the rental guy about it. I runn in to tell hom. We here a loud crash and everyone rushes outside to see what happened. Right over by our yellow car with caleb insite, is smoke ste4am and dust. At first I thought that someone had crashed right into our rental car. When the smoke cleared a bit(and my heart started beating again) you could see that some crazy, drunk guy and run full speed into a huge trash dumpster with his car, only feet away from caleb and the rental car. I ran over to see if caleb was okey and he looked stunned. The police officer that had been following this crazy driver had pulled the guy out of his car and thrown him face down on the ground and started to cuff him right in front of me. The guy was bleeding profusely from the head and obviously on alchol or drugs BIGTIME! I turned to ask caleb what happened and he said:
I was just sitting here thinking about how carfully I was going to drive when this police truck was chaceing this guy. He was quite ovivously chaceing him because I could see how fast he was driving. I was thinking in my head that song from cops"bad boys bad boys" but to understand what happened next you have to have a layout of the airport parking lot. At the back you have all of the rental cars. The taxies and busses pull all the way around the building so that they can pull out in front to pick people up. There is another lane that it is one way also but it is only for cars. We pulled up right in front of some dumpsters(a no parking zone but we were only going to be there for a minute) behind the dumpster is the entry way to the airport. and behind that is a line of taxis.
So this guy decides to turn into the one way airport bus\taxi lane that I am sitting in, hits the curb in front of me(at this point I am thinking "thats it, there goes the deposit") from there he jearks the wheel to the right(THANK GOD!) and hits the other curb on the other side of the road, then he jearks the wheel to the left and wraps the front of the truck around the dumpster that was right behind me. The guy had a crazy obivously out of his mind sime as he passed by me but that soon faded as soon as he smashed his head into the airbag. The cop ran over and grabbed his gun and yelled" get on the ground!" as least I am assuming this is what he said because he was speaking spanish. At this point he opened the door and cuffed the guy. Just a few seconds later angie ran up to the car and is like "what happened?" I explained to the rental guy that the tank was only 3\4 full and he said"ya, its in the contract". They a guy (he was security, or police or somthing) said somthing to me in spainish. I gathered that I was not suppost to be parking there so we started little yellow off and we drove straight to the first beach that we could find.
We found Salinas beach by accident really but it was trancendently beautiful perfect sand, the clearist aqua blue I have ever seen in the sea and there was a caltle out at the end of the cliff on the beach that we hiked to. You can see a very small island off the coast´t tip that has a pretty little stripped lighthouse(theresa and larry, you would love the view:)) the temp was high enough to make both caleb and I sweat. I would guess low 70´s but the forcast was like for 68 so it was probebly somewhere in between. but tons of sunn!!! Everywhere you can look in ibiza is so awe inspiring. tree covered mountians everywhere. And goureous streaches of beach, all different kinds of beaches, all along the coasts. Nothing is open today. We dont know if it is because it is sunday or that everything will pretty much be closed because of the off season. We drove from one of the most southern points, to fortinpax and back to ibiza to find some food. We were driving up to the mountians throughout this. Great views, but some of those tiny roads at the top of the peaks were super scary especially when another car would pass. It made be extrealy glad that our car was so small. We finally found a little bakery to get some nosh, then we went in search of a great place to watch sunset and eat dindin. we stopped on top of a peak where there was a slight clearing. big enough for our car anyway. the view was great. We were in the crux of a crescent of two peaks and above the world. breathtaking, dinner wasnt bad either then we went in search of a beach to stake out for the night. we found this tily little(200 foot) beach. One couple was there when we pulled in but they left about 20 minutes after we got there. caleb and I climbed out onto the rocks on the right of the beach and looked at the clear sky and the stars and listened to the waves hit the beach and the rocks and snuggled. It was pretty damn romantic. we slept in the car on the beach. Our car has a sunroof so we left it open all night. It was perfect to fall asleep to the sound of ocean waves and looking at the stars.

12/11/04

I bet you want to know what the exotic island of Ibiza is like?...
well, so would we. We got all packed up and took the train into the correct airport, double checked the times on the ticket, made sure we had a place to stay in Ibiza. Doing good right? We get up to the check-in desk and the lady looks at our tickets with a puzzled look on her face and says, "Did you know that these tickets are for tomorrow, the 12th?" And both Caleb and my jaw just drops. I am floored. What? We specifically told the travel agent that we wanted to fly out Saturday and pointed to the day twice on the calendar and re-specified that date. However, he decided somewhere along the way that we had chosen to leave on Sunday the 12th, not today. The woman at the check-in desk had said that there were many open seats available and perhaps the airline desk could help us. We go to the AirEuropa (the airline we are flying on) ticket desk to see if we can get our ticket changed. They tell us they can do nothing and we need to call the travel agent. So Caleb calls the travel agent and I speak to the travel agent and pleaded with them to change it. the lady there says that the plane is full (although the check-in lady said the flight was practically empty) and they can´t help us and the representative that made our arrangements wasn´t in so, sorry we can´t do a thing. Alright. So we call Emiliano and Alessandra and ask if we can stay with them another night. Luckily they said yes. so we got back on the train to Barcelona and unpacked our stuff at Em. and Ale´s. Good thing cuz the weather here was B-eautiful today. We actually went down to the beach and I stuck my feet in the now freezing cold water. But it felt sooo good to just hang on the beach and enjoy some sun. It was still only in the 60sF but very nice. We saw these guys painting grafitti near the beach. Really beautiful stuff. Before my camera got stolen I had taken many pictures of different styles of grafitti in all the cities we had visited up to that point. I was excited to print them out. I have a few new ones on our cheapo 35mm.
we are figuring out the city very well now. we can go anywhere we want to go quickly and easily using the metro line. but we are ready to leave...ibiza tomorrow for sure.

12/10/04

Ahh, another bliss filled day in Barcelona. We woke up to sunshine and t-shirt weather(although i am sure that the locals would beg to differ) Today our goal was to see the palau de la musica catalunya. It was truly a sight from the outside. Once we found it we had 45 minutes to kill before the next english tour. so we wondered around some of the smaller streets and shops in the area. Unfoutunatly we dallied to long and missed the tour by 8 minutes. our other option was to do the tour in spainish so we just decided to forgo it altogether.
we spent the rest of the day wondering through open markets and shops.
This evening we got our stuff together for our flight tomorrow so that there is no mad scramble in the morning. And tonight we are going to go to bed early so that there is no chance of us missing our flight. We got tickets for the train to the airport, and yesterday we researched the Ibiza campgrounds, so we are all set. Ibiza here we come!

12/09/04

We have officially been here for a month...only a month? It feels like we have been here since before time began, but alas it is only a month. Still in Barcelona. We made a quick breakfast, having slept in longer than we anticipated, and got to seeing the city again. We first went to a travel agent to get tickets to Ibiza. We got some fair priced airline tickets to the island from Barcelona for Saturday. It will only be an hour flight! We have gotten smart and have already found out what airport we must go to and how to get there! We are so smart..SMRT (sing like Homer Simpson) So having firmed those plans we walked about Barcelona. On the way to our first destination we met this quite drunk, but extremely friendly and likeable Irish guy named Allan Brennan. He just stopped us on the sidewalk and asked us if we were Americans. He had lived in New York for 7 years in the 1980s and just loves Americans. (Something we haven´t encountered since being here in Europe so far.) He had some really funny stories. Quite like a character from a movie. He came to Barcelona 3 months ago for a 2 week vacation. However like us, he had some seriously bad luck getting his money and passport stolen within the first week. So he has been drinking himself into oblivion ever since and is trying to find a way back home to Dublin. We got his address and telephone number so when we go to Ireland hopefully he will have made his way home and we can have a proper Irish beer in a proper Irish pub with our new Celtic friend. We saw the Arc of Triumph (very different from those in Rome and Paris for that matter), another Gaudi building, The National Theatre of Catalunya house, the Zoo and the park there within, many huge markets filled with fresh food of every kind. The smell of fish, no matter how fresh, can really overwhelm a person at these markets. We saw this building, very newly built according to Alessandra, that literally looks like a giant grey, blue and red penis sticking straight outta the ground. You can see it from anywhere in Barcelona. I actually like because it is so unlike any other building I have ever seen. Totally modern and very cool. We are beginning to see why so many people from other countries come to visit and stay to live in Barcelona. The people are so warm and respectful. The vibe here is quite welcoming. Tonight I made italian food for Caleb and I. Then we watched a pirated version of Amelie of Montmarte. Such an inspiring and sweet film. I highly recommend it. Very different in style from any other movie I have seen. Very funny.

12/08/04

We awoke to sunshine. It was nice to see the sun as opposed to clouds, for a little while at least. Emiliano and Alessandra want to have pancakes for breakfast so I happily obliged them. However they didn´t have all the correct ingredients available so I had to wing it a bit. They turned out very good but htye were more the consistency of thick crepes than the American pancakes we are accustomed to. After filling up our gastro tanks we were ready for a day of site seeing! First we walked through a main street full of commotion in Barcelona called the Rambla. Because it is a festival still today there were many people out and about. There are markets selling flowers, books, antiques, animals of every kind, magazines, clothing, souvenirs. You name it. Then we walked to the Plaza Catalunya. We wondered looking for the main Barcelona Cathedral but got to the Port Of Barcelona First. We got to see the Mediterranean Sea up close this time and hoards of boats. Then we saw the Cathedral, (gothic in style-my (Ang) art history degree is really paying off hehe, finally. Only they are reconstructing 90% of the face of the church so you can´t really "see" it. Plus there are big Christmas markets (read, millions of different representations of the nativity scenes for sale for blocks) parked right in front of the Cathedral with hoards of people packed into every available space (can you say claustrophobia?). We also walked through the Gothic part of of Barcelona (Barrio Gotic) in the midst of all this. Next we went to see Barcelona´s most famous church (and most modern) called Sagrada Familia. This church has been in construction for some time and will continue to be in construction for at least 20 more years or so. Guess we will have to come back to see the finished product:) I really dig Gaudi´s work so we went around Barcelona´s downtown (in heavy rain at this time, what troopers we are!) to see a few more of th ebuildings he designed. What a genius! Apparently Gaudi died crazy as a bat. Aren´t you glad you aren´t burdened with genius now? haha We returned to our temporary home and made dinner. Emiliano and Alessandra´s friends Luca and Daniel (also from Italy and Luca is studying with Emiliano at the University here in Barcelona) came over to visit and to watch their favorite television sitcom. Of course it was in Spanish. Even so, it was like every other sitcom in the US so we got the gist. We are researching our next travel step. We are having trouble motivating ourselves to move on from Barcelona for a couple of reasons. It is a great city with warm people and lots to see and do. Also we have a sort of home with Emiliano and Alessandra (and their cat Talus-a crazy siamese cat) who have been very welcoming and accomadating to us. We have talked about Valencia further down the coast, Ibiza islands, other southern Spain cities like Cordoba and Granada and Malaga, and even the Canary Islands off the African coast. We shall see where our road leads us. Until then ciao bellas, or should I say Adios amigos y amigas!

12/7/04

We woke up a bit earlier today and made breakfast here again. Its so great to cook, have I said that already? hehe, we did some actual sight seeing today. First we had found a simple, non-automatic 35 mm camera for 9 € as much as the disposable ones everywhere but barcelona. in fact the disposable cameras in venice were 19 euro!! so we got some cheap film and now we will at least have some photos which makes me feel a whole lot better. We took the metro to the Olympic village and walked around. Then to the top of the hill to see a castle and then we came upon a terrific view from up on the mountain\hill of barcelona port in the meditteranean sea. Gorgeous. We were going to take an air tram ride over part of the city but it was way to expensive so we walked down the mountian. Next we went to Park Guell. It is once again at the top of a very steep hill so we hiked our way on up there. A fabulous view again from the peak. Part of the park is famous because of the architect and artist, Gaudi. He designed some of the buildings and statues in the park. He uses a lot of mosaic work. I really loved it aestetically! I wish I would bring it home because it would be perfect for our wedding. But I think the airline might have a problem with that. Not exactly an extra carry-on:)
We shopped for our dinner and breakfast. There arn´t big supermarkets here like in the US people tend to shop for thigns day to day. Everyone is nicer and more thoughtful here in Barcelona We love it!

12/6/04

I guess that we were exhausted because we slept in until after noon. We got up and made breakfast. Real homemade breakfast with eggs(caleb had scrambled and i had an omelette) with garlic, red pepper, onion, and cheese! Mmmm. Along with some bakery fresh baguette bread! We tried to make what we thought was bacon however, it eas a different cut of pord with the outer skini of the big and some bristly hair still on it! We were totally grossed out. Caleb scut the skin off and we cooked the crap out of it and used it and the eggs anyway. Live and learn and eat :)
We sat with Alessandra and Emiliano and talked for hours. Then we went to the intern et place acoss the street(only 1 euro per hour) to check email and update or weblog. Thwen we walked around and shopped at the local markets and shops. We found a new buckle for my backpack and I got a new white undershirt to keep me warm for only 4€! Everything is cheaper here then anywhere else that we have gone. Its nice. Alessandra dn Emiliano make dinner for use(italian salad with baguetts olives and sausages for appitizers, then lasagna for second course adn a bean dish for the third. It was delicious. Real Italian cooking and homeade. Later a few of their friends came over. They were all very nice. One guy, also from Italy and studying here in Barcelona, spoke quite good English. We 9of course talked politics and he was very curious about many aspects of American life.(education, healthcare). They were all shocked at teh cust of both. Caleb and Emiliano played chess until nearly 4 am then we went bilssfully to sleep. Zzz

12/5/04

it rained all night, why? because we were camping. it has rained every night we have camped since arriving in europe w the exception of one night. so the tent was wet again. we got to our bus stop for the airport on time and got to the airport with no problem. we go up to the info desk to find out where to check in. I say "where do we check in for our 12:15 flight on ryan air"? the help desk lady says"ryan air?, you must go to treviso airport for rayan air flights. this is marco polo airport. There are no direct busses or trams or trains that go between marco polo airport and treviso airport. so we had to take a texi for 60€ from one airport to the other. so we arrive at the correct airport and get in a short line to check-in. they wouldn let us check calebs bag with the tent and sleep pad attached so we thought that we could take them as carry ons along with our remaining bag and sleeping bags. we go through security and theyt tell us that we must go back to check in and check the tent because it has tent stakes in it.(very dangerous you know). we turn around and there are literally 100 people waiting in line now to check in. so we got back into line to check our tent. we finally pass through security and customs and sti in wait for our"cheap" flight to barcelona. when does the fun start? while waiting to board our flight on announcement is made in italian and everyone around us gets up and moves towards gate 1(our assinbged gate) ok, i guess its time to line up. then after 15 minutes of standing in this non moving line another annou ncement is made in italian and then broken unclear english that some people should go to get one and others at gate 2. caleb and i are at the very end of the line at gate 2 because we dont know whats going on. eventually we go outsite to get on the plane and realize that there are no assigned seats. once borded we discover that there are no seats left together. we land in girona airport(rough landing, new pilot maby)and after speaking with the tourist info we discover that girona barcelona airport is actually more then 80 kilometers from barcelona! no wonder the plane tickets were so cheap. so we get bus tickets to barcelona(11€ a piece) however all these europeans were much quicker then us(or pushier we cant decide) AND ONCE AGAIN we are the last to board and cannot sit together. bummer but oh well. the view from the bus was great. once again moun tians and new greenery. the architecture is very different from anything we have seen before. the sun was shining brightly hooray! when we arrived in barcelona about 1.5 hours later the usn had tucked back under the coulds and the cold returned. we were in the mids of looking at the map of our new temporary home city when this short what turned out to be an itilian, buy asks us if we are looking for accomadations? yes. he and his girlfriend rent out a room in their apartment for 30€ a night. we have use of their kitchen, laundry, our own privete room, shower and bathroom. emiliano is studying finance here in barcelona and his girlfriend Alessandra is studying drama. they are really nice. they walked me to the supermarket to get groceries and for the first time since we arrived here we made dinner! homemade food! it was like food for the gods! after dinner we talked politics. E said that everyone is hating America now because of bush and the war. We said we understand and that we voted for kerry. :)
Alessandra asked us to go to a small one man comedia ´dell arte (old italian theatere with masks) preformance. We went and it was great! staying with these two is giving us the intimate cultural experence that we have been longing for. Somthing very good after such a trying travel day.

12/4/04

When we got to the santa lucia train station last night we didnt have a place to stay reserved. many of the campsites were closed and the HI hostel costs 17.50 a night per person and it has seprate dorms for girls and guys(a lot of hostels have been that way in italy) plus a 7€ eash way on a vaporette(water bus). A guy at the train station was advertising a private, king sized bed froom for 40€ a night. so we dedided to go with him because it was dark and we were hungry and tired. he even walked us there. the room was pretty nice for being a 1 star hotel. the nicest hotel\hostel room thus far. it even had venetian glass chandelier! and berautiful food armire. no one was staying in the room next to us so we basiclly had a pri9vate bath\shower right outside our door! we douped our stuff and went to find food and to wander the city of venice. and boy we did wander. We found a place to have some italian pasta. ang had carbonara and caleb had lasagna. the food was good, but this guy with flowers (roses) was going from table to table tryinjg to get people to buy his roses. he wouldn`t take no for an answer. I was getting frustrated. finally the guy was how upset i was getting and just gave us a rose. i felt stupi9d for getting so upselt. somttimes the differences in culture becomes very overwhelming after a while. the level of customer service in italy is far below that of the us. I will truly aoppreciate that now. after that we began to walk venice-WITHOUT A MAP: we dont recommend this unless you want to become hopelessly lost. Which we did with ignorant vigor. one good thing about us being lost and wandering is that we saw a lot of sites on our to do list without even trying. we saw the torre dell orologio, the basilica san marco and piazza san marco, the realto bridge, the grand canal, chiesa di santa maria della salute, ponte die sospri palazzo decale. all without a map. at around 9 pm we decided to head back to our hotel. HAHA! once we had seen the same restraints and sites about thre times we knew we were screwed. it turns out the venice is a giant maze. we are not kidding. we felt like we were in a loop like in the movies. it feels like you are walking in the same direction and you just end up back at the same place. we both got a bit concerned. everyone we asked for directions would tell us an oppisite way to go. finally we find this really nice security guard that gaqve us his deltailed venice map for free! thank goodness for him or i fear that we would still be wondering the alleys and britges of venice. we finally found our way back to our hotel. Then we both dumped our or packs and decided what we were not using and could ship home to lighten our load. we both got a really good nights sleep. as an aside many toilets have no lid or seat, but when you really have to go no seat and a toilet is better then no toilet at all. I have become queen of squatting a peeing. I would wager my aim capabliities have improved 100%-hehe.
this morning we made reservations at camping de venezia and checked out of the hotel.We went stright to the italian post office and bought a shipping box(3€!) and set our stuff home by ship(27€!) The stuff may arrive before we do. ha
Then we had pizza and an itialian pastry for breakfast. we went to see the frari first. much easier with a map and compass. we walked there as stright as possible in venice. when we got to the frari pazza a gondola driver offered us a 45 minute tour for 90€! yikes, a bit steep for us. we said thanks but it was to expencive for our budget. we in advertantly talked him down to 35€ for a 30 minute ride tour, private by the way so we did it. and we are both glad we did. It was beautiful. The only way to truly see venice in my poinion. we boated past moarco polo´s home, cassanova´s homje and the rialto bridge. it was very romantic. the goldola drive dropped us off in from of the fari so we win in there and looked around. then I got the best gelatti I have had in my life! 5 flavors in a huge waffle cone for only 3€! it was amazing. we wondered a bit longer then went to get some playing cards(to replace our stolen ones) and went to the hotel to get our bags. we caught the #5 land bus to the campsite near the airport. only 19€ for the both of us to stay there. tomorrow barcelona spain!

12/3/04

We took the 10.47 train to venice. we sat in a privite car. In my opinion it was much nicer then first class because I walked into first class and it was packed. I was going to take my pants off and let it all hang out so no one would want to sit next to us. hehe
Angie gots a lot of emails from home today. it felt good. We realixzed that our sponge bob uno and small deck of playing cards were in the backpack that was stolen. so we snuggled to pass the time. Our phrase book is gone too, but we pick up words. Some Italian words we have learned- Grazie-thank you prego- youre welcome, please uscita- exit bigeltti- ticket

12/2/04

Today was pretty great. The weather was the best day of weather we have had in Europe thus far. It was easily 65 degrees F and very sunny ALL DAY! We never thought we could appreciate the sun so much. We have met some really cool Aussies and Canadians at the hostel at which we are staying. We travelled with them today to the Vatican City-Sistine Chapel-St Peters Cathedral and then to the Bocca della Veritas (Mouth of Truth--big Lion mouth you stick your hand into and if you are a person of truth your hand will be ok, but if you are not a person of truth it is said it will bite off your hand. Caleb and I still have ours:) that has been in a couple of movies. An American guy and his girlfriend were in the Sistine Chapel when we walked in. He proposed to her right there and everyone clapped. It was very sweet. Very sad to not have any photos of the sites, but our new Aussie friend, Shelly, (she is super awesome and may take the photos at our wedding!) took some photos of us at the Colosseum and St Peters and whatnot and will email them to us. So it isnt a total loss photo wise I guess. The sense of history here is impressive. Every corner has some site that fills you with awe. I am glad we didnt miss this. We got our tickets for Venice today and will leave tomorrow morning. By the way, Jeremy, gelatto/gelatti is Italian ice cream that tastes like heaven. Not to be missed (on a daily basis for Ang) while in Italy. Arrivederci until tomorrow. ciao

12/1/04

Well despite yesterdays sinister events, and no matter what we decide to do, today we decided to see the sites and do our tourist duty. We saw the Colosseum-not as big as we thought it would be, Arch of Constantine, the Roman ruins aka the forum romanum(and we got a free tour there because of a tour promotion), from there we saw the monument to Vittorio Emanuele II- Piazza Venezia, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, the Castle Sant Angelo, the Piazza del Popolo, Piazza de Spagna, the Trevi Fountain, Trajans Column, and The Capitol. We really packed it in today. It isnt hard to do in Rome though because so many antiquities of note are packed into this city I dont believe you could ever see them all unless you lived here. And when we got home we had two plates of pasta that were included with our new hostel. The hostel we moved to this morning is 10 euro cheaper plus for the same price we got two nights. It comes with a breakfast(and from what I hear it has eggs, sausage, cereal, all you can eat and stuff. At the place we stayed last night it was just a prepackaged roll and a juice box. mmm yummy, not! On the way back to the hostel we saw this girl sqwat right on the sidewalk, drop trou and pee right there in pubic for all to see. Caleb and I were sorta shocked but no one else seemed to give a hoot. didnt even flinch. Viva la Roma I guess. It is ironic that we had our camera stolen in the most photographable city in the world, maybe next to Paris. So you are just going to have to take our word that Romes architecture and sites are absolutely beautiful. We are now going to try to write more to remind ourselves what we see as opposed to taking a photo. Rome is super dirty. There is trash everywhere and it sorta smells not so good. Not so surprising when there are people peeing on the street I guess. hehe