TRAVEL UPDATE

TRAVEL UPDATE

Mannn... it's taken me so long to update this because just knowing how much there is to report is very daunting, so I will try to keep it semi-concise as I always end up writing too much once I actually sit down to it. The last 6 weeks of 2008 took me all over the place, half because I hadn't done as much traveling yet as I'd hoped, and half because there just wasn't much left around Malaga when my roommates left, so some friends and I took off!

Barcelona round two was another success (and no cameras got stolen, but probably because I didn't have one anymore...shit!) Max's dad Carlo was visiting him also, so since I know Carlo too we hung out a bit, doing a little exploring of the city including Parque Güell, easily the coolest park I've seen in Spain. After the first couple days Max got pretty sick, so most of my activity was spent with his roommates and one of Heidi's (my sister's) friends from home, Delphino, who had been living there for 2 years teaching and playing basketball. Despite never having met him before, he was super hospitable and invited me with him and his friends to all his "goodbye" events since he was leaving for home that weekend after 2 years. The night life is so dope too, and actually has real clubs, not these miniature bars with a 5'x5' dance floor like the "discotecas" in Malaga. I don't know what it is about the city, but I just love it there. It's a big city but doesn't have the impersonal feel of Madrid, and despite a truly international, metropolitan atmosphere, it still has a culture truly its own that meshes seamlessly with all the diverse neighborhoods and tourists. There are still a few things I would have liked to see while I was there, but since I just love being there so much, just kickin it and soaking in the city, it was still an incredible trip. The biggest highlight was easily all the amazing, diverse people I met. Who knows, there might be more Barca in my future........?

Next was Tanger, Morocco, where we were a group of 14! Two other Americans (Cody & Taylor), German friend Mareike, and then 10 Spanish people from
Sevilla/Huelva, two places with notoriously "strong" (aka bad) Spanish. It was really just as much of a cultural experience being with the 10 of them the whole time, trying to decipher what they were saying, amidst the combined syllables, absence of S's, and abundance of Andalucian slang. At night we didn't do anything but all gather in one room, which never took long for someone to take out the guitar and start to play. Ummm... everyone of them seemed to be a professional guitar player, jesus! They were soo good, especially one guy who knew a lot of gitano songs with a real spanish-guitar flavor of playing, and all 10 of them would sing along. Really cool experience.

We got there on a ferry from Algeciras to Tanger, which was a fun way to see both coastlines (but the way back we were delayed heavily and ended up having a bit of an adventure), and with the ferry round trip, two nights in the hotel, and transportation from the port to the hotel and back, it was only 65 euros! But we ended up doing a couple excursions which came out to be another 35 euros or so altogether, although everything was negotiable and we got "discounts" on everything we did. First day we explored Tanger, first taking a bus all along the outskirts, including the beach which was my favorite part. I mean, it looked like an awesome beach, very picturesque etc, but the part I loved best is it was so underdeveloped. Like, here in Spain along the coast we have beautiful beaches, but they are literally built up with apartment buildings and hotels until there could be no more. But in Tanger, the seeds of development look like they had just been planted. We then toured the old town, which in reality meant being dragged to the different stores of our guide's homies, trying to make herself a commission while we paid too much money for poor quality merchandise. The next day we went to Chefchaouen, a tiny town up in the mountains painted blue to ward off mosquitos...... and curses. It was a cute little town set on the hillside, and seemed to be pretty bustling. Our guide there was a hilarious little dwarf-looking man who would just yell out HABIBIIIIII!! (kind of like "dear" or "my love" in English) when ever someone got lost in the town's thin, winding streets. A little more of the friend-store tour like in Tanger, but we also had some freetime which was cool just to walk around and check out the city a little more. Last day we went to Asilah which was also pretty, but more little shops like the old parts of the other two, and nothing too notable. It was pretty tough at times trying to get around with so many people, but the little taste I got of the country was really intriguing and I am looking forward to being able to check out some new parts. *Oh and I forgot to mention, I got to ride a camel! But it was literally like 2 minutes around in a circle like a pony at a kids birthday party hahah. Oh well, it was 1 euro!

Finally, I got to go to Germany for two weeks during my Christmas vacation! It was so nice to finally see some familiar faces, and since I wasn't going to be going home, being with family was really comforting. I spent the first week with my uncle Bernhard in his small town of Waldshut-Tiengen, on the Swiss border. Such a nice old-school town with a small pedestrian center with some nice stores. For the two days that he had to work while I was there, I explored the town and shopped, then went to Basel, Switzerland by train. Basel was bbeeaauuttiiffuull, set right along the Rhein river. It was small enough to see in one day, and pretty relaxing to just stroll around, checking out the christmas decorations and old churches. The two pictures ---> are from Basel. Other than that, I had a (semi) white Christmas! It was freezing the whole time I was there, and while it hadn't snowed for a few days, there was still a little bit of snow on the ground, so I'll claim it was white! Basically the other days all we did were take GORGEOUS drives up into the black forest, the surrounding mountains, and various landmarks within Germany and Switzerland. It's too much to comment on, so I will just describe one. The end of our first road trip, it was close to getting dark, so we cut our trip short and went to an old church/monastery/insane asylum on a small island on the river. As dusk hit, we wandered behind the church where there was a tiny graveyard alongside a one-room chapel, sticking out on a point on the flat island. We walked along a small path along the side to the back, only to find two people saying a prayer and releasing a single floating candle into the still water. I mean, it sounds like I'm making this up but it was straight out of a poem... or at least a Bob Ross painting. But it was such a beautiful image. The sun had been down for a while and the sky was a dark blue, and we just stood there and watched the candle as it floated into the middle of the river, with thick, gray forest lining either side of the river all the way to the shore, their red leaves still covering the ground. I was standing there wishing I had a camera, but now I think I like it better as just a memory. As a traveler I feel the need to take a picture of everything, but I'm starting to figure out not everything needs to be remembered in a photograph. For me, this one was just as meaningful without.

So my fingers are starting to hurt, and I realize I get carried away with typing too much, so I need to wrap it up. Next I went to my grandma's (Nanna) in a small Bavarian town called Prien for the next few days. She lives in an old folks home and these days doesn't really get out much at all, so my time was spent soaking in as much family history as possible from her, and we had some truly meaningful conversations together about life in general. She has an amazing outlook on life, and still has a youthful mentality. Next, went to Heidelberg to hang out with my cousin Patrick. We basically didn't do anything. Uh. Watched dvds. That's about it hahaha. But it was actually really nice too, just to kick it, not be walking all day seeing sites, considering I had been there a bunch of times before. He's just a chill dude and we get along really well so it was so relaxing and great just to hang out with my cousin for once!!