Hola de E(th)pana!!!

Spain:

Hola mi amigos!!!!!!!

I am currently passing through the Strait of Gibraltar en route to Casablanca! Our arrival in Casablanca is currently delayed by at least 12 hours due to I guess bad weather. We were to refuel in the Strait, right by the big ole ROCK and I guess we did but it took waaaay longer than expected. So whatever. We'll arrive in Casablanca tonight and I'll probably leave for Marrakech with some friends tomorrow. I hope I'm spelling everything right.

But ETHPANA. Let me tell you all about it!

Our boat landed in Cadiz the morning of January 28th and my friends and I enjoyed a leisurely day there. I bought some weird Spanish candies... etc. Actually Ali and I made a beeline for a cafe where we ordered "caffee con leche" (Yo no se how to spell in Spanish..). The highlight of the first day, however, was right after that when we found a little restaurante right across from this GORGEOUS cathedral. We ordered delicious seafood Paella and Sangria (which KNOCKED us out- we had to go rest on the ship for awhile) and actually it was really really good (and we accidentally spent between the two of us- on ONLY Paella and Sangria 32 Euros... this is to be a trend in Spain: spending). We took a lot of pictures of the cute little town and then, as I said, needed a rest. It was evening and Ali and Kelsea (pronounced "Kelsey" if you were wondering), another friend, were signed up for a Flamenco night which maybe I should have done too but I opted out. So I waited for them, our plan being to go out at about 11:00 and seek out dinner and perhaps una cervesa (apparently Spain is happenin' late at night and all the cool Spanish people wait to eat until late). SO I rested and watched 310 to Yuma and got really scared alone in my room. But then they came back and we went out. OOPS. Cadiz was totally closed. And we kind of still don't really understand why. All of our guest lecturers had built up the night life of Spain and explained the culture's late eating habits so we had been really excited. After about an hour of wandering around with NO one else in the streets and EVERYTHING closed, we began a desperate search for a Burger King someone had seen earlier that day. It too was closed. SO then we eventually found this weird little room full of vending machines. My dinner was sour cream and onion pringles, these weird gummy candies, and German Kinder chocolates.

The next morning, Ali, Kelsea, and I got on a bus to Granada to meet up with my roommate Kendyll, our other friend (through Kendyll), Carly, and some boys Andrew, Ben, and Jacob. The bus was expensive, in case you were wondering. But it was pleasant. I slept the whole way. In Granada, we stayed in a youth hostal that was down this REALLY sketchy ally. The door didn't have a sign on it. It literally had a number (20, I think) and a picture of a backpacker giving a thumbs-up. We had free internet access though and there was a cute little courtyard and kitchen. I slept on the top bunk of a bed that had a forty-something year old European man on the bottom bunk. Our bunk bed was one of four or five in the room. Whatever. It was an acceptable place to stay if a little sketchy. After checking in at the hostal, we went out for tapas. This was my favorite eating experience of Granada. I got a sample plate and I'm not sure even what I ate but all of it was wonderful. There were meats, there were sauces, there was Manchego... It was delicious. After that we went shopping and I purchased a really cute Srgt. Pepper style jacket for only 10 Euros. I also got some candy... Um you don't need to hear all the mundane details. We didn't end up spending much time with the boys we were traveling with but we realized our group of five girls (Ali, Kendyll, Carly, Kelsea, and me) was really good. That night we met up with some of Kelsea's friends who were studying in Granada while Carly and Kendyll went off with some of Carly's friends. We had cervesas and got free pizza with them (I'm not sure why but it was good). And then we said goodbye and Ali and Kelsea and I went off in search of the famous Granada night life. We didn't quite find it but eventually we needed to go to the bathroom so we went into a bar and met Manuel the bar tender and Irene the friendly Granada college student who helped translate and offered directions. Our main goal was to find Carly and Kendyll. We never did. But in the process of looking for them we made tons of friends, Spanish and American. For example, in addition to Manuel and Irene, we met these girls on the street who go to Puget Sound and said that they thought maybe they knew Carl Larson, my first boyfriend ever. Small world, Ethpana.

The next day we went to the Alhambra. It was gorgeous. A few in our group were fairly... "tired" after the night before (not me!) but the first thing they did was get a beer at this little hut at the Alhambra. I laughed at that a lot. But we were just having that kind of a trip. The Alhambra was gorgeous. It's hard to describe. I'll try to put up pictures at some point.

THEN we got on a bus to Seville. We got in rather late in the afternoon/early in the evening and walked around until we finally found a hostal. THIS hostal was wonderful. We had two rooms one for three of us and one for the other two. All to ourselves! They were like hotel rooms and I guess we paid for about that... Yikes. We went out to dinner at an Italian restaurante in an area recommended by a friend of Kelsea's. For once we did well with our money. We ordered two medium pizzas, one pasta dish (Gorgonzola and walnuts!) and three bottles of the house wine (don't judge me- there were five of us!) for ten euros per person! Pretty good, eh?? And, once more, we made friends with our waiter! I don't know his name.. I don't think he ever told us but then he gave us free shots of lemoncello (may or may not be an Italian restaurant tradition..) but we talked him into having one with us and then as we left he kissed Carly and Kendyll.. like KISSED them on the lips as if it was a normal goodbye... The other three of us were sort of weirded out but I guess that's just how some guys DO in Europe...

Then we went to a couple of bars.. No biggie. And then we ended up fulfilling our final Spain "MUST-do" which was to eat churros in hot chocolate. At the little churros stand there were like 15 guys in their 30s-40s who took picture after picture with us and then we talked about Obama with them (I say "talked" but none of us could understand each other except actually me and this one guy who spoke German...) and then they brought up Bush and started doing the chicken dance which none of us understood but which we gladly participated in anyway.

So all in all it was pretty great. I got the opportunity a couple of times to call my parents and Robbie and it was really great to hear their voices. We made it through the trip with no real mishaps (ironically, as soon as I got back safely on the ship I scratched my cornea but that's another story and it's fine now). We made TONS of Spanish friends. That reminds me: one more highlight. At the Alhambra we were taking pictures of each other jumping up in the air and these young Spanish guys were sitting there and they said "where are you from?" and I kind of apologetically was like "the United States" and they went "OBAMA!!! YES WE CAN!!!" And I just almost cried. I got the biggest goosebumps. It was such an amazing, wonderful moment where I realized how different traveling really is and will be for Americans now. I'm SO proud.

LOVE to you all!

Martha