Where Is Joey Today?

update: finished!

Weekend update

::Chevy Chase:: I´m in Spain and you´re not .

So I got up early on Saturday to catch the 9am bus to Granada. I have a little trend going...I ALWAYS miss a bus during a trip (the return from Gibraltar, the leg to the Sierra Nevada etc). It was cool because the Sierra Blanca is really nice at sunrise.

I jumped on the Granada bus which was surprisingly full, and headed off. At Malaga, it got even more packed (perhaps 7 seats available on the entire bus). Death, taxes and now Murphy´s law. The bus broken down and 30 of the people got a bus within minutes. The rest had to wait an hour. Moral of that story, if you need to be on time in Spain, don´t ;)

I arrived in Granada about 45 minutes late despite somewhat long delay. I took the bus and went to a locutorio to verify the directions which included the phrase "could not be any easier"...

Needless to say, it could have been substantially easier. I walked for about 30 minutes (advertised 2 minute walk) before I stumbled across an American couple (they dropped some pennies) and we got to talking about accomodations. As luck would have it, they had also been to Granada and stayed at the "Funky Backpackers Hostel" during their last visit and were going to check-in themselves. This place is easy to find with the directions once you know where it is. The "street" is more like an alley (at left).

The hostel is really cool. The girl at the desk´s English was shockingly American sounding which made me feel like my Spanish was awful (turned out she was Canadian so I felt better). There were no beds available for the other ´Mericans nor at Oasis (where I attempted to book a room) so I recommended the place I stayed at last time.

Toby and John will enjoy this part. When I arrived at the hotel, the computer is broken which had the girl flustered (and worried that there might have been double bookings). When I looked at the monitor it had a root prompt. Aha! So I had her fsck the drive, a shutdown -Fr later and the (Gnome) Ubuntu welcome screen popped up. For that she called me the..."genius of Funky". She asked me what I studied and it was the first time that someone referred to me as the "ingeniero electrico".

The hostal was probably an old house it had an ensuite bathroom and bunks for us. The roof terrace had a bar with dirt cheap (and surprisingly good) beer and sangria along with an excellent view of the city including the Cathedral Real (I think that is the name) The picture on the left is during dusk. Really awesome, and will definitely be one I will hang on my wall of my future house.

I hung out there with some Americans, Brits, Swedes and Irlanders (sic?). I realized that the official language of youth hostels is definitely English (though I did speak Spanish with a girl from Buenos Aires). Perhaps a telling sign for the future?

The Alhambra was very close but a tough walk. The benches along the entrance are parallel with the ground. Check themout to the left. One leg has to be much shorter than the other. They did not sell tickets during the day for the next day unfortunately. They told me to come back tomorrow. They don´t understand how to do the customer service bit in Spain. Even if you buy online (the preferred method), or reserve on line, they have only one window where you must wait, the same for walk-ins. It is a nice walk so it is hard to too upset, moreover it allowed me to take the photo below of the back entrance to the Alhambra.

So back at the hostel and rejoined everyone on the roof for happy hour. The American girls were from Chicago. Except for one, who kinda looked like Daphne from Frasier, who was from...Quincy, IL. She knows where the old Celotex plant was, the Quincy museum etc. Travelling is really, really strange sometimes. Later we went to some local bars and they have a cool tradition. Buy a drink, get a tapa. I had Cured Ham and cheese on bread, Sardines on guacomole with tomato, Tuna salad, and even a loaded baked potato. Not a bad supper, I just have a hard time remembering the last few tapas :-P

At night there was a little noise on the terrace (some drunk Germans singing) and some people walking loudly. All of which was okay. At 7am, a family of Spanish skiers decided that they wanted to leave then return to pay and drop off the key. Well, being that the deposit for the key was just 10 euros (for a group of 9), Funky definitely wanted payment then. That made them mad and they started throwing their stuff around the floor of the hostel, storming up stairs, yelling to get the money etc. We came very close to forming a junta. Seriously, the entire hostel wanted to kill them. All in all, a great first experience in the hostel. They even let you hang out inside if you checkout. Perhaps they are a bit too relaxed, a Canadian guy walked in completely stoned to get a light for his hash. They obliged, then told him to leave, mostly because he was loud more so than the drugs. Hehe

Attempt two at the Alhambra. I arrived early just like they said to do. Apparently they only sell tickets for the present time, and a half hour later. If I wanted to return at 11 I would have to come back then. The exercise did me good so I didn´t care much. Lesson 7 don´t rely on your trip being completely smooth. I returned at 11 and the line was a Swedish mile long. While waiting, a guy approaches me and asks if I speak English because he has an extra ticket and "that que is shorter" so I joined James and his girlfriend Pepa to tour the Alhambra. I hope Dad was joking when he said that he was not sure if it was worth the trip to Granada because it was the most spectacular man-made structure I have ever seen. Truly awe-inspiring to the point that James and Pepa were debating whether it topped the Vatican. Split decision. In fact, I would say that the Alhambra is THE reason to visit Granada in the same way that the Lóurve is the reason to visit Paris, except that reservations of about the latter have more validity because after you experience the art you are stuck in Paris ;) You can judge for yourself below...

At the end of the tour, they told me they were meeting some friends at a local bar and asked me if I wanted to join them. I agreed and headed away from the tourist area. On the way, I crossed paths with the American couple that showed me Funky. Granada is a big city so this is not a likely occurrence especially where I saw them. They stayed near where I did last time. So I went to this place and ate blue shark fillet (a little like Alligator only more tender/fishy). I had to cut my visit short to catch the 5pm bus to Marbella (the last is at 8) so I planned to give myself 45 minutes. The buses ran late. The stop where I got off last time, isn´t always included. I finally see the number 3 bus (I took 33 into the city) which goes to the bus station. Sweet. Stop after stop and including a change of drivers which required me to buy an extra ticket to continue. Oh and the driver decides that this is a good time for a smoke break. Ugh... ticktockticktock. I get to the Bus Station 10 minutes late, just in time to miss the bus and just in time to wait almost 3 hours for the next one. Lesson 8 in addition to bringing cameras, batteries, extra underwear, a towel (the single most useful thing ), but make sure a relaxed attitude is among them. Bo-man would have killed someone three times this trip. So I waited again, and as irony would have it, the bus was 15 minutes late arriving :-P

It can be really funny (especially afterwards) if you let it :)

--Joey