Warming up My Mojo

Coming to you from Barcelona, Spain... I am here and arrived smoothly and safely. It's 4 a.m. and after many hours without sleep, I sacked out at 9:30 pm last night.  Now I am wide awake and all is quiet... I don't see a problem...

 The flight here was flawless and was rewarded for splurging the extra $100 on Economy Comfort, by being gifted an entire row on the plane to myself!  Seat back tv screens, movies, tv and games... it's a wonder I was never actually able to fall asleep.  I tried all the gimmicks: eye mask, neck pillow, seat back, ear plugs... to no avail.  I guess I am creature of habit and need my own bed and the warmth of my snuggly pup to be able to get a good night's rest.

Once I arrived to the Barcelona Airport, collecting my luggage was easy (oh yes, my plan for carrying on my bag was foiled by bulky outer pockets and an excessive need for 3 oz. bottles of liquids).  I easily found the Aerobus into the city and after I asked my first citizen, "Habla usted Ingles?", paid my fare and was gleefully greeted by a comfy bus overwhelming with AC (the humidity here is profound for this California girl).  Once on the bus, I anxiously awaited my exit, all the while praying the AC wouldn't go away!  Alas, it did, and I hoped off the bus, spent 5 or so minutes getting my bearings and then set out to find my host's house.  I had to ask for help 3 times, and only one of those kind citizens spoke English.  Pointing and pulling out key vocabulary helped out and thankfully I was able to navigate through a 15 minute walk, to the home of Carlos, arriving drenched in sweat to a kiss on both cheeks.  

The apartment is small, but full of character and since I arrived earlier than planned, I waitied in the dining area, and talked excitedly with the 2 Pakistani men, (in the 20's) who were leaving Carlos' house to return to Belgium where they attend college.  They were sweet and offered suggestions for places to visit, though many were locations I knew I would never go: the aquarium, the soccer stadium and the speedboat ride along the coast.  Here are some photos of the apartment:

The living room and small balcony

The tiny shoe box room I am staying in the with a wardrobe closet behind the door and an outlet and fan on the left.  All I really need...

This is a view from the small balcony.

The small but efficient kitchen...

Check out the details in the ceiling!  There are molding like this all over the apartment.

So... after a failed attempt at a nap, a shower, another nap attempt, Carlos left for work and I decided to set out on my first exploration of Barcelona.  Mojo, don't fail me now!

The neighborhood I am staying in is called El Ravel.  It is very close to the famous Las Ramblas, a tree-lined street that serves as a walkway for tourists and their suspecting pickpockets.  For those familiar with Venice Beach or Santa Monica Promenade, this place was similar to that including silver and gold men frozen as statues, tour operators flagging you down, and souvenir shops at all angles.  I had no idea where I was heading when I set out, since the maps here haven't been so helpful.  Turns out that the fonts are getting smaller at the same time my arms are getting longer...  I can't read a map here to save my life, and I don't even use reading glasses (perhaps I should be).  Here are some photos from my walk:

Las Ramblas (The Street of Many Tourists)

Happily, in my exploring, I found Mercat de la Bouqueria, the "farmer's market" of Barcelona.  Here there were also many tourists, but also I noticed some foods for sale (wink...)

One of the main attactions of this market is the Iberico Ham, crazy expensive... The story is that these pigs are black pigs, raised in a free range enviorment, and eat only grasses and acorns.  Once they get close to slaughter time, they only eat acorns and this apparently has an impact on the taste of the meat.  Once slaughtered (poor piggy... but yeah bacon!), the meat is cured for up to 48 months.  These fine gentlemen in the photo, shave off tiny thin slices of the ham and sell it for over a hundred euros a kilogram (no one gets a kg... I saw someone get 6 slices and it was about 10 euros, I think).  

I did NOT try some of the ham at this point... my mojo is just getting warmed up, but all who know me know that I rarely turn down a pork product.  There will be Iberico jamon in my near future.  I did however buy a strawberry pineapple juice and a meat empanda.  It's all I had the courage to rifle through my euros for.

I then left Las Ramblas for a quieter exploration...

And finally sat down in an outdoor cafe at around 6pm to taste my first tapas.  My waiter spoke not a single word of English, nor did he know how to use the credit card machine (so I paid in cash).  I ordered Salteado Garbonzos con camerones y sausage (garbanzos with shrimp and sausage) and some fried calamari, which tasted so incredibly different from any other calamari I have ever had.  I don't tend to love the chewiness of squid, but this wasn't at all chewy... tender and delicious.

After a while, I meandered back to the apartment, to find that Carlos hadn't yet returned.  I read for a while, trying to stay awake as long as possible, but when my head and neck could no longer remain upright, I retired to my bed closet (wink) at about 9:30 pm (it was still light out, as it doesn't get dark till 10pm here during the summer.

Slept in my clothes (not sure why... perhaps I thought I'd get up again when Carlos got home... didn't though).  Woke up at 4 am, and now it is 6am.  I have no clue what I am doing today.  I do know that I have to buy my train ticket to San Sebastián for Saturday, purchase a plane ticket from Bilbao to Barcelona for my last day, prepurchase tickets to Sagrada Familia for Thursday, oh and learn the very intricate subway system so that I can get around this town.  That's all for now.  

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