Granada, Day 8

Also known as, "Sorry I went out partying last night and didn't write."

Saturday we went to the Albaicin. Google it. I can't tell you exactly what it was, because we were told we were going there, but we went to about five different places yesterday. So I'll just summarize then, then tell you how my night went. :) Vale? (Spanish for 'savvy' like Jack Sparrow talk)

So A and I trekked over to Plaza Nueva in Granada. It was about a 30 minute voyage up hill through crowded streets of people celebrating upcoming weddings and Corpus Cristi. This man stopped A and asked her if he would marry her... or maybe he wanted  her to be the stripper for their party? I couldn't make it out. He had a heavy accent and he was slurring. Foreign Girl Problems.

After our run in with many 'a group of drunken Spaniards we ran into C and M on the street on the way to the Plaza. We walked together to try to find this very vague meeting space, seeing as how the Plaza covers about five square blocks. Lovely. We finally saw people we recognized, joined the group and were greeted by a tiny Spanish woman yelling things such as "I'll kill you if you're late again." or "Don't make me use my mom voice." Stuff along those lines.

We headed through the Plaza to our destination, stopping every so often to glance at old buildings that have been here since the 1300's or so, and looking at streets that used to be rivers, admiring old run down fountains that have decayed over the years and old men ancient saunas... that part was gross because our guide was PRETTY descriptive about the old men who used said saunas.

We walked all through this small city to the Calle de Tristes (street of the sad, so named because there's a cemetery close by) and admired the Alhambra from another view. The further we walked, the higher we rose in altitude. -- For those of you who aren't Geography savvy, this means that if there are trees, they're scarce, and rarely in a position where they're needed.-- With no tree's for shade from the god awful sun, everyone looked like they'd just climbed the desert equivalent to Mount Everest. However, when we made it halfway up this dastardly hill, we stopped at a really pretty garden that was once owned by Muslims, Jardin de Carmen. It was really pretty, and shaded. Which was nice, because it was shaded. I didn't care about much else, because it was shaded. :)

As we left the wonderfully shaded Jardin I overheard a bunch of people saying things along the lines of "She needs to quit talking." "Yeah it's not like anyone understands her anyway." "I just want to go back out to the bar." DUDE! YOU'RE IN SPAIN! STOP COMPLAINING! I, with C in toe, almost turned around and smacked the fake blonde bleach off of this girls head. Que Bendito.

Anyway, we continued our trek and made it to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, or wherever we were. The view was AMAZING. Better than the view from the Alhambra, because the Alhambra was in the view!! We saw "The Great Wall of Spain" haha, which was a small wall build to separate the Muslims and Christians back in the day. 'Twas awesome.

Then, we climbed up a good bit more, where vegetation didn't even exist, and stood on this brick stage like contraption surrounded by stairs in every direction. It was one of those places where you expected there to be a fountain to play in, like in Centennial Olympic Park... I guess Spaniards don't believe in those? It was dry, hot, and as Tommy Pickles would say, "It was the time of NO shadows." But, a baby's gotta do what a baby's gotta do, so I sat there quietly listening as hard as I could, fighting the urge to just fall out on the ground and throw a temper tantrum about how hot it was outside. My self control has come a long way since last year apparently. (Bromando -- Joking)

So after we finished admiring the land of no shadows and nothing but blue sky, we descended from the tom of Mount Wanahakalougie and headed back towards civilization. That's when Dra. Rodrigo stepped in. She told us "Let's let them go ahead, we're going over here." I love having a local for a teacher. She's awesome.

She took us down these tiny streets that only God and Dra. Rodrigo know the names of and saw a bunch of tiny shops that reminded me of Canal Street.  Momma taught me well, I know fake/stolen when I see it. :)

We sat down at one of the restaurants, got lots of Cañas (small beers) and with them, for free, came an appetizer for each. Yeahhhh buddy.

So lunch for 1,40E? Sure.



Fast Forward:

That night the group met at 8 o'clock next to the burger king, which doesn't even have a Whopper... explicamelo. por favor. We went out with Dra. Rodrigo to better know the city we were staying in and learn about everything that wasn't on the main roads.
She took us though all kinds of twists and turns, to all sorts of Plazas. We saw a wedding, the woman was wearing a white flamenco style dress, how Spanish, and a lot of different street performers. They were all pretty awesome.
After the tour we sat down again for Cañas and Tapas. M and I had Sangria, which was pretty top notch, and everyone got some food. I however, had been constipated due to my sudden love for bread with EVERYTHING over here. Jesus it's good bread. So I opted out of pretty much any food heading my way, but alcohol makes me go, so I decided what the heck right?

1 Sangria.

After that M C and I headed out on our own to find Churros con Chocolate. MMMMMM. Ever been to Callaway Gardens? Know their hot chocolate? Imagine that it came in a dip form and you could spread it on EVERYTHING. Welcome to Spain dude. Welcome. To. Spain.

I had about five churros, each dipped in chocolate, with a bottle of water and a glass of red wine. Yuuummmm

1 Wine.

After receiving the best service we've had yet, we bid farewell to our lovely server, who was working on learning English, and headed to tapa numero tres. I had wine, M had Paulner, my new favorite beer.

1 Wine.


I kept it down tonight. 3 drinks, and done.

At each place we talked about school at home, school here, expectation vs. reality... I think I had the highest expectations just because I have a crazy imagination, boys here, boys at home, friends here, friends at home, travel, love, life, past, present, future, everything.
Mildly philosophical, mildly drunken ideas.

Since it was super late, and my room mate had the keys, I headed over to M and C's place because it was really close. I sent a text to my Madre to let her know I was staying over there because I didn't have keys and figured it'd be fine. So I went to their place, met their Madre, who has an accent I've never heard before. She kissed me on both cheeks, told me I was pretty, and that I have a beautiful name... Clearly they don't have many Megan's here...
I spent the night watching stupid youtube videos that made me laugh hysterically, braiding M and C's hair for them and talking about the differences between here and home. There were many.

The next morning I got to the apartment and knocked on the door. My Madre answered with a look of shock on her face.. I asked her if she'd gotten my message... apparently she didn't. She said next time just to call her, she didn't care what time. Vale, now I know. :)

So everything's good now. All rested and ready for the long haul that this week is going to bring. I spent all of today sleeping since I was up until 3 and woke up at 8 then came here and slept until 1 or 2. Finished HP4, Prisoner of Askaban, finished my homework and started my new Spanish book 'perdoname pero, quiero casarte conmigo.'


Oh, and this man showed me his butt today from across the street and asked me to shave it. You can't file sexual harassment charges over there... it's just part of every day life here. Second ass I've seen in 24 hours. Gotta love open Spanish men. No shame. What. So. Ever.
(the first one was a groom to be that they made dress up in womens underwear.)


Que es la vida. :)

Buenas Noches

<3