Swimming with the Whale sharks

While researching for possible places to visit in the Philippines, I found Donsol, Sorsogon as one of my top destinations. Donsol is a feeding ground of the largest fish in the world, the whale sharks, locally known as butandings. I originally planned to go solo but a 5-hour delayed layover in Taiwan got me to buy my cousin a ticket to come with me. I'm so glad she came coz it wouldav been a bit difficult being on my own.

We landed in Legaspi airport around noon and caught a shuttle to Donsol (1 hour drive south of Legaspi) with 4 Dutch visitors. We searched for accommodations when we got there. Ours turned out to be a very interesting one. Hahaha. Oh Lord.


Despite the heat, I managed to take a 4-hour nap here in this makeshift bed. =P I told my cousin that we should keep tight on budget because we can. Haha. We boycotted the resort's overpriced food and opted to buy bread and cheese spread from town. (We managed not buy any other food for the rest of our 2-day stay in Donsol)

We then got into this small boat for a night firefly tour. The river was very dark and peaceful. Sadly, no camera could capture the firefly party going on in this Talisay tree. However, our guide successfully got a firefly and brought it to us.
Thankfully, the sleep was uneventful despite the openness of the cottage. When we woke up, we hurriedly made breakfast - cheese spread by a ruler on the bread we bought. Lol. We then proceeded to the tourism center to get started on the swim.

When I planned this trip, I didn't exactly think much about what the real swim entailed. Hahaha! I failed to realize that the swim involves jumping into open water and chasing after a huge animal. On our first jump, I was scared to death. I do not like using snorkels at all. Lol. I also forgot how salty seawater can be. Hahahaha. During the second jump, my cousin and I stayed in the boat. I was sorta depressed coz I came all way out here and I can't even muster the courage to do it. All that hassle and money for nothing? Ugh.

Good for us, Kuya Henry - our Butanding Interaction Officer (BIO) offered to take us on his buoy one at a time. Seems so lame, right? But what choice did I have? Hahahaha. The first time I saw the butanding, it was cruising 1 meter below me. It was breathtaking. Amazing. Out of this world! After that, I told Kuya Henry - I'm good. I could go home right now with a smile on my face. I went on to see 4 more with the last being the largest at 8 meters long.

We shared the boat with the same 4 Dutch visitors and 1 Israeli diver who had an underwater camera. (Credits to Yuval for these pics!)

try to find its eye. they say butanding in bicolano means small eyed :)

Discovering Indonesia

Since I was already going to be in the Philippines, I really wanted to visit another country while I was in this region. Then, I realized I had met this American guy while walking in Kuala Lumpur last year. I had dinner with him and his American friend who lives in KL. Seemed like nice chaps. So after a few emails back and forth, I booked to spend 5 days in Indonesia.

The original plan was to go off to West Java to hike Mt. Bromo but Joel's other friend couldn't go with us. Joel is a very conservative and respectful guy and for us to travel just by ourselves wouldn't look right to most Indonesians. So, we ended up staying in Bandung (his home fore now) for the length of my stay. I couldn't have asked for more.

Indonesia, compared to the Philippines is cleaner and the air cooler. Although, we always one up every other Asian country because of our being able to speak English very well. That was the one thing that disabled me as a traveller although it didn't affect me much since Joel is conversant in Indonesian. I was kinda glad that they spoke very little English as it enabled me to pick up their language very quickly. I was very proud of what I'v learned and retained in those 5 days. :)

In sum, I got to try all the delicous spicy foods Indonesia has to offer, hike down a volcano's crater, ride on a motorcycle for hours while passing rice paddies and small villages, got to watch a master puppet carver at work, learned a new language, and got to make Indonesian friends. You can't ever get that in a pre-pack travel package. I owe all of this to Joel - the stranger who took me in. :)

Joel
while we were inside the crater of Tangkuban Parahu


Indonesian Friends - Lydia, Pritha, and Gina

On the loose

The last time I went home, I was lugging 2 large 50 lb suitcases all over town. It was a major pain in the be-hind. Now, in an effort to truly connect with my inner backpacker, I am only going to be traveling with my tenderfoot Deuter pack which I bought on impulse in Kuala Lumpur's Central Market.

In short, there will be no pasalubongs. Just me and my pack. It helps so much in hopping from one place to another.

So in sum, I'm leaving April 12th and coming back June 8th. I'm volunteering from April 27 - May 23 which leaves me quite a bit of time to wander around town or the country. =)

I'll land in Manila on the 14th of April and will be staying with Kat for the night (thanks Kat! :*).

Next up, island of Java, Indonesia from April 15 - April 21. I'm meeting up with a cool kid I met in Kuala Lumpur last year. He's doing his grad studies there and luckily is on his vacation around the time I'm available. Basically, I don't know where we're headed except for the volcanic site in Mt. Bromo. So long as I'm back in Jakarta for my flight back to Manila, I'm game.

So last year when I went home, I was kind of disappointed as to how I failed to even visit one other site in the Philippines other than Manila and Davao. They say that the hardest part about traveling is deciding to go. I've always wanted to witness the majestic beauty of the Mayon Volcano. I've disappointed myself once and now I'm not gonna pass up on this chance. Hence, I'm going to Legaspi on the 21st 5 hours after landing. As a kid, I've always been amazed by looking at Mayon pictures. Now, I can't wait to see the real thing for myself. The bonus on this trip is I'm making a side trip to Donsol, Sorsogon with hopes to swim with the largest fish on the planet, the whale sharks or what is locally known as butandings.

After 2 nights in Legaspi, on the 23rd I'm flying on to Cebu to meet with Ate Chelle and Kuya Nin, Nathan and Chloe. They are very good friends of ours from Wilson and they're all in Cebu to visit with Ate Chelle's sick father. It's their first time going back and Nate and Chloe's first in the Philippines. I've shared a lot with them and I'd really love to spend some time with them there. Share a few lechons and dried mangoes. =) and Chickenjoy with the kids!

On April 27, I'll be heading to Davao to start on my real mission. Even more adventures to come! Can't wait!

And when it ends on May 23rd, I'll have 2 weeks to work with. I really really wanna visit Sagada. Well, anywhere new for that matter. Anyone who wants to trip with, let's go! =)

Check out these great travel blogs I've come across from endless nights of scouring the internet for info! Haha!

- dutch pickle: a fantastic site full of info. from what i've read, i think he's a dutch guy living in catbalogan, samar who's been all over the philippines.

- nina fuentes' just wandering: i haven't spent as much time here but her blog is very informative as well

Oh here it goes again!

I've been coming down with a lotta bugs lately. The lazy bee stung hard right before Christmas and then came the travel bug that bit the hardest. The travel bite just had to be soothed! I can't help it! Haha!

So, here it goes again! Oh here it goes again! Oh here it goes again!

Originally, I had set out to go to Germany to visit Nico but the whole visa application shenanigan turned me off so badly that I just finally decided to go to a place where I won't need to apply for a visa. What better place to look at than my own birth country, eh? And with that, I settled on my location. Now, the motive. Looking for a motive was a total gimme since I had been wanting to volunteer for Gawad Kalinga (GK) (translation: to give care) since I was in high school. A few emails to an NC contact that is spending a year volunteering for GK got me hooked up with the right people. After corresponding for a few days, I was all set to go. =)

I asked to be assigned in Davao City and will be staying at GK's Mission House. I'll be visiting sites and spend nights in some of them. I will be immersed with the admin side of the work and meet with local leaders and caretakers. My main assignment is to help the admin prepare for the local Bayani Challenge (Hero's Challenge) in Compostela Valley where numerous GK teams from all over Mindanao will participate in a 5-day long build. I'm really excited about this experience and as much as I'm anxious, I know it'll turn out fine!

Now, I'd be lying if I told you that volunteering is my main motive for this trip. It's a big part of it but you know me. Haha! I'm always on the lookout for visiting new places. I'll tell more on that on my next post!

For now, I'll give you these Gawad Kalinga videos to look at to give you a better idea of what it is! =)

A presentation on how GK works




Testimonials of Foreign GK Volunteers

Better very very late than never - from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur

I suppose my trip had plateaued when I just stopped blogging altogether. I'm terribly regretful that I did that and I know I should have kept writing regardless. I mean, that is the purpose of this blog, right? So anyway.

On my 3rd day in Singapore (Nov15,2008), I really really wanted to go visit the "Durian" Building aka the Esplanade, revisit the durian pancake stall in Chinatown, and taste the fried oyster omelette, teh tarik (pulled milk tea) and Tiger beer. I had a bus to catch by noon so I had barely 2 hours to get all of these done. To make a long story short, my morning agenda wasn't all too successful. The durian pancake stall did not sell durian pancakes until after lunch time. So that went down the drain. The fried oyster omelette made me want to puke after a few spoonfuls because of the food's texture. I tried to push it down with the Tiger beer but I found it to be awful! About the only good thing from my food trip today was I successfully bargained a free cup of teh tarik from a nice lady. I had no more Singapore Dollars to spare and I just really wanted to taste it. She was kind enough to humor me. :)

Realizing that I was really pressed for time, I hurriedly made my long long way to the Esplanade. After miles of walking and many MRT changes, I arrived inside the building. As I made my way out, the only tourists on the front of the building were Filipinos. I asked them to take a photo of me and they happily obliged. Having been told that the Merlion in Sentosa was not the "real" one (LOL) I was determined to see the "real" one near the Esplanade but as I was really really running out of time, I just walked to the edge of the walkway and had my picture taken. In my hurry, I didn't realize until it was TOO late that the picture those guys took of me was SO horrible that this is the last time I will speak of that picture's existence! Hahahahaa.

After that, I blitzed back to the hostel to pick up my things. I had to hail a cab to get to the bus station on time. Luckily, I was a few minutes early or they were a few minutes late. Either way, it bought me enought time to go to the bathroom to freshen up a bit.

The bus ride to Kuala Lumpur was an uneventful 6 hour ride with one stop. I was seated at the end of the bus. I didn't realize how loud it was until we got into KL city. Thank GOD for my Bose QC3s. If not for them, I may have had to hurt myself on that trip.

Wanderlust: Singapore In a Rush

After 3 and a half hours of sleep, I woke up and went online to figure out what to do during the day. After some research and taking a shower, my roommate in the hostel who was also traveling by herself and I decided to do Singapore together. What ensued was a major back-to-back-to-back super bugbog tour of Singapore.

We left the hostel around 10am. We walked from our hostel to the post office to send some postcards then we proceeded to Orchard Road and looked around the shops and stuff. We stopped by Wisma Atria because I got hungry. I had the Hainanese Chicken Rice at Sergeant in Food Republic. It was delicious. =)

Next up was Clark Quay where I had dessert - Hokkaiden Ice Cream - Durian and Green Tea flavors. Again, it was scrumptious. =) We walked there for a bit then we got back on the MRT to go on to Chinatown.

Chinatown was interesting - as all Chinatowns are. We walked around the People's Complex and I bought a fridge magnet for dad - like I do for every city I visit. We were on our way to Pagoda Street when we passed by this Durian Pancake stall. Of course I had to try it! Good thing Bettina was game too. She didn't diss on Durian like a lot of people do. She actually liked it. Of course, I did too!

We went down Pagoda Street and passed by all the stalls. We then went to the Sri Mariamman Temple - the oldest Hindu temple in Singapore. It began to rain but so we took out our umbrellas and walked on to the Outram MRT Station which is a good walk from the temple.

We took the MRT to Harbourfront and went all the way up to buy our tickets to cross over to Sentosa. The rain kinda threw us off coz we really wanted to do the Luge and the Sky Ride. Oh well. So, we hopped on the Sentosa Express and made our way to Singapore's Amusement Park as I like to call it. =P

First up in Sentosa was the Underwater World. I touched a sting ray and saw a dugong. =P 40 minutes later we hopped on a bus to go to the Pink Penguin Show. The sun began to come out after the penguin show so we got excited that the Luge might be up and running again. We walked all the way back to the Luge and indeed it was back in operation! The Sky Ride on the way up can get a bit scary but I occuppied myselfwith taking pictures. And it worked. The rar moments that I wasn't clicking, it did get a bit scary! =P However, it's all worth it if it means going back down on the Luge. Super exhilirating! =)

8 hours into our tour - we showed no signs of stopping. Next up was the Songs of the Sea Laser show. I got this huge snowcone for the show. The show was really cool except for the kids-aimed cartoon characters in the story.

When the laser show was ended, we hurriedly went back to the mainland. We grabbed a quick dinner in Vivo City's Food Republic. This time I had prawn noodles - way more scrumptious than the chicken rice I had for lunch.

We got on the MRT and made our way all the way up to Ang Mo Kio station. From there we took a 15-minute cab ride to the Night Safari. We thought the last tram rides had already been over but - fortunately we were mistaken! We skipped the animal show and went straight ahead with the tram ride. It's not as amazing as it's cracked out to be but it certainly is not bad. It's interesting to see the animals at night - truly a first for me. There were other animals there which I would have easily scoffed of as mythical creatures if I saw them in a book or something. LOL It was pretty cool. On our way out, we passed by this Doctor Fish spot and I really really wanted to try it. So I did! Bettina didn't coz she said she's had it the "natural" way while she was on a lake in Australia last month. Anyway, at first it feels sooooooo ticklish but you get used to it after a few minutes. Then, it just feels like there are bubbles going up your toes. =)

We took an express bus back to the city. We got back to the hostel past midnight. After taking a quick shower, I was passed out!
And there goes my 14-hour super-sulit tour of Singapore. =)

Wanderlust: Singapore aka Asia Lite p.1

I boarded the plane to Singapore around 2:40pm and we landed on Changi airport around 6pm.

First thing I noticed about Singapore is how clean it was - how unAsia like =P
Second thing was how English was as widely used as in Pinas or the US for that matter

True to my "mini-backpacking" trip, I did not have wheels with me. I had my North Face backpack and my Nike day pack plus my purse. With those in tow, I took the MRT to my hostel located around the Somerset area. Supernice hostel. I have absolutely nothing to complain about except for the very basic breakfast. But then again, you don't pick to stay in a place for their breakfast, do you?

The hostel was a good 10-minute walk from the MRT station. Gijabar dyud kog maayo pag-abot nako. =P Anyway. Right when I get settled in, I met two Pinoys - si Juan and Jet -hanging out by the computer. Bading ang mga lola mo. In fainess gwapo din sila. LOL

Anyway, so sa pagchika-chika namin, they asked me if I wanted to tag along with them for dinner at Lua Pa Sat - a hawker stall center - for dinner. Of course, I was more than willing to go. We had satay, fried rice, and noodles with black spicy sauce and sugarcane for drinks.

Next up, we went to Clark Quay to stroll and witness the nightlife. Kaloka ang mga lola nyo. Andami dawng masasarap. In fairness, tama din naman sila. Hahaha. I got distracted when I received a call from my credit card company alerting me of suspicious activity on my account. Indeed, fraudulent unauthorized charges were made and I think (and I hope I'm right) that the situation is now under control. Clark Quay is really pretty at night. The linings of the river wall are lit with changing colors and there are plenty of bars and food establishments that line both sides of the river. There was this one bar that was called CLINIC and their chairs were made of hospital beds and lightings were like the ones used in surgery. It was quite interesting.

After strolling for a good while, we took a cab back to the hostel and I took a nice long shower. This hostel's shower is the best I've been on - it's very clean, very spacious, the water pressure is strong, and it's a one-person occupancy so it's not like a big bathroom split into cubicles or anything.

I got on the internet to "plan" the day ahead and went to bed at 2:45am!

Next to come, my crazy-ass 14-hour day tour of Singapore.

Blog Lag

I've been trying to blog since I was on the plane from New York to Hong Kong. Sadly, 8 days later, I still could not post anything. There was something wrong with whatever javascript chuva I had in Pinas. (Kat said it might be because I wasn't using Internet Explorer). Oh well. Too late now that I'm in Singapore now.

Anyway, I arrived in Manila last November 7. Maybe it was the 16-hour grueling flight that got to me but I wasn't all too excited in finally being home after dreaming about it for the past 5 years. The long ass flight killed the hype.

In summary, I was in Manila from November 7 till 13. C

Nov 7 -
Chowking for dinner =)
Bought a SIM card. Text nyo ko! LOL 09153440934

Nov 8 -
Used FX and the LRT and
Went to the Pambansang Museo (National Museum)
- it was pretty decent. you should go! it's only 50 pesos for students. haha magpromote
daw ba. the artworks were very interesting.
Went to Araneta to watch Sarah Geronimo's concert

Nov 9 -
Watched ASAP Live LOL it was very interesting. it felt like a community playhouse for me.
- where they all felt so at home and seemed like they were just playing. idk.
Dinner at Gerry's Grill with Davao peeps
Dessert at the Fort - Cupcakes by Sonja, TCB - si Marts lang =P

Nov 10 -
Went to Megamall to find (and found I did) a replacement for my lost laptop charger
Grilled squid lunch from Reyes BBQ, Halo-Halo from Razon's
Rockband/Poker at Mart's

Nov 11 -
Greenhills shopping - craziness!
Jollibee's Palabok for lunch
Ube Drumstick for dessert
Checked-in at Kat's condo (many thanks Kat! and Lenlen LOL)
Pinay Crepe (Mangoes with Nutella) at Cafe Breton in Greenbelt for 2nd dessert
- (Kat drove and we're both still alive =P )

Nov 12 -
Took the MRT from Makati Ave to Shaw for dinner with HS peeps
Shopped around Shang while waiting
Max's dinner with Ian, Geboy, Josh, Ayra & Eric, Ada, and Kat
Starbucks for "dessert" LOL KitKat lang diay nga baon ba HAHA

Nov 13 -
Left Kat's around 10:30am for the airport
Checked in for flight PR501 to Singapore
Changed my 2 tickets to see Kat in Davao and to see Mavic in Manila
Left for Singapore on my Mini-Backpacking trip at 2:45pm

Quick Blog Update

Hello there!

Yes, I finally made it home. I'm here in Manila right now. Just wanted to let you know that I will be updating soon! I ran into a slight problem (lost my laptop charger). So, I'm held down in terms of updating pics and typing up blog posts. Anyway, I will post soon. Don't worry. I AM VERY ALIVE! =P

sending love your way! :)

Making Coffee on Halloween

I picked up a shift for 3 hours at Peace Street - by far my favorite store and made beautiful foamy milk all morning longggggg. It was pretty sweet!

Anyway, a bunch of people came in in their Halloween garb.
One lady got me engrossed on her huge skeleton earrings that I completely ignored her drink.
There was one lady that came in as a nun. Maybe she was a real nun. Hmmm. If so, chica sya na nun coz her habit had lacy edges, she wore spiffy white gloves, and kickass blingy booties. LOL

This one lady came in as this. We thought it was supercreative!



So what are you doing for Halloween?

Me? I'm disguised as a studious "student" studying all night long. No treats. All TRICKS! Lecheng CPA Exam! Hahahaha! On the brighter side of things, chocolates and candy will be in supersale after this sweet-tooth weekend and then I will buy kadoodles to bring home to Pinas! Then, it will all be TREATS for you guys! *wink*

Going home, FINALLY

Slight change of plans. I just rebooked my flight for Pinas. Ever since that doggone day that I got my paper to schedule my CPA exam, all hell's broken loose.

Long story short - napressure ako.

So...

October 17 - 22: New Jersey/New York - I've missed! Brey see you this weekend. Ate Teng,
birthday dinner is in order? :P Hehe.

November 4: I take the first part of the CPA exam - REGULATION - Tax & Business Law @-@

November 6: I FLY TO PINAS! yeah. I moved my trip up. I need December and January to prepare for the remaining 3 parts of the CPA. My scholarship to take this almost $1000 exam wil expire on February 28. So.

December 11: Back to the States. and probably broke. LOL. Oh well =)

SEE YOU SOON peeps! =)

Day 46 - Dutch Lovin'

July 16 – Hello Amsterdam

After spending the night as a bum, the plane was sort of a relief for me. Lol. For most of the time I was asleep. The Dutch are the best. I swear. Even in the plane, their service (KLM) was so good. I was asleep the whole time but they still left me my snack on the seats beside me. I had 3 seats to myself! :P And I must say this was the best airplane snack I’ve ever had in any airplane. Ever.

We landed around 10am. I proceeded to buy a ticket to the city center to Centraal Station for about 4 euros. It was so weird and new once I stepped out of the station. It was just so totally different. First thing I noticed, there were sooooooooo many bikes. Everywhere. It was crazy. So I tried to just wing my way to my hostel. Lol. I had previously looked it up on the maps. I started walking towards the general direction of my hostel and Jenna’s hotel when I realized this really wasn’t gonna work too well. So I bought a 3 euro map. I was walking towards Jenna’s hotel when I realized I left my papers in the tourist store. So I walked back to get it. On finding my way back again, I see Jenna cross the street I was in! Lol. How convenient. So, I yell out her name and we got a bit excited to see each other-randomly in a street in Amsterdam.

So anyway, I checked in to my hotel and took a nap in the lobby while they were preparing my bed. I took another mini-nap when I got to my bed. This was a really good hostel – nice clean beds and supercomfy fluffy down comforters.

I met up with Jenna in her hotel which is right across my hostel around 2:30pm and met her cousin Jason with whom she’s backpacking with. We walked around for a bit. Jason wanted to go into a coffee shop so we did. He bought a space brownie (why are they called space brownies/cakes? Maybe coz they send you to space? Lol anywayyy) Jenna and I had 1 pint beers which we took to the streets so we won’t kill more time. We pretty much just walked around and took pictures and enjoyed the surroundings. We went to the Anne Frank Huis which was very interesting and depressing.

After that, I had my first box of Wok to Walk which was super delicious! ( A super relief from the bland Spanish cuisine *peace*) I ate my box in my hostel, took a nap, then met back with them around 10pm. We just walked around the infamous Red Light District which was very interesting.

See this is why the Dutch are so cool. Lol. I mean we all know that the oldest profession in the world (as my high school senior English teacher used to refer to it and jovially adds – and it’s not farming!) is alive and well. The Dutch acknowledge this fact and work with this fact. Unlike so many of us who are so prudish. You know? Lol. They even have a union for these lady workers. :P It’s a 24/7 business. The women rent out windows per shift which would cost them about 100 euros and it’s fully equipped. :| Not that anyone was wondering, but their going rates are about 50 euros for the basic services. They display their scantily clad selves by the windows under red lights. Some are busy seducing guys, some are just sitting, and some on their phones (on what I jokingly said –they may be calling their friends to see how much business they’ve had that night :P)

In case you were wondering on how masochist this setup is, they did try to have manwhores go into the business. BUT it was so sensationalized by the media that no housewife had the courage to peruse the newly introduced service the guys were offering. :P So that didn’t really turn out well. :P

Anyway, that’s pretty much it for my awesome first day in Amsterdam. :P

Day 45 - Goodbye Granada

July 15 – Goodbye Granada

Class started late today. We didn’t really have much to do except get our tests back and sing a Spanish song by Juanes. Lol. Then, we took lotsa pics. Happily, I did good in the class – got a 95 in the finals and got a sobresaliente for the whole class – which I suppose would translate into excellent. :P

I went back home to have lunch with Paco. I asked him if Ma. Luz was going to prepare me paella for tonight and he asked why. I replied because I’m leaving tonight. Haha. They didn’t know. Shoot. Good thing I asked so he made sure that Ma. Luz was going to make me paella for tonight.

After finalizing my packing, I set back out to meet the girls. I stole a short nap in between packing and going back out so I was actually 15 minutes late. We had tapas at Seis Peniques and in attempt to get rid of most of their Euros, we paid our bill in all coins. :)

Shannon was the first to leave. She already had her luggage with her. It’s unbelievable how we’ve come to an end. It seems so quick. Anyway, Liz and Courts split after we were done and the rest – me, Breanna, Julie, Amanda, and Laura went for last minute shopping.

After a good while of shopping, Laura and I bought flowers for our host moms. Then, I went home to have dinner. And I did have paella! :) It was awesome! I finalized packing some more. I went out to give Ma. Luz her flowers – which she loved – and we all took a host family picture. :P

Then, it really was time to go. I set out with my two pieces of luggage and went out of building 16 on Calle Emperatriz Eugenia for the last time. Before everything else, I made a 10 minute pit stop in the heladería in front of our building to have one last tarrina of my favorite ice cream – abrete sesamo.

I lugged some more to go down to the bus station on Camino de Ronda, got on bus 10 to the bus station. Got to the bus station around 10:45pm. Breanna got there around 11:15pm. Our bus left at 12:30am on the 16^th.

Goodbye Granada.

Day 44 - Last School (Mon)day =)

July 14 – Last School Monday and Last Test (for a good while)

We took our final today for Adolfo’s 10 day class. I think it was ok. :P I was ready to get it over with with subjunctive and pluscuamperfecto compuesto chuva choo choo.

The afternoon was a blur. In honesty, I don’t recall what I did that afternoon. :/

Now that I think about it, that test I took was the last one – well for a good long while. I’m done!

Day 43 - Gaudi

July 13 – Park Guell

They were gonna go to the beach but I def. didn’t wanna go. I felt like I didn’t really get a chance to know Barcelona so I said I’d rather walk around the city. I was going to walk with them to the beach so I know where to find them but we saw these cool mosaic-tiled statues. We stopped by one of the tourist stores in the Ramblas to look up the place and we all decided we’d rather go to the park. Breanna had the grand idea of going inside a hotel and ask for directions. Fortunately, they were really helpful and didn’t seem to care if we stayed in that hotel or not. LOL. So we made our way up the hill and hiked up to the top. It was a beautiful park and definitely worth skipping the beach fo sho.

After that, we had to go back down to the city to catch the 3:30pm bus back to Girona. We got back to Granada around 7pm.

Day 42 - A Conocer Barcelona

July 12 – Hello Barcelona

I wake up to some commotion. It turns out that the vomiting girl didn’t even belong to our hostel. The real girl arrived and said someone was in her bed. So they tried to wake her up quietly but that didn’t really work out. The vomiting girl went out with people who were staying in our room and apparently was too drunk off her mind to have gone back to her own hostel. Anyway, it was sooooo gross. The bunks were really close. So, the backpack of the girl who was under the vomiting girl was full of just maggot-looking soup of vomit. (To paint a picture for you :) )

When we went outside, we were really close to the Las Ramblas – the main walkway with all the shops, artists, etc. First thing we did was go to Picasso’s Museum. This one is bigger than the one in Malaga. I love Picasso’s work. I still can’t comprehend how something can be so broken and incongruous and be beautiful and sane at the same time. My favorite sala was their temporary exhibition – which had various artists’ study of Velasquez’s Las Meninas.

I loved it. After that, we just walked around the Las Ramblas. I saw another Starbucks. So after we walked around for a while and took in all the usual plaza craziness (painters, statue people, magic people, etc.), we stopped by Starbucks so I could buy another mug. We’re collecting city mugs and I must say buying $18 mugs is getting a bit expensive. LOL.

Anyway, we dropped off our stuff at our hostel to get ready for our Fat Bike Tour. The meeting point was really close to our hostel which was good. I had not been on a bike in so long. I seriously cannot remember the last time – wait – I do. Haha. I bought this bike last summer but returned it coz I didn’t really want a mountain bike. (I found out I’d prefer one of those cruiser bikes) Anyway, the bike tour was awesome. It was so much fun. I think I spaced out too much when the tour guide was talking because I was just so psyched about being on a bike, driving something, going more than 2 miles per hour, and not walking! LOL We hit the Cathedral (under construction), the steps where the Catholic Kings received Christopher Colombus, square where the Romans executed all these people from way back when, the Gaudi Park, Arc de Triomph and promenade, the Gaudi park, the Sagrada Familia, and the beach. It wasn’t a good day for the beach. It got very windy and a bit chilly. We made a drink stop there. Some had beer and sangria. When it started to rain, we pedaled back to the bike tour’s shop where we kept our stuff and to pay for the tour. :)

For dinner, we went back out in the rain. It was miserable. We were walking forever under the rain and they could not decide where to eat. We finally found this one sorta Italian restaurant who had an offer of 3 courses for 6.95. Shannen finally got her paella. Breanna, Juile, and I got spaghetti, chicken with fries, and flan. I was going to order sangria but Shannen already had sangria with her paella package so we made a deal coz she only wanted water. When the bill came, our jaws dropped. Julie’s and Breanna’s drinks were 5.10 each. Ridicuhlous. Good thing I only ended up getting water. 10 oz. for 2.10 euros. LOL.

We went back to the hostel and had this 2 hour conversation with a girl from New Zealand and 2 British girls. After that got into the wee hours of the morning, we decided to call it a night. :P

Day 41 - Wanderpul Adventure

July 11 – Adventureful Travel to Barcelona

I started to pack today. :) I knew I didn’t have time because we had to rendezvous for our Barcelona trip (with Breanna, Julie, and Shannen) at 4:30 but I started packing anyway. After a shower and dropping by the internet café to try to check-in, we met at Gran Via to catch the airport bus.

We got to the airport and found out that the airport we’re flying into in Barcelona is Girona – a nearby city – an hour bus ride from Barcelona. Then we found out that only EU citizens can check-in online and that we had to pay for our boarding pass. 5 euros apiece. Ridicuhlous. When we got to Barcelona, we found out that the 3 euro bus ride the lady was talking about in Granada, turned out to be a 21 euro round trip ride. As if our luck couldn’t get any worse, when we were in the Metro, we bought tickets from the Renfe not the Metro itself. So, we jumped over the ticket thing. Hahaha. It helped that it was around 1am at this time. We didn’t really have for real directions to the hostel because I was in a hurry this afternoon coz I started packing when I shouldn’t have. I thought just the address would be enough. So, when we get off the Metro, we start walking towards “our street.” Nope. There was nothing there. Everything was closed down. Good thing we bumped into some policemen. It turned out we were in city limits. Like the other side of the street was another city. LOL. So, the police radioed control office and sorted us out. We still ended up shelling out more money because we then took the taxi. Furthermore, the taxista didn’t really know the street of the hostel. Not that he was a bad taxi driver, it’s just that the street is one of those really narrow ones. Imagine when Aladdin escaped from stealing that apple? Well, the streets were like those except that this was at midnight and instead of fruit vendors, there were prostitutes and drunk people. We finally found our hotel after a super long ass trip. As if it couldn’t get any worse right. I wake up in the middle of the night to a very strange sound. Like someone is throwing up. I was in the lower bunk. So I look left and I vaguely remember the girl on the top bunk to our left just puking her brains out. I was too sleepy and tired to care. It was like raining vomit. LOL. So I just turn around the other way and keep on sleeping. Hahaha.

It occurred to me that many of you might not know what a hostel really is. It’s cheap accommodation mainly used by backpackers, student travelers, people who are tight on budget, people who don’t mind not-so nice place so long as it’s a place to stay. Usually you share a room with people you don’t know but usually people who stay there are young and chill and mind their own business. It’s actually a cool place to meet people. Depends on the hostel but possible features could be internet access, lockers, AC, and kitchen. My opinion: I think it’s genius. :P I don’t mind the other people. Sometimes I do mind the cleanliness and the showers. Sometimes I don’t take showers and wait till I get back to a nice shower. LOL. But it does the job. :P

Day 40 - La Ultima Cena

July 10 – Bye-Bye Dinner

Since some of the girls haven’t seen the Puesto del Sol from the Mirador and we were having our dinner at the Albaicin, we all went early to the Mirador to watch the sunset. The view of the Alhambra was amazing as always. Jose and Veronica came up to meet us there and we all went to this nice restaurant called Casa Torcauto. We sat in a patio. It was the best dinner I’ve ever had since coming here. It may be one of the best dinners I’ve ever had in my entire life. For starters, we ordered drinks. From then on, there was a steady flow of jars of water, Sangria, and Tinto de Verano. Then, Veronica ordered 3 plates of salad for appetizers. Here, they don’t have dressing for salad like we do in the States. There’s no such thing as Ranch, Thousand Island, or Blue Cheese. There’s only olive oil and vinaigrette I think. Here, they use olive oil for everything – for toast, frying, boiling stuff, salad dressing, everything. Anyway, we ordered our main course. I ordered calamares a la plancha. In English, grilled squid. When my plate came, I was in awe. They were so pretty. All six of them. The sauce was a light garlic-flavored olive oil. The salad was amazing. It had a tropical flavor. There were lots of purples and greens and I saw some pineapple slices in it. I rarely rave about food and I’m not a big salad eater. So for me to say that the salad was amazing, that’s a big thing. I tried to eat as much as I could but all six of them were just too much for me. I quit after 4 and a half. The whole time I was enjoying my food, all the other girls were wondering what I was eating and were eeeww-ing and making faces. I don’t really care. For me, it’s their loss. LOL. I finally made them try it and they said it wasn’t as bad as they thought it would be. They just said they would never go to a restaurant and order a plate of grilled squid.LOL. I understood. Touché.

Next in line: dessert. :P Most of us ordered cheesecake. Their cheesecake is different but was good. As with almost everything I’ve had here, it seemed less processed. It was more cheesy and less sugary. Then, the champagne came. We made a toast; to our amazing Spanish experience and Juanes. LOL. As if we hadn’t had enough, we were given glasses of bailey’s on the rocks. It was amazing. I loooove Bailey’s. It was like drinking milk, only better. I finished Breanna’s and Amanda’s because they didn’t really want theirs and gave it to me instead.

It was a fabulous dinner – all 3 hours of it. :)

After that, we went to El Camborio. Although every inch of my body and every cell in my brain didn’t want to, I went anyway because I didn’t wanna be the lame-o to split and go back home. I had a paper due the next day and I knew it wouldn’t be fun. Boy was I right. We were there till about 3am and it was boooring. Half the time, I was falling asleep. The other half, I was freaking out about my paper. When I got home, I wrote a few paragraphs from the notes I wrote on a deposit slip while we were in Camborio. LOL. I was soooo sleepy by 4am so I slept. I intended to woke up at 6:30 to finish it but we all know how that went. :P I only had 15 minutes of spare time to work on it and I suppose I used it well. By the time I got to class, I had no choice but to turn in what I have. I did have a couple of sweet lines in there though.

Day 39 - Juanes!!!!

July 9 – Juanes

We went to Juanes’ concert at the Plaza de Toros today.

For those of you who don’t know him, he’s a popular singer from Colombia.

We were about 3 rows away from the stage. He was simply amazing. There are singers who are amazing but don’t sound really well in concerts. Well, Juanes is not one of them. The sound system was great as well. He performed amazingly. Grabe! He was so guapo and so charming. I loved his spiels and I loved how I understood every bit of it. He’s such a good person and you can tell it from his songs. His songs have meaning. It’s heartwarming. I got a clear view of him the whole 2 hours he was singing. And guess what, when he threw a Colombian flag into the crowd, I had this gut feeling that it was going to our general direction. Well guess what. I didn’t catch it. LOL. I made a reach for it and it had already been caught by the 6’1” Shannon standing beside me. It was so not fair!!! Anyway, it was all fun nonetheless.

As we were walking back home, Liz, who’s a fanatic asked Veronica, our director where could Juanes be possibly staying in Granada. Veronica replied he could be staying in Gran Via ( the street we were walking on). She then pointed to this sweeeeet 5 star hotel and said he could be staying over there. Then she added, in fact I seriously think he may be staying there because of that van. Then, Liz shouted, “That’s him!!! It’s Juanes!!!” Then all 10 of us rush across the biggest road in Granada without any hesitation whatsoever. Good thing we didn’t get hit by a car. It was Juanes!!! We saw him in front of the hotel and took this awesome picture. I touched his arm! LOL. It was all too dreamy. We were all in awe and shock after that.

Anyway, it was a super sweet night and we couldn’t have asked for more.

Day 38 - Baños Arabes

July 8 – Baños Arabes

Today, we went to the Arab baths. This may be my favorite out of all the things that I’ve done here in Granada. For a reasonable fee of 24 euros ( 20 for students), you get to enjoy very relaxing and tranquil baths for an hour and a half and you get a 15 minute leg and back massage. It was amazing.