Day 126: Athens, Greece

It’s more than a perfect day. The sky is clear blue, the sun is shining pleasantly, the air is warm with a slight breeze and we are clamoring all over the ancient ruins scattered with overgrown grass and wild brilliantly red poppies streaking the landscape in fiery bursts. Even the air smells like summer. It feels like late May in Indiana today, characteristic for Greece but a nice reminder of the changing seasons we’re missing at home.

Poppies and the ruins

Day 125: Athens, Greece

Few times since we left on our RTW adventure has Saben’s perpetual tardiness (I bet he heard that a lot in grade school) presented a problem. This morning we were late for our flight. Then we got to the airport and went to the wrong gate. A 15 minute shuttle bus ride later, we were finally in the right terminal but couldn’t find the gate. No one at the ”Information” (ha! now that’s a joke!) desk would help but finally 4 electronic screens and 2 useless staff members later, we spotted the specific gate (turns out ”HJK” is a building, NOT a gate! Thanks ticket printing people!). Read the rest of this entry »

We had a lovely vacation in Spain! While the prices will surely force us into indentured servitude down the road it was a very nice way to chill out between two cultural extremes. We enjoyed the beautiful parks, had a great time exploring the castle in Segovia, feasted on all you can eat octopus and calamari until we were ready to burst, but most of all we were blown away buy a stunning Flamenco performance. Read the rest of this entry »

Day 124: Madrid, Spain

Laying about on an obnoxious Hawaiian print sarong in the park, we were so thoroughly engrossed in our novels that we failed to notice when a young woman came running over to us. Startled, we looked questioningly at her as she hurriedly told us someone had just stolen Saben’s bag. Read the rest of this entry »

Day 123: Segovia, Spain

Snow capped mountains, ancient city walls, and tiny cobbled streets make for a lovely backdrop while you stroll around the old town fo Segovia. Situated just half an hour by (fast) train outside of Madrid, Segovia offers quiet respite from the hustle and bustle of Madrid, a vibrating city going 24/7. Remanents of Roman, Moorish and Celtic rule as visible in the buildings, decor, and leftover structures like the aquaduct.

Church spires

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Day 122: Madrid, Spain

In a dodgy little bar in the Indian district of Madrid, 30 very eager patrons awaited the opening of the flamenco show. At half past 10, we all filtered into a tiny backroom lit with suggestive red sidelighting and too many people and not enough chairs. Standing in the back peering over 10 rows of seated heads, we had the best view as the dancers came onto the stage. A singer, guitar player and drummer almost shyly followed the three women, each one beautiful in her own right, as all took their places. The guitar player set her face at the first feeling of her fingers on the strings showing an obviously strong emotional connection with her music. The singer joined soon joined his rough voice with the fluid notes of the guitar, displaying an amazing range for what at first sounded like a limited voice.

Soft lights in the bar

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Day 121: Madrid, Spain

OK, today was more the tourist track than yesterday. We actually went to not one, but two museums! This morning we checked out the Archaeology Musuem which was surprisingly small but still interesting. The best part was the free admission! We planned to get back to the hostel for the ”Tapas Tour’ but no one else showed up so it was cancelled. Unfortunately, everything here is so blasted expensive we end up eating either nutella sandwiches (can’t seem to find peanut butter in this city) or Turkish food. Admittedly, the Turkish fare is far more delicious and filling that a couple pieces of bread of a thick layer of chocolatey-hazel nutty goodness… And it doesn’t precede a wicked sugar-induced stomach ache either.

Interesting carving from the museum

Entrance to the museum

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Day 120: Madrid, Spain

It’s taking a while but we’re getting used to everyone lisping. When I talk to a Spaniard I can’t help but think, you know if you spoke that way in the States, we would send you to a special school to fix that. I know it’s part of their culture and it’s the proper way of speaking Spanish but coming from 4 months of standard Spanish, it’s tough to make the initial adjustment. In fact, we’ve met quite a few people in Madrid and so far, not a single person has been able to understand us, nor we them. And our Spanish has gotten quite good since we first started, way back when in Honduras!!

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Day 119: Madrid, Spain

So, we’ve found ourselves back in western Europe once again; and it’s certainly evident. Clean streets that don’t consistently smell like piss, aloof self-important citizens, and utterly useless businesses that call themselves ”pharmacies” but really only sell nail polish and cellulite creams–yes, all the things that make up true ”western” countries. But really, that just isn’t very helpful when a person has a splitting headache or a mysterious skin rash on his or her leg which may or may not be from that ratty looking, odd smelling blanket in a Bolivian hostel. Sure, it is definitely nice to be able to walk any street around any part of the city and it looks just as clean as the tourist areas. Sure it’s nice to have properly refrigerated yogurt and cheese that’s expiration date hasn’t already been met and far surpassed with the new year. But really, it’s disheartening to walk to the streets where 9 1/2 out of 10 people have absolutely no sidewalk etiquette and the metro escalator is some kind of secret death race. Read the rest of this entry »

Day 118: No man’s land

Well, apparently you just can’t have anything useful in your baggage when you fly these days. In fact, if I can’t leave home without my spare meat cleaver or my cross bow, why, I shouldn’t go anywhere! You should see the pictogram list of restricted items while you wait in the first of 3 security checks at the Bogota airport. As soon as you disembark from your connecting flight (where they check your passport before letting you go down the stairs onto the tarmac), you must queue up for another security checkpoint just to get into the airport when you are scanned and patted down. Read the rest of this entry »