Spain! Beaches, Castles, and An Old Friend.

June 22^nd-25^th

Pyramid on the beach.

Leah and I the castle.

     Annnnnnnnd we’re back. So that sleeper train? Yeah. Slept like a baby. It was great. When I made it to Port Bou, Spain, I knew it was going to be great. The ocean was reflecting the sunrise and it was gorgeous. I was staring out the window like a dog stares at anything that moves. Unfortunately, the super long Port Bou-Barcelona train was much longer than expected and I met Michal, my host, about an hour or two after I told him I’d be there. Oops. It was okay though! He was very nice and let me take a shower before taking me to the beach! Yay beach! It was great. Everything you expect it to be. Sun, Sand, Waves, and even beach volleyball. Surprisingly, I wasn’t half bad at that part. Loni must’ve rubbed off on me. Somehow, in conversation, they found out I was a cheerleader before and they enlisted in my help to build a pyramid. Pretty cool, huh?

Leah and I at the festival.

     We met for tapas a few hours later and then proceeded to a rooftop party in the city. Though it was fabulous and the people were great, I was exhausted from my travels and went back to go to sleep. I had an early train the next morning to Alicante, so I was careful not to wake up Michal. On my way to the station, a weird old lady caused me to miss my stop by yelling at me in Spanish when I tried to get off. I had no idea what she was trying to tell me, so I rode the metro until she let me leave and then back tracked to my station. Luckily, this did not make me late and I continued on my merry way to Alicante, Spain where I met Leah!! I found her in the station before she found me and it was great to see a familiar face.

I want a cactus.

     She took me to her host family’s house, pointing out awesome paper sculptures on the way, and when we arrived,  I promptly took my siesta nap like any good, respectable Spanish person would. An hour later, Leah and I bought some ridiculously good ice cream and then began our long trek up a mountain/hill thing to the castle at the top. We chattered and sweated nonstop the entire way and then, when we finally reached the top, we took about a thousand pictures of the views and each other. In this blissful fog of happy, we watched the sun set from atop the roof and probably took a thousand more pictures before eventually clambering back down into the city of Alicante, to our respective showers and beds.

Castle at sunset.

     Every day is beach day in Spain, so who were Leah and I to deny ourselves of that? On the next afternoon, we went to the beach and did beachy things after watching a massive fireworks display in the middle of the day. Leah said it was in the day because during festival (which it was), no one was supposed to sleep, not even for siesta. Back to the beach though, the waves were mean. They knocked me over and pulled off my top. Bad waves. Down boys. Down! They didn’t get down, so Leah and I went to go get a pina colada with her host sister, Kristina. That was funny because she didn’t speak any English which left Leah and I to speak to her in Spanish. She learned about the legend that is Rusty and Kacy through stories such as the water in the purse, fart in the box, and hairbrush on fire stories. Ahhh. The classics. AND I told it entirely in Spanish. With help from Leah. And a lot of sign language.

Spanish girls in cool dresses.

     With the past two days behind us, it was time for me to pack for tomorrow’s journey. Leah’s host mom saw that I had no clean clothes and very generously and sweetly washed and folded all of my laundry. It was so nice of her! She then took us all to the festival to watch more fireworks, this time from the castle, and to watch the sculptures burn. It was sad to see the beautiful pieces burn to the ground, but I know there will be more next year and the next and every year as there has been before, so I guess I shouldn’t be too sad. Before long, it was over and we were back at the house one more time. 

Me gusta la playa.

     I wrote a Google translate postcard for Leah’s host family and gave Leah a few things to take back to Oklahoma with her on her impending flight. Then I finally drifted off to sleep. Before I knew it, I was waking up and Leah was saying good bye to me at the train station. It had all happened so fast. My time in Alicante with Leah was wonderful but way too short. I wanted to stay, but the train was already taking me back to Barcelona and a whole new set of problems.

Seriously. Bad problems. Like worst week ever problems. Tune in for my next post.

Russell