España

Well, looks like I'm in a little jam here, because hostels across Spain are booked for some holiday this weekend. Didn´t anticipate that! So I guess I might be going either to France or Morroco for a few days, not sure?

This morning a friend from the hostel and I took off for Códova. We caught the bus to train station, but for some unknown reason it took 45 minutes to get there, instead of 15 like it was supposed to.

Well, this is my second day in Granada, yesterday was completely lost due to an unwanted hangover. Anyway, to give a brief synopsis . . . I arrived Saturday in the late afternoon to the hostel Terrapin Station, which is located above the city on a very steep hill. The hostal is pretty homey and the owner is a real trip, not all there; a few too many drugs. The first night I took a little walk around hostel and got an awesome view from Plaza San Nicolas. You can see the hills and the Alhambra, it really beautiful. Later that night I went to the store to buy some food to cook. There were 3 Chileños staying at the hostel too, so we cooked a meal and shared it. After dinner we ended up celebrating one of there birthdays by playing a Chilean drinking game very similar to "Bullshit", the only problem was that we played with Pampero (a Chilean rum), and I never drink hard alcohol. BIG MISTAKE! So afterwards, that is, when the bottle was gone, we went out to a few bars, and some somehow we all made it back in one piece. That is why yesterday was officially a sleeping/recovery day for me.

Earlier today I went to the Cathedral which was totally incredible. I've seen so many churches, especially in México, and I never thought I would be impressed again. I all ways thought, "you've seen one church you've seen them all", but no . . . I have seen a couple on this trip that have really wowed me. Just from walking through these places and seeing the details and the more intricate design elements, you can seeexactly where all the money was going during the Spanish era of conquering.

Even though I had an umbrella, I still got soaked walking around in the rain. My pants from the knees down were drenched with Spanish rain. I decided I needed a hot drink, hot chocolate was what I had in mind. So I ducked into a café to stay dry. This particular café specialized in chocolate, that is xocolate. So like I said, I felt hot chocolate was called for given the weather conditions, plus I think I read somewhere in some ancient TCM book that hot chocolate was good for driving out wind - cold. (JA! JA! JA!)

The simple pleasure becomes complicated. As I was anxiously awaiting my hot and theoretically satisfying drink, I noticed the barrista pouring my cup, and something did not look right, or at least how I imagined it. She put the cup under this big metalic tank - soft serve looking machine, and pulled a lever. What came out into the cup did not look like hot chocolate, but instead was very dark, sludge like, and had the texture of . . . well, let's just say something else. When she brought the cup over and set it front of me, the contents hardly moved. It was like a a cup of really hot pudding. No milk was added, just a pure blend of melted chocolate. Man was it thick going down - oh . . . and chocolately! I mean, I love dark chocolate as some of you know, but this was crazy chocolatey. I had to water chaser just to get it down my throat. I was trying to drink it as fast as I could, because I was afraid it was going to congeal into a semi-solid xocolate pudding mass right there in my cup. In sum, it was all right, but I will never order it again.
You just can't replace good old fashion hot chocolate, not even with a pure - bred experience like that. Sorry - no foto!

My first view of Barcelona as I stepped off the plane was lots of rain! I was sure glad I remembered to bring my umbrella. This foto was in one of the main plazas, and as you can see, they were all enjoying a free shower.