Barcelona

Pictures: 1) me on the beach, 2) teaching Lieselotte to salsa, 3) blacklight on salsa dress, 4) with the magic fountains, 5) again

Our first three nights in Barcelona we stayed with a guy named Tamer, originally from Egypt but went to high school in the UK and college in the US. He lives right by the nice beach of Casteldefels and his balcony overlooks the water. We arrived on Saturday night and after catching up on the balcony, we walked down the main street there and went to a tapas place for dinner. I was amazed because it was about 11:30 at night and there were stands open selling dress, purses, jewelry, hats, etc. When we left the restaurant it was 1 am, and the streets were still bustling!

We stayed in a great little room with two twin beds and the ocean breeze made it plenty cool enough. The next day we got up and went to the beach for a couple of hours. It was SO crowded since it was Sunday, but the nice thing was that it was all Spanish people since Casteldefels is abo 30 min away from the main center of Barcelona and thus there are fewer tourists. The water was nice once you got in, and there is a fantastic sandbar about 30 feet out. After the beach we went to the very nice pool in Tamer’s apartment complex and then got ready (slowly) go to get some dinner. We ate at a place right on the beach and I had pizza and Tamer ordered patatas bravas for us to share (which are like French fries but better).

After that we went by the outdoor market again and I bought a beautiful white dress for 19 euros. From there we caught a bus to downtown Barcelona to see the magic fountains. This is a HUGE fountain that lights up all different colors and has different formations of water that accompany songs. It is SO cool! We watched the fountains for about 2 hours, two hours and then took the metro to La Rambla St which is the main pedestrian street of Barcelona. As we walked along, Tamer told us “see those two black girls? They’re prostitutes.” Lieselotte and I said, “How would you possibly know that? They look totally normal.” They were just wearing jeans and flip flops and normal shirts. He said, “You will see pairs of black girls all down this street and they are all prostitutes. Pay attention and you’ll see them soliciting guys.” Sure enough, as we walked behind two of them, we saw them make comments to a table of guys. Later we saw a deal going down between three guys and three prostitutes. We were so shocked! On La Rambla we went to this bar that was soo cool! Part of it looked like an old-time saloon with wax figures lounging in some of the chairs and on a bar, the next part looked like some sort of Arabian room from Aladdin, and the last part looked like the Rainforest Café from Animal Kingdom at Disney. We went to this part (which it’s trees and waterfalls) and they each got a glass of wine while I had grape juice. We left there and walked to another bar that Tamer said was really cool. On our way there we saw this British guy with dreadlocks who seemed like he was high surrounded by 5 prostitutes. He turns to us and says, “I’m trying to get the hookers to relax, but they’re not relaxing!!“ It was so funny. Unfortunately the second bar was closed, so Tamer got us a taxi to take us back. Lieselotte and I were like “um, that’s going to be really expensive,” but he said not to worry about it since it would save us so much time he’d just cover the price (which was 35 euros). Even as it was, we didn’t get back until almost 2 am, and then we went to the beach and sat there talking for a while. I ended up not going to bed until 4 am, and Lies didn’t got to bed until 6:30 since she and Tamar watched half a movie and then she talked to her boyfriend on the phone.

Lies and I slept until 1:30 pm on Monday, but went to the beach as soon as we awoke. Tamer was still asleep. We were at the beach until 4:30, and then we came back, wondering if Tamer was alive. He had only gotten up about an hour earlier, but he had to do some stuff online and he’d started watching the Barcelona football game. After we took showers, Lies and Tamer went to a nearby pub to watch the American game and I sent out CS requests for our next stop (Valencia). They came back a little later saying the game wouldn’t start for another half hour, so we hung out until after it had started and then went back to the pub together. I had a tuna baguette for dinner and it was so good! I then went to the market to get some milk and fruit, meeting them back at the pub after I dropped off the groceries. I was wearing my new white dress and Lieselotte kept saying how good it would be for dancing, so Tamer showed us a nearby salsa club.

There was no one on the dance floor, but I started dancing alone and teaching Lieselotte some moves. Eventually a guy asked me to dance and he was very good. I danced with him three times, and then another guy asked me and he was good to, but had a different style. There was blacklighting in the club, so my white dress glowed beautifully and when I spun the flowy skirt really was cool. Lieselotte had never watched me dance before and she kept saying “you’re so beautiful, I love to watch you dance, it’s amazing!” It was very sweet. We left there about 12:45 and walked back to the apartment where I used the computer while Lies and Tamer finished watching their movie. Then they wanted to go to the beach again, but I was already ready for bed, so I stayed behind and went to bed around 3 am. Lies didn’t get to bed until around 5 am, so she is very tired today and is taking a nap right now.

We got up this morning at 11:30, cleaned up and took the trash out for Tamer, and then we all left at the same time (he was going to fly to Egypt to visit his mother, and we were taking the bus to our downtown hostel). We will be staying at this hostel (right on La Rambla St.) for 4 nights, leaving on Saturday for Valencia. We bought a ton of groceries for only 29 euros and now have enough food for the next four days at least.

More to come!