After my Calangute goodbyes, I was dropped off in Palolem. I had been here in April and it was absolute madness and now it’s significantly less crowded and the majority of tourists here are foreigners from various places. I’m staying at the Seagull which is a step up from the place in Calangute, mostly because it’s on the second floor and isn’t as hot and moist as the floor level one in Calangute. There’s also a closer restaurant and internet cafe here but no wifi to be found. Electricity is a luxury as there are frequent blackouts (the longest lasting 7 hours so far, no wonder my rechargeable batteries can never get a decent charge!) and one day, I hope to learn what a hot shower feels like again, also would be nice to feel cleaner after the shower instead of before as the water leaves a sticky film on the skin initially. Thankfully, because it’s slightly cooler here, I don’t start melting within 2 minutes like in Calangute, it just means I have to keep my trusty headlamp within reach when it gets dark outside.

The first couple days I spent wandering about the town and the beach and saying hello to the much less terrified foreigners and finding kindred spirits among them. I’m now on the last of Papi’s books and desperately trying to finish Empire of the Soul before I have to leave it behind along with the rest of India on Monday. It’s an excellent book and really puts things into perspective, I think it’s best read after experiencing the country first. I’ve also been putting together a bit of a yoga practice for the next couple weeks so I can ship the heaviness home on Friday along with various items including my rotting Merrel’s that I haven’t used since Hadrian’s Wall. Coconut oil has been upgraded to the duct tape of oils, not only does it keep the dreads at bay, it’s good on the skin and even helps hold off the mold on my leather shoes. The rain and wind are really starting to pick up, with only a few hours of rainlessness a day and my nights are spent listening to furniture being tossed around the balcony, pouring rain, and the sound of dogs running around between the roof and the ceiling trying to stay dry. The best purchase of late is an umbrella because my rain jacket is completely useless, I’m more wet on the inside as it also helps to hold in all the water that gets through. (Serious about the blackouts, 3 since I started writing, thankfully there’s a backup system in the cafe).

Now onto my companions. My neighbours are Alex and Melissa, two social workers from London (though Melissa is originally from Texas) on a yearlong sabbatical. They first wanted to work with kidlings then decided to take a break from kids and work with the animals. This is where the dog whisperer part comes in. My first day I thought it was the beer on my skirt that made the dogs walk so close behind me that their paws would be stepping on the back of my flip flops. It wasn’t the beer, it was the Tiger Biscuits that the girls have been feeding every dog in Palolem with that have created a sense of complete adoration in the dogs towards white skinned women. Our trifecta has been spending quite a lot of time at Cheeky Chapati’s, enjoying great food and connect-4. The place is run by a lovely Brit family and they’ve ensured our entertainment by playing the likes of Bright Eyes and Modest Mouse and supplying bored games to keep us occupied during the rains (I spelt board that way on purpose). Our cohort of dog and calf followers always try to keep us company but alas, the dogs are easier to hide under the table than the cow babies. We also have enjoyed the company of a fellow burner, Parker who we seem to run into regularly who has informed me he just survived the same belly anger that had Melissa and Alex laying low the first couple days I was here.

We decided to go on an adventure yesterday to change it up a bit. Our goal was to see Inception in Margao. The day started with promise, the world was dry and our bellies full of goodness. Got on the bus with the tunes reminiscent of my dad’s Putumayo Presents collection and we started rolling along on the two hour journey to the city with the attendant whistling loudly to reverse and hollering like an auctioneer at the bazillion stops along the way. By the time we arrived, it was pouring heavily and we slowly made our way to the theatre only to find the only english movie was some stupid disney thing and the hindi movie looked fantastic but needed to be understood unlike the typical rom-com bollywood flicks. We decided no-go and continued to get drenched as we looked for a place to stop for chai. We stopped at a restaurant with plastic chairs and were inexplicably sent upstairs to the cushy fabric covered portion of the building where we guiltily sat our dripping selves down for tea. After drying off a tad, we braved it back on the streets checking out the market and doing some shopping, including the prize of the aforementioned umbrellas. On the way back, we had to line up at the bus stop with another gazillion umbrella toting people trying not to get stabbed in the eyes. After being told incorrectly which one to get on, we squeezed on before it rolled off, this time it was standing room only with a terrible bus driver that made us glad it wasn’t taking us the whole way as we were ready to hurl at any moment with motion sickness. Fortunately, I had a sweet local lady sitting near me that helped us figure out which junction to get off at and what was going on with the crazy dude that looked like a conductor that was waving me over with a toothless grin. ‘Oh he’s just mad’, as in mad hatter mad so I stayed put and she ensured I got her seat when she left. We ended our day with veg burgers at Cheeky Chappati’s and blisters and wet clothes but happy with our adventure and hopes of electricity for most of the night.

Now it’s my last day in Palolem, I’m catching up on my blogging duties and off to pick up a few things like a refill for the mosquito plug-in and some gifts to ship home before my last dinner at Cheeky Chappati’s with the girls tonight. At the crack of 8:00, I’m off to Margao in the morning where I’ll be heading to a farm for a couple days.

Just when I thought I might start getting bored with Calangute, I was walking to get water and next thing I know, I’m about to get run over by a car that’s headed straight for me and speeding up as it gets closer, at the last second, the car stops and the driver is pissing himself laughing at my expression of terror. Papi’s in town. We went to check out Arambol beach where a contingent of dogs and puppies followed us everywhere and I ended up almost losing a sandal when I stepped in the wrong spot and my whole foot sunk into the mud. From there, we checked out Mapca market where we got some fruit and I stocked up on band-aids from the chemist. Wet + Sand + Loads of walking = blisters upon blisters from my sandals. Once back in Calangute, I got a call from the embassy saying my VISA for India had expired, when I had gotten my SIM card, they had scanned all my pertinent info so I was a little freaked out until Papi starts laughing and I find out it’s Wayne pulling a prank on me. Anyways, we all went to l’orange to watch their friend’s band play and meet up with a bunch of other friends and there were flaming tequila shots and Papi tried to convince me I was eating turtle eggs but they were really stuffed mushrooms and they were delicious so I wouldn’t have cared even if they had been turtle eggs.

After the chaos of visitors, I had more days to chill and get into the futball games and find I’m really starting to feel at home in Calangute with many familiar faces to chat with daily and having laughs while the tourist papparazi lines up to take photos with me. Sometimes it’s innocent, like the fellow asking ‘why not?’ the same way a 5 year old would when I said no to a smooch, sometimes it’s a little creepy when your neighbours are knocking on your door at 11:00 at night (I should add it’s pitch black here by 7:30) asking to ‘make friendship’ because they’re bored. I find it easier to respond by referring to a partner nearby that’s coming soon than trying to explain why my husband is on the other side of the planet and that I’m alone here.

I had a day trip to Panjim which was really cool, this is Papi and Tina’s town so I had a map with places to go and tour around. It was a lovely day, little rain, I would just walk, find a bench, stop and read, repeat. There was a beautiful garden I hung out at for a while and then I went to Kala Academy for some chai. It was so serene there, open concept with a lush lawn, a nice walk by the river and string music playing in the building. I enjoyed reminiscing the calm feeling from the Ashram in Bombay. I also walked around the town, checking out the older Portuguese homes and managing my way around piles of uniformed children on lunch break. Two little girls said hello and high-five’d each other when I responded, so sweet.

For my last day in Calangute, I made sure I went to all my haunts, visited and said goodbye to the familiar faces and ate all my favorite meals, including a late night dose of egg sandwich. The last week or so there have been many more foreigners in contrast to the complete lack of them my first week, most have been fairly closed people, wandering around with looks of fear and pretending not to see you. I decided to be adventurous and hang out with some of the foreigners who were hanging at a pub nearby and actually interacting with the people around them and had invited me to join them several times as I went about my day. Turns out it was a 21st birthday party for one of the crew of a French Navy boat. I was very glad the seats were plastic when the celebrations turned into beer showers for everyone. At about 8:30 and drenched in beer, I wished them well and made the short journey home to dry out my clothes so that I could pack them the next day. It was definitely an entertaining way to end my time there!

Anyways, SPAIN ROCKS! Ciao for now! Tomorrow, the Palolem edition.

Arrival:
Arrived in Mumbai at midnight, the end of an 8 hour flight, with a 7 hour layover of boringness as everything was shut. I got out for air and got in trouble from the armed security guards when I came back in so I found a corner to sit and wait until the security check would open at 4:00am with future attempts of escape thwarted. Once through, I found a place to read while the area started to fill up in anticipation of the early morning flights. At about 6:00am, the boards lit up and there were 10 flights scheduled to go within half an hour. With the rains and backup, my flight didn’t end up taking off until after it was expected in Goa. By the time I arrived I was so tired I could barely see, didn’t help that my ride shaved his head and grew a beard but I still manage to recognize him and we were off to Calangute. Once there, I was settled in to La Bamba, a guesthouse near the beach and Papi took me around to reaquaint myself with the town before he had to drive back to Vasco. After an evening of chatting with Vernon, the guesthouse owner, I crashed out until the next afternoon.

Daily Life:
A typical day for me involves sleeping until noon, going to eat at Infantaria, going to the Internet cafe, fending off taxi drivers, getting bitten by mosquitos, reading, watching tele until the power goes out, reading some more (I’m on my sixth book since I arrived 2 weeks ago), doing some lazy yoga, procrastinating on my blog, listening to tunes and catching up with people back home. A couple of nights I stayed out past dark, one night I met a Portuguese Canadian and we sat, drank wine, and he drank so much Fenni I keep thinking I should contact him and see if he’s still alive. Another night, some friends of Papi and Tina, Wayne and Shetta, came down and we hung out at Shooter’s and chatted late into the night. Ainsley, who runs Shooter’s and I met last time, has a new puppy named Shooter who likes to dance around and I freaked out Shetta making her believe that my dog bite scar came from Shooter’s mom. One day I made it Neomi’s, a highly recommended salon, where I had my hair trimmed for the first time since Feb 2009 and it was dried straight but within an hour, the curls were back. I’ll enjoy them while I have them! Another day there was a province wide strike so it was a unique experience to wander the streets with all the shops shut, it surprisingly didn’t feel as strange as I thought it would. Papi’s come to visit a couple times to bring me books and introduce me to friends and markets and somehow our rum-drawn discussions turn into in depth descriptions of Katana sword creation and his new machete named Meanster. What is it with boys and their fascination with stabby things? I’ve also been keeping tabs on the futball matches, especially since Spain has now made it to the finals for the first time ever!!! I keep meaning to bus it to Old Goa but I’ve just been too lazy to get up at a decent time, although I have made it to Infantaria for breakfast once!

People:
As it’s low season, the vast majority of the tourists are from other parts of India. It’s wierd walking on a beach whose population consists of 95% males and I usually get roped into being photographed with what turns into a lineup of tourists as if I were a big horned sheep in Banff or something, it’s pretty funny. When the locals see it happening they holler out the rate I should be charging. I’ve also been offered a paid part in a movie but I turned it down. I’ve now been here long enough that I can tell the Goan’s from the rest of the crowd. Goan’s are more like Canadian’s, pretty chill and relaxed. There aren’t beggars here as this province is one of the wealthiest and has one of the highest rates of literacy in the country. When people ask you if you want a taxi or to purchase something, a simple no thank you and a smile is enough unlike other places I’ve been where any response is an invitation for ‘just one more question’. There’s the old man who shuffles along and wishes me good morning, no matter the time of day; there’s the boy at the Internet cafe who plays K’Naan for me when I come by and told me that when they played the song in the school, most of the kids were so moved that they cried; there’s the Rajesthani woman I met when she was trying to sell me jingle-jangle anklets on the beach and even though I didn’t purchase anything, grins a big hello when she sees me in town. There’s several others who’s aquaintance I’ve made that appear along my path most days that make my lazy days a little more interesting and make me feel like a veteran in this city of tourists.

Monsoon:
The monsoon is amazing. Definitely something that needs to be experienced, even if for a short while. A few downsides are seeing the drowned rats that make their appearance after a big rain, being picked apart by various scavengers, definitely gross. You also have to be careful to hang your clothes around so they don’t start to mold from the humidity. The constant weather changes are not agreeing with my head but so far I’ve only had one knock-me-on-my-butt migraine, though there’s some pain daily. Seeing a street go from dry to flooded in less than 10 minutes is fascinating, except the part where you end up having to wade through ankle deep water unexpectedly. It’s beautiful here though, everything is lush and green and my skin and hair are very happy. The best part for me though is the sound, from my room I can hear the waves crashing on the shore at any given moment and the sound that the rain makes when the sky opens up lulls me to sleep.

Friday:
Went on a wifi hunt as I needed to get the flight info downloaded for our trip to Bath today. Went to the evil Starbucks, bought a drink, filled out their intrusive online form, then discovered you have to pay seperately for it and it wasn’t working anyway and the barista was kind enough to wink and nod us into the direction of the evil McDo’s where I managed to get sorted on the iPod without a form or password or any other such nonsense. Had our last lunch with Genevieve back at her flat, thanked her profusely, then took the train to the airport. Nothing too exciting to note there except for dozens of tiny princes and princesses coming from Eurodisney which was super cute. We arrived at our hotel, Hadrian’s Lodge, in the town of Wallsend, named for it’s location at the end of the last portion of Hadrian’s wall. Nice and quiet and only a few train stops from Newcastle which we explored a little. My mom thought there were a lot of prostitutes but they weren’t prostitutes, there’s just a large percentage of young ladies here who seem to have a unique concept of fashion.

Saturday:
Boo rain, rain and more rain with a large smattering of chilly. We went to the ruins of Segudenum, one of the more important forts along the wall and was the last one built. Most of it is long gone but they were able to mark out the original layout so it was neat to get a proper perspective of size and type and use of the structures they would have had there. In the museum they had a video depicting the area timelapsed over the last 2000 years which was pretty cool, seeing it built, taken down, built again, left to crumble, at one point there was even a parking lot on top of it. The museum itself is really aimed at kids and I could only imagine how much fun my niece and nephew would have had there. After our first proper Hadrian’s wall exploration, we went into Newcastle where there was a street fair where we found a fellow selling manchego and salcicon and he even gave us his last hunk of chorizo! Went on a hunt for information on the bus that crosses the wall with stops at the major sites along it. Took forever with stops at different info booths, train station and the library (where I printed my airline tickets for India too) we finally got what we were looking for and spent the evening at the hotel planning our route and eating baguette sandwiches of manchego cheese and salcicon. Oh and funny story, the hotel had the same pamphlet we had spent the day tracking down…

Sunday:
So we spent the last night planning our path with precision, but forgot about the train that takes us to the start and being a Sunday, wasn’t runnng nearly as often enough as we had been counting on. Fortunately we had scouted out the bus stop on the previous day’s adventure and we spotted the bus as it was about to depart, I booked it and stood in front of the bus and the driver was kind enough to stop and wait a minute until my mom could catch up. There is only one bus that leaves from here and only one that will bring us back, the on/off thing wasn’t as flexible as we’d hoped so we were only able to choose 2 stops to explore that would leave us with a connection to continue. Our first stop was Homesteads Fort, the most complete one along the remains of the wall. This one housed 1000 soldiers and was much larger than Segudenum and as it was out in the countryside with no modern construction nearby, you had a much better feel of what it must have been like. I also found it interesting to recognize the difference between these ruins and ones I had seen in more established roman cities. Here things were much rougher and morter was used for the stones, this was the frontier and there were no luxurious feats of roman architecture, this was built strictly for defense. Our next stop was Carlisle, the other end of the wall, we essentially crossed the country, albeit at it’s narrowest point of about 80 miles, it’s not as big of an adventure as it sounds. On this end there was nothing left of the wall but there it was a nice town to explore and we also checked out Carlisle castle where Mary Queen of Scot’s had been stored until Queen Elizabeth I chopped off her head. This was also where the prisoners from the failed war to put Bonnie Prince Charlie on the throne were hung for a couple minutes, then had their guts ripped open and burned in front of their eyes, then had their heads cut off. Lovely. We skipped the bus back and took the train which cut our return time by half and we were glad we did it the way we did instead of the original plan of a 4 day hike which would have killed the both of us, especially with the weather, we were lucky that it was decent for this one day.

Monday:
Woke up to the realization that Rasputin had been looping on my iPod the while time I was sleeping, I’m goin to boycott it for a while now. We packed up, ready for our next adventure. At breakfast we met a woman on her way to be interviewed for a story because she had been born in Queen Victoria’s bedroom and she was making the pilgrimage to her birthplace for the first time. At the train station, I got through to the airline to start the process of changing my route, I hope for confirmation later this week. My original plan was to end in Poland at a friends wedding but as I hadn’t heard a peep from the bride, I figured Amsterdam would be a better place to end my adventure so I’m trying to switch my flight and hoping it won’t cost too much more than having to fly to Poland just to catch a flight I no longer need. The train was for 5 hours today with no leg stretching stops but we arrived in Bath without dying. We made it to a lovely B&B, far from the chaos but within easy reach of everything we wanted. Prices were a little steeper here but it was the summer solstice and there were 30,000 at nearby Stonehenge that day. We walked to a great nearby pub and had a proper dose of fish & chips, as requested by my Pop. Also managed to polish off the book I started the day before. Songs For The Butcher’s Daughter, best book I’ve read on this journey so far and I highly recommend it.

Tuesday:
We were going to take the double decker tour bus today but got sick of waiting for it so instead we stuck our tongues out at it everytime we saw it in the future and took the regular public transport. We went and saw the Abbey which was stunning, as well as the 5000 hour quilting and illustration project a woman did after being inspired by the Abbey. Went to see the Roman Baths, a little disappointing as a lot of it was added on afterwards for tourists and I’ve now been spoiled by being able to see so many raw ruins in Turkey and Croatia. Still worth seeing though, a lot of history there. Then it was time for Stonehenge, it’s been on our list of things to do since forever. The last time I was in England it was still impossible to get closer than 5km so this was a treat to get within 20ft. There are ways to see inside but right now the private viewings are off the schedule until after all the solstice stuff dies down. During the solstice celebrations you can go right in but I wasn’t into squishing through that crowd with my poor mom. It was better than I imagined, the way the paths have been arranged, you can get an almost completely unobstructed 360 view. From Stonehenge, we visited the village of Lacock where some of the filming for Harry Potter took place and it’s an easy village to modify to be able to go back in time for filming. More exciting for the kids but still interesting. I should note that for anyone who thinks India is smelly, has never driven past a pig farm in the British countryside, smelliest smell I have ever smelled. Also, some of the vineyards in Bourdeaux had a pretty vile stinkyness too, Marie and I would plug our noses and I thought it smelled like blue cheese. After getting back to the hotel, my mom and I took advantage of the 300 long distance minutes I got as a bonus with my sim card and caught up with our nearest and dearest at home.

Wednesday:
My mom and I decided to start our last day with a wall to the city center along the river path. Once in town I found a couple books to take with me to India, not the ones I wanted but at least by the same author so I have high hopes. We took a public bus back to the hotel to get our luggage and took a cab to the train station. Took the train which turned out to be a total gong show. Some thieves had stolen copper from the cables wreaking havoc on the whole train system, entire quadrants of the country could not get through to London. Ours turned out to be the first one let through so we adopted passengers from the other trains that had been stopped. We decided to get off at Reading since we figures Paddington would be a nightmare by the time we got there and from Reading, took an airport bus to Heathrow where we took a hopper bus to the hotel. Were you counting? That’s 6 modes of transport in 6 hours! Back at the hotel, I passed off some stuff to my mom to take to Canada and went to sleep, I have tonsilitis at the moment and need as much sleep as I can get! I suspect my first couple days in India will be a write off. As it’s my last full day in Britain, I would like to expound on how amazing everyone was to us, random people carrying my mom’s suitcase for her, people offering to help us find something when they saw us with a map, actually walking us to where we’re looking for, printing documents for us, I was pleasantly surprised and grateful to find the stereotypes were not true at all, these were some of the most warm, helpful, and considerate strangers I’ve ever come across.

Thursday:
Woke up early to say goodbye to my momma and head to the airport. It was so fantastic to be able to travel with her like this even though I’m sure I drove her nuts half the time, we have different ways of doing things as we come from different villages :) but we managed to get to know eachother better and had a lot of fun. We managed to see everyone we’d hope to and more, gotta keep the expanding family tree connected! Got on the plane and took something to help me sleep, I completely lost about 3 hours of the 9 hour flight which was bonus. The plane was nice, my economy seat was more comfortable than the first class one on Iberia. The throat is surviving but I’m sure it will be terrible once I reach my final destination in another 6 hours. No liquids allowed in carry on at all so I had to pack my throat spray in my pack when I transfered terminals. Called my dad to let him know I had reached Bombay and he was on his way to pick up my mom in Edmonton. Next weeks blog: what to do during monsoon in Goa!

Friday:
Today my mom wasn’t feeling so hot so Marie brought out the crochet project she had started in Canada so that my mom could keep occupied while resting up. Marie and I went to Bordeaux and went down one of the busiest shopping streets and I was in heaven with all the wicked awesome hippie shops and even a shop similar to Blame Betty. I had a hard time not buying everything I saw and managed to be reasonable with a few choice purchases and a few gifts. I have decided that if I ever have need to replace my entire wardrobe, I would be able to do it on this street alone and the places I went were quite reasonable in price too. I gave in to my horrible craving for french fries so we went to McDo’s, sadly they have discontinued the Royale with Cheese that Samuel L Jackson spoke so highly of in Pulp Fiction. Also, it’s insane how much people eat here, I’ve been eating more than usual and was asked if I was on a diet. Marie and I got home and I got Nintendo thumb from playing Wii. Then we ate with the boys staring at the TV for the first world cup game then went back to playing Wii until I got tired of smashing Diddy Kong’s motorbike into walls and falling off cliffs in Mario Kart.

Saturday:
Went to the street market near the house and had the best Churro’s ever, (called Chi Chi’s in France) my mom says they’re even better than the ones in Spain. We all had lunch and said our goodbye’s and as usual, wished we had more time. Marie and Jeremy drove us to the train station, past the prostitutes which are usually out only at night but seem to be out during the day now to help with the recession. We arrived at a town near our destination where my aunt Genevieve picked us up and an hour later were at her chalet in Noirmoutier. Noirmoutier is an island or peninsula depending on the time of day due to the tides. Every 6 hours the road is either cleared or covered by the sea. The chalet is beautiful and very close to a quiet beach and I even managed to score my very own room, first time since my apartment in Seville. We had dinner at the chalet where my cousin Frederic and his sons, Paul and Thomas, joined us and were once again stuffed to the gills. The boys were near asleep during dinner and went back to their own chalet to bed and I went to bed early too (early here is before midnight) and left the grownups to stay up late chatting. It’s wierd that I feel very much like a 14 year old now that I’m traveling with my mother, maybe because I was 14 the last time. I keep having to remember that I’m 30 something with a husband, job and mortgage :)

Sunday:
Today we went to the fish market to get supplies for dinner. So shiny! Probably the fanciest one I’ve seen in all my travels and we picked up some crabs and fish for the cats. Afterwards we went to watch the tide come in and cover the road and saw all the dummies try and go when it was too late and they had to turn around. My poor momma was beside herself worried that the people walking about wouldn’t make it to safety in time but there were fortunately no fatalities today. We went home for lunch and while my mom rested, Genevieve and I went on a hunt for some kittens who were on the lam with their mother so that we could take them to the shelter to get adopted. They were pretty angry as soon as they saw me with the cat carrier and put up quite a fuss and they only managed to catch one of the kittens, I was completely useless but the two ladies managed quite well on their own. One had been abandoned earlier so it was at the neighbours house, leaving us with three kittens and the momma to catch. We put the new catch with it’s sibling and watched them explore their surroundings and play a bit before Genevieve took me and momma on a tour of our little island. It’s only 15km long and 1-7km wide and very picturesque. Went back to the house to meet Christianne who is the mother of my twin nephews who had come to pick them up from my cousin Frederic’s. We had originally counted on 7 for dinner instead of just the girls so we had a massive amount of mussels to go through which we gladly did. We caught some photos of Frederic, Christianne and the boys (16 year old giants, Paul and Thomas) before they left back home for school the next day. The day ended with all but Genevieve exhausted. I had heard rumours of her massive quantities of energy but she has to be seen to be believed. Besides today’s shopping, cooking, driving, cat hunting adventure; the day before, she had driven all over Paris and then to Noirmoutier (4-5 hours) and then to pick us up. The day before that she was jetlagged from the plane coming back from Peru after being stopped by a blockade post Machu Pichu, slept on a bus, and had to walk 10km at a high altitude to her hotel. I should also mention that she is 75.

Monday:
Went to town for more groceries and my mom wanted something for her cough, the rain almost every day that started in Bilbao was taking it’s toll on her. (she’s much better at the time of this writing). We had another fantastic lunch after which I got smacked in the head with my first full-on migraine this trip. My head has hurt a little most mornings but this was the disorienting, dizzy making, sound sensitive, bitchy making, ear ringing kind so I went straight to bed. I got woken up to help at the neighbours with their computer which was a shock to the system, 6 people talking all at once, ouch! I did my duty and went back to bed. Fortunately when I woke up the second time, it was nearly gone, my shortest one ever! After the hell I had in my head most of December and January, I was quite pleased. Also turned out that while I was sleeping there had been a big storm which was likely the trigger. For dinner we ate the giant crabs we had gotten the day before and went to bed stuffed. Seriously, it’s curious that there’s no obesity epidemic here! Every meal is huge with a minimum of 3 courses, I’m usually full after the first but I have to keep eating, first to be polite, second because everything is so good! Most of the food is really fresh with elements from their own and nearby gardens.

Tuesday:
We packed up and said goodbye to Noirmoutier. It wasn’t a terribly sad goodbye as it had been quite chilly so we weren’t going to miss out on the beach, just the beauty. It took us a while to get going because we found out the momma cat that had been taken in to be spayed had to be put down because she had aids. I didn’t even know cats could get it and the neighbour was quite upset about it. We got going and a couple hours in we stopped near Le Mans to visit my cousin Isy, painteuse extraordinaire. Last time I was here, she lived in this super modern flat in the middle of Paris, with crooked walls and doorways. Now she lives on a beautiful lot in the country with a big garden and a massive yard. We had a delicious dinner and a good session of goofing around and catching up before we hit the highway to Antony, a small city on the outskirts of Paris where my aunt Genevieve lives when she’s not at her chalet. We finally arrived just past midnight to several messages from my sister. The papers have been signed and she and the family will be moving to China the day after I arrive from Amsterdam. Also heard news that my very sick in-law is now walking a bit and will be out of ICU soon, though he still has a long road ahead to recovery.

Wednesday:
Woke up to more bad news about the cats, the kittens had aids too and had to be put down. Boo! No more kitties. I got a hold of my cousin Chris’ lady Betty and we made plans to see eachother the following evening. This cousin is from Calgary but living in Paris, no complicated family tree connections for this one, our dad’s are brothers. I saw him last in Mexico for his sister’s wedding, first time in many years. The trick to seeing this mystical cousin of mine is to be abroad. Genevieve took us on a tour of Antony, first to her favorite park, this elaborate location was built as a picnicking and hunting location for the royal family. From there, to her favorite mall where a girl that helped me when I bought a brush that wouldn’t destroy my hair spoke to us in perfect Castillian and loaded me up with samples of French perfume. Time for dinner so we went to my cousin Katrine’s (Frederic’s sister) for dinner at her lovely home with a gated entry. It was my first time meeting her and her husband and we had the privilege of spending the evening of their 31st wedding anniversary with them. As they both work for IBM, there was a laptop that we were able to use to book the next leg of our journey, next stop Newcastle! Got home to call my sister and my mom spoke to a very excited grand-daughter who was confirming her attendance to her 7th birthday party. Her next birthday in Canada might not be until she’s 12!

Thursday:
Last day in France, a great way to start it was to wake up stupid early and not be able to fall back asleep. Did my last load of laundry for a while, including my long pants and hoodie, before realizing it was going to be chilly and rainy all day, oops! Fortunately had a bit of a snooze after lunch before Genevieve took us on a whirlwind tour of Paris by car and there was some kind of protest that made the roads difficult to navigate reasonably but we still managed to drive by all the major sights and take a few token photos, like the pyramid thingy that’s just like in that movie The Davinci Code and there’s a big tall pointy thing that I saw on some t-shirts and stuff. As I’d been here before it wasn’t a big deal to see everything for the sake of seeing things but I’d like to come again and wander for a few days at my own pace in the future, hopefully with a little sunshine. Genevieve dropped us off with plenty of time to meet Chris and Betty, but not enough time to get any interwebs access which we’re starting to feel quite desperate for at this point since we need tomorrow’s flight and terminal info and we’d like to line up a place to stay in Newcastle tomorrow night. It was much easier for me to find Internet cafe’s in India, this last month has been brutal as we’ve had none where we’ve been staying and there have been no cafe’s nearby so it’s just been a couple minutes here and there at someone’s house which is kinda awkward when you’re trying to visit and isn’t really enough time to do any kind of research. Anyways, met with Chris and Betty for a lovely reunion and went for Columbian food, nearly everyone was speaking Spanish and cheering for the Mexican team that was playing France, much to the disgust of the one French couple sitting next to us. My mom and I have been speaking more Spanish in France than we did in Spain and I can tell it’s all starting to blend together for her now as I busted her translating my English into her English to my Spanish speaking French aunt, we switch back and forth without even noticing half the time. We said ‘hasta proximo’ to Chris and Betty with besos and took the train home. I prescribed her Ativan before bed as the day had been rather overwhelming, for me the traffic chaos isn’t so bad as I was in the backseat and I’ve been in India, but for her she was hitting her invisible brakes from the passenger side for a large part of the day and it’s hard work with Genevieve at the wheel :) hoping for some calm in Newcastle for her to recoup a bit before we start doing the stuff we planned.

I now have a lot of chill time in my future as my plans for Kashmir are kaput due to instability in the region so I’m just going to chill in Goa, get my yo-groove back and read some books, I’ve got a list of them to pick up once I’m in English land. Next challenge, find a hotel/hut/hostel during monsoon…

Friday:
Packed up and said our goodbye’s and it was off to Bilbao on the bus. The trip was uneventful and we went to my grandpa’s cousins house, Anna Marie’s. It’s a beautiful home near the Guggenheim that she shares with 3 of her 13 children, Justo Alberto, Juan Carlos and Borja who all take care of her as if she were a queen. Angelinas, her sister has a flat in the same building on the floor above and we found the two ladies at the church across the street. We all chatted and caught up until about 2:00 am, going to bed tired but very happy to be there. Today is also a milestone that marks the fact that I will be on my way home in exactly 2 months, I’ve been traveling for over 100 days so far!

Saturday:
Went to a proper hat shop to check out the famous berets from the region. On the way, there were several street sellers who had someone keeping an eye out for the police, once they were spotted, the signal went and all the sellers quickly grabbed their wares and ran off, tucking everything into large shopping bags to blend in with the crowds. In the hat shop, the fellow was quite entertaining, showing us the different ways of wearing them and their meanings and how to maintain them, quite an expert. His mannerisms were uncannily identical to my teacher Manuel, I was tempted to ask if they might be related but as they were from opposite sides of the country, the chances were very slim. Went back to Anna Marie’s for some excellent basque food, my cousins are quite the cooks! Took a nap before a large family dinner that included my cousin Christina. I remember playing with her at Castro Urdiales when we were younger and she’s the only one who remembered that I could understand, I just couldn’t speak, I had used my sister as a go-between for our conversations back then. Heard some interesting/exciting news from my cousin Angel in Valdemoro, he might be moving to India! He finds out soon and if so, he’ll be there when I go back in a couple weeks, definitely looking forward to updates. I finally learned where the ‘cha’ came from in Natacha, my grandfathers nickname for me. It’s the basque version of ‘ita/ito’ as in Evita, Pablito, etc. My mom explained it to me when I was wondering why my cousins all had names like Nacho (Ignacio) Merche (Mercedes) and Pache (Francisco).

Sunday:
Met Christina in the morning to check out the Guggenheim, it was crazy awesome! The main installations were enough to make you dizzy and the building itself was incredible. One of the artists featured (Kapoor) was the one that made the bean thingy I saw in Chicago a few years back. I love his work, we had the most fun with the mirrors. We stopped for tea afterwards before going to Arceniega to her family’s chalet for an even larger family gathering than the night before. They chose this place so that the little ones had room to run about and play outside. I met my cousin Manu and his girlfriend Marianne who are the only ones who have made it to Canada so far and intend to return. Back at Anna Marie’s, I got to hear a lot of stories about my grandfather when he was younger, like when he would call home to say he was stuck in the snow so he could stay there longer and how much fun he had been whenever he’d visit.

Monday:
In the morning Anna Marie was making cracks about my hair, suggesting that there were several hair dressers nearby, she’s hilarious! My cousin, Izaskun (Itha for short) came over and she, my mom and I went to the hotel where her father, Nacho, had his paintings on display. He does some great work, I took some photos that I’ll put on flickr when I get back. Itha showed us this shop that had great stuff and I was finally able to find a shirt for Max, my goal has been to find him a t-shirt in each country that isn’t touristy but you can’t get anywhere else. We had lunch and met Marianne and several others at the metro at Las Arena’s to go see Puente de Viscaya which my mom hadn’t seen in forever. This meant going up an elevator and being ridiculously high up on a bridge with gaps between the slats so you can see the water a bazillion meters below your feet and a big hanging platform that carries cars back and forth across the water. I should also mention I’m afraid of heights. I survived the walk across, just barely, then at the end we found out we had to go back the way we had come. I somehow managed to survive again which was good, although I almost tripped a few times because I was trying to look ahead and not down and the boards were uneven. We went for a walk near the beach and checked out the amazing homes in the area before going for coffee for 2 hours where I bonded with my aunt Lupe who has a daughter she says is as crazy as me. We went back home (Anna Marie’s) and had more Basque goodness for our bellies.

Tuesday:
Today I climbed a mountain. I’ve been wanting to do this particular climb since I first heard of it when I was little and first saw it when I was a teenager. At the top used to stand a tower where about 800 years ago all but one of my ancestors where slaughtered and burned alive. The one who survived grew up to have his revenge and rebuilt at the base where the manor and tower still stand and are still in the family. My aunt Anna Marie was quite concerned as I would have to go alone and the last part was quite difficult and she had memories of people who had died doing it so I promised I wouldn’t go further than I felt was safe. I’m not an experienced climber by any means but I have crawled around enough rocks to know what I can and can’t handle.

We took the bus to Castro Urdiales and found the start of the path before getting my mom settled with her cousin Angelines and her husband Pepe at thier chalet in the area. The first part of my adventure involved about 2km of walking uphill on switchbacks which started as roads before turning into muddy truck tracks from the tree harvesting machines, not too bad except the steepness was hard on the legs and there was a bit of navigational confusion as the trucks had created new roads that weren’t on google earth which I had photographed to use as a map. I got to the base of the hard part in about an hour and then crossed the field that fortunately was free of the bulls that had been hanging around the last time my cousins had gone up there. I couldn’t find a path so I winged it and started hiking and sometimes crawling around all the rocks that led up to the top and didn’t look down further than my feet to check for proper footing since it was really steep and I’m a big chicken. It wasn’t too hard though, the stuff I was crawling around in Olympus was harder. Made it to the top before I realized it and sat for a while looking over the village and the sea before making my way down again.

This time there were horses in the field below and since I haven’t been around them much and didn’t know how they would react if I got too close, I stuck as close to the trees as possible even though it made my trek a bit more difficult. The horses backed away when they sensed me and just stood staring and kept their distance. As I got further down, the tree eating machines were back at work and there was no way around that was safe from falling trees and the risk of being chewed up by heavy machinery so I stood by the edge until they saw me and stopped work and moved the beast so that I could get past. Then when I was at the old farmhouse close to where I had started a couple hours before, I got stopped by a pissed off guard dog. I’m officially afraid of dogs after Turkey, especially the angry barking kind. I wanted to run but I knew he would chase me and he wasn’t chained up. I literally froze and was minutes away from curling up in a ball and shrieking like a banshee when the lady from the farm heard the racket the dog was making and hollered at him and eventually had to come out and get him because he was so set on having me for lunch.

Got back to the main road and my uncle Pepe came to get me and brought me to the chalet and I had some lunch while the calls were made to all the family that I had come back in one piece. Apparently the crazy Canadian cousin coming to climb El Pico De La Cruz was kind of a big deal because everyone had been talking about it. We went back to Bilbao after waiting over an hour for a bus in the rain because there were two serious accidents that had shut down the highway. Back at Anna Marie’s, my cousin Elenita’s husband, Vincente, was staying upstairs at aunt Angelina’s while in town for business and he and Juan Carlos where being hilarious. These two are quite the pair and we were all laughing late into the night thanks to their combined ridiculousness. It was a good last day in Bilbao.

Wednesday:
After many goodbye’s and thank-you’s, it was time to leave our lovely hostess and hosts. I really hope to see the sisters again, they’re both incredible ladies and there’s something extra special about Anna Marie who is so bent she can hardly walk for the pain yet she always has this blissful grin on her face and is just so happy. She is to me the perfect example of the ideal Saatvik state I learned about at the Ashram.

We bussed it to what we thought was the Spanish side of the French border and it turned out it was the French side, bonjour France! We went past the ticket composting machine and got my moms suitcase full of rocks over to the platform or the train to Bourdeaux. It’s not really full of rocks but it feels like it as she was given limited edition books written about our family history that weigh a ton. Also, it wasn’t a ticket composting machine but it was where we were supposed to validate our tickets as we later discovered from the disgruntled ticket agent, oops. Our cousin Marie-Christine and her beau, Alain, came to pick us up and thankfully this station had a ramp for my mom’s suitcase. This french branch of the family is via my great grandfather’s first marriage and my grandfather is from his second marriage where the line of San Juan De Santa Cruz comes from. At the house, little Marie, who is now 22 and a University student and is just as sweet as ever, was waiting for us with her beau, Jeremy. We ate ginormous meals while conversing in the bizarre mix of French, Spanish and English which is characteristic of our gatherings. We’ll start a sentence in one language, then switch to another with a smattering of the third without realizing it, somehow it just works.

Thursday:
Marie took my mom and I to San Emilion to tour the beautiful little town and had some delicious crepes. The drive through the countryside in her old VW was my highlight though, so many beautiful vineyards! Afterwards, Marie brought out her photos from when she came to Canada to visit 8 years ago and we reminisced. When Marie Christine and Alain got home, we had another fabulous dinner (good thing I’m going back to India to lose the weight I’m putting back on) and I showed them my photos from India until everyone started falling asleep and we called it a night.

Friday:
My last day of classes in Seville, I’ll likely never be able to do something like this again so it was hard to say goodbye. To have spent a month dancing with the masters I had the chance to dance with is the stuff of dreams. First it was Manuel, who runs the toughest school in Andalucia, then Angelita, who has more spirit in her late 50′s than I can ever hope to have. The skill and patience of these two I am so grateful for. I had to run home afterwards to place my fan, shoes and practise garb into the box I had prepared to ship to Canada. I staggered with my enormous box to the post office, 11 kilos, wouldn’t have been so bad except for the awkwardness of the box. Back to the apartment to have my last Sevillian shower, meal, and to pack my backpack. I passed off what I didn’t need but didn’t want to waste to my roomate, handed over the keys with a grateful goodbye and I was back to being a homeless backpacker and off to the Almeda de Hercules to meet Teresa. She got lost because she hates maps and made the mistake of asking tourists for directions but we eventually met up and went over to Marianna and Freddie’s place. Lakshmi, Chris and Stephanie were there along with Joaquin, and the 8 of us went off for a dose of the best ice cream in Seville. I had Cinnamon and Ginger to treat the taste buds while I continued to lament not having connected with this amazing group on my first day so that I could have spent more time with them. I know our paths will cross in the future somehow, they must! The time came when I had to put on the pack and head to the train station, many hugs, kisses and promises shared and I was on my way.

A 2.5 hour train ride later and I was in Madrid and my momma was there! She had come with the help of Fernando and Maria Jose, her childhood friend, who had braved the chaos of a city with no public transport, due to the strike, and police searches at Atocha, to make sure no-one was going to blow it up again. Went to the hotel and the two of us went all OCD on our baggage and eventually went to sleep after catching up.

Saturday:
Carrying that stupid box made me very ouchie but I managed to move my arms enough to be able to function. My mom and I took a bus to Madrid (we’re staying in a nearby town called Alcorcon) and went to visit relatives my mom hadn’t seen in 50 years. These are the children of the man who had found the nurse to care for my grandfather when he was sick with TB in his early 20′s, at the beginning of the civil war. Many memories were shared and adjustments made to the family tree my mom brought with her for such a purpose, 6 generations worth of the line San Juan De Santa Cruz. After 6 hours of visiting, not nearly enough, it was time to go. We had patatas bravas for dinner and Franklin made his debut, he’ll be chill Smurf’s companion while my mom is with me. He also likes to eat a lot too so they’ll get along great.

Sunday:
Today we went to visit my mom’s cousin Manolo and his family in Madrid. I can still remember them from ’92 when they came to visit us at our hotel. After catching up and sharing stories for several hours, my mom and I went for bravioli which is patatas with the brava and alioli sauces combined; proper patatas too, I’ve seen them served with French fries which is really lame.

Monday:
Stayed in Alcorcon today. Had my now usual serano ham, manchego cheese, flan and fruit breakfast. We went shopping at the Corte Ingles with Ma Jose where I found some jeans that fit well (my Mavi’s I could pull off without unbuttoning them) a hoodie and a light raincoat for my return to India. We went to chill at Ma Jose’s house with the wifi and I had a gold ice cream that I hadn’t been able to find since Olympos in Turkey. Gold tastes like peanut butter. The bullfights were on TV and it was pretty sad, the poor bull was so weak and it just dragged on, the fights have been particularly horrific this year. Went home, ate, chatted too late again, went to bed.

Tuesday:
Took the bus-train-bus combo to Valdemoro to visit with my grandmothers cousins, Rosario and Nieves. It was kind of neat stopping someone for directions and when they heard the street name we wanted they referred to the area as the Mazaracin homes, Mazaracin was my grandmothers maiden name and the name hasn’t been there for 2 generations but the locals still remember. We went to a cafe to have a nibble to avoid interrupting the aunts from a siesta, they’re both in their mid 80′s. Within minutes, the familiar faces of Pepe and Nieves (the daughter) were spotted and we pub hopped until it was time for Nieves to go back to her shop and for us to go to the aunt’s. These women are so incredible as are the rest of the family they created, everyone so warm and open. As the day progressed, various children and grandchildren dropped by to visit and share stories and I met Sara, who was quite little the last time I was here, and Hector, Angel’s brother who had been at summercamp last time and I had never met. We took photo’s saying ‘crisis’ instead of ‘cheese’ and eventually it was time to go. I made plans with Angel for the following night before Hector took us home in his Golf, first ride in a VW since I left home! It’s always so hard to leave these gatherings and it makes me wish I had a videographic memory so I can keep all the faces and stories in my head forever.

Wednesday:
Went to the post office to send some packages home, charge the phone and get stamps. Chores done, off to Madrid to do the touristy thing and see the city from the top of a double decker bus. We went to the plaza mayor and had gambas a l’ajillo, my first dose since arriving in Spain almost 5 weeks ago. There were several human statues in amazing costumes and for some reason there was a fat guy in a faded spiderman costume hanging around. We went to my mom’s old ‘hood to see where she lived, went to school, went to church and her favorite pastry shop. Also saw where Pepe Iglesias used to have a cafe where his nephew Julio used to hang out playing music while nursing a futball injury. We went on an adventure looking for a jewellery store that sold charro style silver jewellery from Salamanca, nothing near the center had any in stock. We had to walk quite a bit more than we bargained for (uphill!) to get there but we made it and were rewarded by finding what we were looking for. We wandered to a park on our way to get the bus home and went to a park that my mom used to go to and much to her surprise, there was an ancient Egyptian temple she had never seen before. It had been a gift from the Egyptian government a couple years before she moved to Canada and hadn’t been assembled until after she left. Later than expected, we arrived at the hotel and instead of the nap I had hoped for, I had to jump in the shower and get ready to go back to Madrid to meet my cousin. Nights out here start after 11:00 and much to my mother’s amusement, go until after 4:00. We had a ton of fun with a group of 14 at our peak and lots of chatting at the pub and later on, dancing. All but Gonzalo from my previous weekend managed to make it out (apparently he was still recovering from the last time I came :) and there was another Natalia and a girl visiting from Columbia. The girls were a little disappointed though as the ‘scenery’ was quite nice, but having ended up in the trendy rainbow district meant that most of the boys were unavailable. Angel finally couldn’t stay awake anymore and decided his prima ‘has no end!’ and we went to catch cabs home and I made it to my bed at 5:30am. Oops!

Thursday:
This is where the Oops comes in. Had to meet Maria Jose and Fernando at 9:30am. Tired. Went to Segovia which was beautiful, I was excited for the aqueduct, the best preserved one outside of Italy and still functional. Turns out there was a lot more to the town too with it’s cathedral, the alcazar, and a smattering of little hippie shops which left me dreaming of a much larger backpack. We also saw the palace where a nanny accidentally dropped the heir to the throne out the window hundreds of years ago, I plan on googling the details when I have some decent wifi. Once our adventure in Segovia was complete, we went to our host’s chalet in a nearby village and I caught a few winks while Fernando did some tooling around. The summer homes here are way fancier that the city homes because they have the space to go all out, kind of the opposite of back home. We went for lunch and I found that I can never get used to seeing babies in bars filled with smoke. Once the day was done, our hosts dropped us off and the packing commenced. I still have room in the pack which is good because I’d like to try not to have to send another package home before I head back in August.

The End.

PS. I don’t know how to do accents on the iPod touch so there.

Friday:
After my classes, I determined it would be prudent to figure out the post situation as my time will be rather limited on my last day which is the only day I can ship unless I want to carry my dance gear with me for the next two months. Mission successful as the times will work, the location is close and I went home for a siesta armed with a box large enough to hold all my stuff. I had a nice long nap which prepared me for what would be a long night. I went to the Pena Pies Flamenco tablao to meet some of the girls from class to see our friend Lakshmi perform. It was fantastic! She was amazing as was the cantor and the guitarist. After a few numbers, the crowd was invited and there were many that took turns jumping in to sing and dance and all were quite talented and it looked like everyone really enjoyed themselves. After the show was over and the bar was near empty, the music continued as everyone sat around a table drumming and singing with the occassional dancing. During this time I met Teresa and we chatted and hung out and made plans to meet up soon afterwards. Eventually it was time to leave and we split off into different groups based on the direction we were going. My group; consisting of Stephanie, Chris and Joshua, ended up going to another bar and drinking tinto’s de verano and chatting for another couple hours and Lakshmi and Juan joined us after a while. It was eventually time to go home for real this time and it was a bit of a struggle to sleep as all the dogs decided to bark at the coming dawn.

Saturday:
I had a slack day and spent the morning going through all my stuff and started to pack. It was so strenous that I had to take a nap. Or I was being lazy… I then managed to get all my photos organized to my OCD standards at the internet cafe. Because I had initially thought I’d be going to Granada I had made no plans and couldn’t reach anyone or didn’t know how to, I ended up watching TV for lack of anything else to do. A pleasant break from my chaotic schedule :)

Sunday:
Woke up at a leisurely time and went to Triana to meet Teresa for lunch beside the water. Turns out we can talk a lot. Stopped at her place to take her dog Nina for a walk and afterwards, went over to Marianna and Freddie’s. We all went for some fabulous, locally made ice cream. Teresa and I continued on after M&F went home, chatting the whole way, and before we knew it we were near her place (the other side of the city center of Seville from me, Marianna is in the middle). We figured we might as well continue our conversation and found beer. A bizarre feeling being able to walk openly with alcohol! Took the bus home and went to bed, 12 hours of walking and talking can wear a girl out!

Monday:
Since Teresa lives so close to my morning class, I stopped by and we had some breakfast before my next class and she had to go work on her paper. After running a bit longer on my second class, I managed to catch a few winks before my third class. After my fourth class, I went to meet Teresa at the Palacio Andaluz where we were meeting M&F to watch Lakshmi perform. As I was walking down the street and heard someone call my name and it was Lakshmi, Stephanie and Joshua so I joined them at Josh’s until Teresa arrived as it was right across the street. Kind of a neat feeling to run into people you know in a foreign city, makes it feel like you belong there. Shortly after settling in, I got a panicked phone call to hurry from Teresa as the location was not what she expected. It’s kind of a dinner theatre touristy kitchy kind of place but the talent there is quite high, it’s where the up and coming performers work to earn the coin that enables them to pursue their art. I recognized 2 faces on stage besides Lakshmi; Juan, the cantor from Friday and one of the classical dancers was in my morning class with Manuel. Teresa had met a couple from San Francisco while they were wandering Seville checking out courtyards and had invited them to join us. I was talking to Harold about my trip so he asked who I worked for that would let me take so much time off. I mentioned the oname and he choked a little and looked kind of excited, I told them that no, we have nothing to do with large groups of cyclists, we were an agency, he got even more excited; turns out he worked with us, client side, before retiring a few years ago. It’s one of the few accounts I haven’t done any work for though so we hadn’t had previous contact, he did send me with a hello to Colin and we quite enjoyed our 1 degree of seperation discovery. I suspect they had no idea they would end up having tapas with the performers and having a fun small world story when they went wandering Triana!

Tuesday:
Today was the big day to go to the Alhambra. I picked up my last groceries for the remainder of my time in Seville and some snacks for the 3 hour bus to Grenada. Arrived on the grounds around 3:30 and ended up waking up Marie in Victoria and having a good chat before I went in. I went to see the rest of the site before my 7:00 appointment for the restricted palace areas. The fort part was kinda meh but only because I’ve seen so many now, the generalife and the catholic portion were quite nice but nothing tops the amount of detail and quantity of the stonework in the Navarre palaces. I wish they would allow more time! I had to book it out of there though, the last bus I could get a ticket back to Seville for was 8:30 and I couldn’t find a cab at the cab stand so I had to jog down the switchback to town where I found one that got me to the station with only minutes to spare. I was home by midnight, exhausted, but it was worth it!

Wednesday:
After Manuel’s class, I joined Marian, my Estonian friend from class, for tea and wifi. After Angelita’s class, I went for a tinto de verano with Marianna, Lakshmi and Stephanie. Why is it that I met the greatest people at the END of my stay? At the same time I guess it’s kind of good or I would have never survived as long going out so much and it would have been even harder to leave. For old times sake, I stopped by the pub I went to in my early days before I knew anyone and caught up with Fernando and the crew. There was a lady there who was kind of a nutter and wouldn’t let me go on my way without correcting my grammer by talking in riddles. I went straight home after my evening classes as I was tired from the last couple days and I made sure to close my windows because now the Spanish Mosquitos are EATING MY FACE. Seriously, I’m a delicacy the world over.

Thursday:
It was Manuel’s turn to kill us today, footwork over and over until my legs could barely handle more. Went for tea with Marian again, both of us exhausted. I was understandably relieved when my class with Angelita was cancelled. As it was my last full day in Seville, I took the opportunity to wander around and take a few photos as I had been neglecting my tourist duties in favour of my residential experience. I met a charming man who spoke Spanish I could fully understand and was celebrating his 91st birthday during my wanders and even managed to squeeze in a quick nap before my private class with Lakshmi. I have a lot to learn but at least now I have a better understanding of where to begin. My last class with Juan was fun, Regina had on one of her fancier outfits and I wore my new dress. I figured it needed to be danced in at least once before being shipped home in all it’s multicolored polkadotted glory. On my way home, I received a call from my momma finally, she had arrived in Madrid on Monday. Turns out there’s a 24 hour strike on the trains the next day, hooray! I went to the train staton pronto and I was fortunate to have booked on one of the few trains that would be running, went back home, shared the info, then called Teresa as that little adventure made me need beer. The plan was to meet her in Triana where she was with some other friends. What she forgot to mention was that I’d have to squeeze through thousands of people and caravans of revelers returning from a pilgrimage to Rocio. Every 20m of people a different band would be playing Sevillanas and people were throwing flower petals from the windows. I managed to cut through some bulls so that I could get to the other side of the street and managed to find Teresa on a much quieter street which was good because I had forgotten my cell phone and was worried we might not connect. We chatted with her friend and after he left, we continued after a super long wait for empanadas. When it was much later than intended, we started to walk to her place to call a cab for me and some drunko carrying a big beer bottle started yelling questions at us and then came between a couple parked cars and grabbed my arm quite roughly so I broke free and Teresa and I booked it. He followed us for a bit but we didn’t see him after we had found some other people on the street. A bit of an adrenaline rush to say the least, there was really no time to think of what could have happened as it was a total jumble of events in my brain. Not quite how I had expected to end my last night in Seville! Got home safe and sound though and had my last sleep in preparation for my coming day of transitions.

Alright, a little behind so I’ll try to remember what I can, will be a little scattered.

Friday:
Angelita has a new grandson! My caracolles choreography was going well and I managed to get a nap in before jumping on the high speed train to Madrid. 2.5 hours and tada! In Madrid! I managed to recognize my 4x removed cousin Angel, that I hadn’t seen in 18 years, who had come to meet me. (we share the same great-great-great grandparent) We had some proper tapas with his mom, Nieves, and Pepe and he got me settled into his super sweet flat in Valdemoro, just outside of Madrid. It’s one of the locations I have fond memories of from my last visit, as does my mom, who had spent her summers there growing up just as I had spent mine in Sylvan Lake. We called it an early night as we were both quite tired from the week’s exertions. (he’s one of the civil engineers responsible for Spain’s wicked transportation system)

Saturday:
Woke up at a leisurely hour and popped downstairs for breakfast before jumping on the train to Madrid. We went to the center which had the crowds I was expecting in India, almost as bad as WEM on boxing day but we managed to see some of the places I don’t remember from the last time I was here. There was a feria happening so there were lots of people dressed up and at one point I heard a familiar rhythm being played on castenets and came across dancers doing the jota that I had danced when I was 8, a traditional dance from the north. We stopped at his favorite people-watching pub for a beer and later on went for lunch in one of the trendy neighbourhoods. Full of food and with no plans until later, we went back to Valdemoro for a siesta.

We woke up a touch later then expected, got dressed for a night out and went back to Madrid to eat at his friend Pepa’s. I tried not to make a pig of myself but the bread here is so good as is everything else. There is definitely some mediterranean blood in me! We watched the downtown feria craziness on the news and when we figured the chaos was winding down, Angel and I said our goodbye’s to our lovely host, Pepa, and went off on our adventure. We went to his typical evening-starting pub and started with the whisky while we people watched and waited to see who of his friends would end up joining us. Gonzalo showed up to rescue us from the people we had been talking to and were starting to get too drunk for their own good. From there we went to a place called Gris and had a few more and chatted for a good while and just when I thought the night was over (by Canadian standards) we went to Elastica which was wicked awesome and we all danced our asses off. Apparently the music usually sucks but tonight we had a special treat and we only left the dance floor to replenish our alcoholic fuel. It was a great night and it was more than pleasant to find how well Angel and I connected after so long and I don’t think I could ever let 18 years pass between us again.

Sunday:
Had another good sleep in and Angel was cursing himself a little over not following my lead on breaking up the previous evenings beverages with the occasional water but his head was fine after a beer and some tapas on his patio. We went to visit his grandma and great aunt who still live in one of the few traditional homes left in the area, just as I remember it but with less people (though it will be full of people I suspect when I go again with my mom soon) It was fantastic to see how well the ladies were doing as they’re both octogenarian’s now and still independant. We went into the city for lunch with more of his friends, I wasn’t able to say much but I’m finding I quite enjoy observing conversations to see how much I can understand. We then went for coffee and had to endure clowns honking and yelling while the entertaining discussions continued. I sadly had to go back to the train station and leave the fantastic weekend behind but made myself feel better by starting to figure out the plans for my return to India. It’ll still be monsoon so I’ll have to find a raincoat!

Monday:
Managed to survive my first dance class though tired and a little sick. Missed my second one after getting some meds and getting completely lost but decided to continue wandering and enjoy it instead of rushing to try and get unlost. Had a nap and went to my evening classes. The end.

Tuesday:
Went to classes, had a nap, went to more classes. Somehow ended up demonstrating Suryanamaskars in my last class, downward dog in flamenco shoes is a little weird. Regina from class treated me to dinner and her company after class. The end.

Wednesday:
The city was very colorful today for a feria here, the dresses being quite different and the bulls are HUGE compared to the ones I saw in India. Managed to not get run over by the caravans on my way to my first class with Mercedes Ruiz who was covering for Manuel who was on vacation. We started a new allegrias with her and she too has her own unique style that I quite like, lots of twisty knee stuff! I made my way through the caravans again to get to the Corte Ingles tech division and picked up an external drive, I decided I didn’t like the idea of trusting CD’s in my pack and risking lost mail packages so this way I can consolidate everything into one small package that I can carry on my person when I’m traveling about. Once my day of dancing was complete, I started to look ahead to the rest of my trip and started culling the items I intended to ship home. Also did a little maintenance with a sewing needle as the weight loss, though not huge, had made my bikini top a little too dangerous so I made it a little safer.

Thursday:
It’s hot now. As in 41 degrees kinda hot. And there’s no AC in the Castellar studio. I think Angelita was trying to kill us today, brutal, yet awesome. Nothing like being drenched from dancing until your body’s about ready to give out, it’s better than hot yoga! Oh, and I’m officially off the bandaids today, yay! There’s parts of my toes that no longer have sensation but there are no new wounds and my dance shoes are more comfortable than my Merrel’s now. I went and picked up a proper flamenco dress finally, it’s nice and loud and I’ll post a pic soon. I spent some time that night with the internets and started consolidating all my photos (you may or may not have seen some colorful language about it in my tweets and status) The cafe owner who is now quite used to me, treated me to some very tasty ham he was having for dinner. Meat is good, especially the kind where bacon comes from, also a sign of my western Mediterraneaness.

General updates:
Style: starting to think the clothing fashion is determined by Rajesthan, not Italy as there are droopy balloon pants everywhere I look, India, Turkey, now Spain. Some can pull it off, most cannot, especially when made with denim. Lots of hip belts, these have been around for years for us festival goers, they’re pretty mainstream here though. Style I cannot understand; dread mullets. Why? There may be a handful that look exceptionally good but the copycats look exceptionally stupid.

Books: I ran out and am REALLY glad I got the classics app for the Ipod before I left, I’ve read Alice in Wonderland, Alice through the Looking Glass, Huckleberry Finn and am now on Dracula. If my mom doesn’t bring me anything to read, I’ll be on the Iliad before I get to english land.

Personal notes: My brother is settled back in Canada after his journey and is going to school for degree number 2 in Victoria. My sister is moving to CHINA within days of my return. That’s forever away so it really sucks but it will be a great experience for all of them. (yes my favorite little people are part of this package deal :( And for not good news, a family member has been in the ICU for a couple weeks and is very ill. The only thing I can do from this far is to ask you all to consider donating blood if you are able, it comes in handy.

Friday:
As I don’t have classes Friday evenings, I went to meet Enrico at a nearby plaza with his friend Fehmi who had just arrived from London. We went and hung out with beer and chatted about music and flicks and our official status of trio was cemented when I was able to prove that not only do I know who ‘The Knife’ is, I also had them on my iPod. I was almost kicked out though when I admitted to not having seen ‘One flew over the cuckoo’s nest’ but I was quickly forgiven as I was a fan of ‘Benny and Joon’. Also, turns out I just happen to be in London for Fehmi’s birthday and The Knife is playing so we made future plans for the end of July. We decided to find a place to continue the evening so we headed to Triana. We first went to a pub and had more beer, we wanted Jagerbombs but they ran out of Jag so we did some other random shot. Then it was time for a club. We were surprised to find it completely dead at 1:00am while everyone was at the pubs and on the streets so we promptly left after I took a moment to tweak my bandage situation (still breaking in the shoes I picked up in Turkey). We wandered about trying to find another place that could make Jagerbombs and after sitting for a while discussing our next move, we realized we were sober and that we would call it a night with plans to meet up the next day. Took a cab and Fehmi and I geeked out as he went into ecstatic praise about CS5.

Saturday:
At the ungodly hour of 11:00am, I got a call to meet the boys near my place as they had already been up for hours. While I waited at the Macarena gate, there were piles of people at the church in their Sunday best but it wasn’t for a wedding, there were about a dozen children, girls in white dresses and boys in sailor suits, having their first communion, it was a pleasant slice of life in Seville. The three of us walked about the town with Fehmi and I taking photos and Enrico getting bored and annoyed with us for being tourists, so we took even more photos :) We went to get something to eat and the boys got some pastries and I got croquettas. After a few hours, I left the boys to have a siesta which I’m getting quite used to. Got a text later that there was paella at their hostel that night and of course I had to check out what was being touted as being the best paella in Seville. Let’s just say they’re lucky my dad doesn’t live there as it didn’t come close to being as good as his. The sangria on the other hand was perfectly acceptable. The plans to go out were derailed by a futball match that kept the boys entertained until about 2:00am, thankfully I met Jen, a fellow Canadian from Kelowna that I had a great conversation with and we even had a friend in common. A Swedish fellow appeared in the midst of all the conversations that also knew The Knife, but this time literally as he’s from the same town in Sweden. Fehmi had been texting me for the last hour trying to get Enrico to stop talking so we could go clubbing but I was busy with Jen and eventually he gave up and went to bed. I was about to head home to do the same but a now drunken Enrico insisted it was time to go out. I figured what the hell and we wandered to Triana. Apparently things don’t get bumping here until at least 2:30 so this time the club was packed and the bouncers looked discerning and we weren’t dolled up so we went to the pub from the previous night. Everyone was well into their cups and a fellow from Barcelona fed us booze and chatted and kept insisting that Enrico should be Canadian not Italian and why was he so serious? I pointed out that he was far from serious and only appeared that way because he was borracho. I was quite tipsy as well and after taking goofy photos with our new friend, we merrily made our way home.

Sunday:
Did a whole lot of nothing. I wandered about town, had ice cream, checked my mail then went home for a nap that lasted until 9:00, oops. Apparently Enrico slept until 10:00 and Fehmi of the boundless energy went all over the place.

Monday:
It was supposed to be Fehmi’s last day and Eric was on his way too so we all met up after my second class and during Enrico’s lunch break and hung out as a quad for the last time. In my haste to meet them I realized much later that I forgot my dance shoes at the studio and I still had 3 other classes at other studios before I was scheduled to be back at that one which was bad. Eric and Enrico had left at this point so I dragged Fehmi to the hidey-hole location of the studio where I take Angelita’s class and as luck would have it, the door wasn’t locked so I showed Fehmi some stomping as he was flying out soon and hadn’t seen any flamenco yet. (technically he still hasn’t seen any flamenco yet because I suck but now he understands it’s definitely not salsa)

Tuesday:
Ended up skipping my last class of the day because I had no food left at home and my hours make weekday errands impossible. My 12:00 class was changed until 1:00 which means I have an extra hour in the morning but it’s not enough time to go home, and then 3 free hours in the afternoon when everything is closed and then when everything is open again, I have classes until everything is closed again. I had a sandwich with a new girl in class, Jessica, to stave off the junkfood cravings that happen in grocery stores when you go shopping with an empty belly. After filling the larder at home, I heard from Enrico that Fehmi was stuck in Seville because of the stupid volcanic ash so I went to hang out at the hostel for an hour and stayed for three.

Wednesday:
Booked my tickets to Madrid, for the weekend and for my exit, still amazes me how fantastic the transport is here, I wouldn’t need a car here at all if I was a permanent resident. Also picked up sunglasses, third pair on this trip so far. I originally had the philosophy of getting cheap ones all the time but then realized I get them all the time because I keep wrecking them because cheap ones don’t have cases so this time I got good ones. Hung out at the hostel too late again while Madrid won the futball game and we chatted and chilled. I heard from Kelowna Jen who invited me for the weekend to a beach in Portugal but I took a raincheck as Madrid is already on the table and I also heard from New Zealand Josh whose epic oddysey continues in Olympos. Apparently at the hostel Fehmi met a canadian couple who had tried to go to the Infected Mushroom show in Istanbul but didn’t get tickets and wanted to meet me but it was not to be so I told Fehmi to direct them to my Flickr where I posted some video of it. Bla bla bla, don’t worry, almost done.

Thursday:
Had two no-shows for instructors today, one was becoming a grandmother for the fifth time but we still had the class as the dancers are quite advanced and there was much discussion as to which beat to start a particular series of steps on. During my day-to-evening class break, I was interviewed by a fellow writing his phd thesis on foreigners coming to Seville to dance which was really interesting. I was then late to meet Jessica but we still had time for her to introduce me tinto con limon and the two of us arrived to class full of giggles after laughing our way to the studio. As my last class was cancelled, I went to the hostel which had some bizarre moments including Fehmi begging me to let him wear my new dress, a guy burning his leg hairs, another one wearing my practise skirt as a dress and a very heated political discussion between two Brits that the rest of us backed slowly away from. I actually got home at a decent time (11:30) did some laundry, made dinner and went to bed.

As for the flamenco…
The first couple days did a number on my feet, I would be afraid to sit in case I wouldn’t be able to stand again. This week they look worse than they feel and other parts are sore, somedays it feels like my legs might give out, others my abs have been worked so hard it feels like my ribs are bruised when I touch them. Love it! My instructors are so amazing, I wouldn’t be able to pick a favorite as their styles and characters are so different and they’re all so good and ridiculously patient with me, especially my two morning classes that are much more advanced. I’m definitely finding that doing some yoga in the morning helps and I’m feeling about 60% in my classes now whereas before I felt about 30%. I can do 90% of the steps individually but when it comes to tying together all the choreography, I mess up. I seem to need to go over things more than the rest but I guess at the same time it’s been over a decade since I danced regularly so I have to retrain myself. I have gotten a ‘mui bien’ from my tough teachers though so I know I’m improving. In the evenings it’s a bit of an ego boost in that I’m the one with my skirt hiked so people can follow me instead of the other way around in the mornings. One thing I realized as to why the morning classes are tougher is that the day students are the ones who are dancing to perform professionally whereas the evening students are dancing for fun which explains the vast difference is skill in classes that are both considered principiante. I’m currently learning 3 choreographies of allegrias and 1 of caracolles with an abanico, which uses the same count as allegrias so I hear the count in my head everywhere I go, un-dos, dos-tres, quatrocincosies, siete ocho nueve diez…