August 1, 2007 - Antoni Gaudi, Artist and Visionary

To experience Barcelona is to experience Antoni Gaudi. His architecture is displayed on grand scale throughout the city and his style is quite unique. In fact, many would say that his work was visionary for his time and remains visionary even today.

I know a bit about Gaudi because I became quite taken with him after experiencing his work in Barcelona and I've been reading about him so I can better understand his motivation and inspiration and personality. Gaudi was born in 1852 in a small town in Spain. He was plagued by arthritis from the time he was a small boy and his inability to walk around and play with other kids influenced him a great deal. The greatest influence is that he spent more time appreciating and contemplating nature. He applied this to his future architectural endeavors.

He was lucky enough to have people in his life who believed in him and provided opportunities for him to study and create. He studied at Barcelona's School of Architecture and did most of his work in the same city. His biggest accomplishments are Casa Batllo, La Pedrera, Parc Guell and the amazing Sagrada Familia. This church is of staggering proportions and genius and Gaudi dedicated the last 16 years of his life to creating this building. It was not even close to being complete when he died but work continues even to this day and it is expected that the church will be finished within the next 20 years.

In my opinion, there are two very unique features to Gaudi's work. One is the way he makes his structures appear as though they are part of the natural world (with soft angles and inspiration from plants, trees, fruit, the blending of materials and the use of natural colors). The other unique feature of Gaudi's work is his revolutionary innovations with regard to structural architecture. One of his most famous innovations is the use of the parabolic arch to build simplistic yet beautiful infrastructure for his buildings.

Gaudi had a vision to create highly original, beautiful buildings inspired by nature and to give people living spaces that were a joy to be in. His creativity and daring caused him much ridicule during his lifetime, but his art is now appreciated by the masses and it is so exciting to have experienced some of it for myself.

Portrait of the artist

August 1, 2007 - El Autobus Turistic

When we go places, we don't like to do the usual tourist route because it seems that you are herded like cattle and miss the true nature of a place. When we got to Barcelona, we planned out what we wanted to see and started walking towards our destination. After we realized that we were going the wrong direction and we were sweating from the heat, we looked up and saw the Autobus Turistic. This bus rolls all over town and stops at all the major tourist attractions. You can listen to an audio tour as you ride or just sit there and look around. Despite our misgivings about this sort of thing, we did it and were pleased with the results. We got where we needed to go with very little hassle and saw more of the city than we would have done had we simply gone to each of our destinations.

Just made sense

August 1, 2007 - Sagrada Familia

The Sagrada Familia is probably the most original, innovative and creative building I've ever seen. This church was designed by Antoni Gaudi and he spent the last 16 years of his life working on bringing it to fruition. Gaudi was a very religious man and had a desire to pay tribute to Jesus, Joseph and Mary with a church that was inspired by nature. He lived on the site while constructing the building and lived such a reclusive, non-materialistic life that when he was run down by a tram, they assumed him to be a homeless person and took him to the indigent hospital, where he died a few days later.

Exterior

Ceiling

Cypress with doves

Spiral staircase

Stained glass

August 1, 2007 - Sagrada Familia - Passion Facade

When visiting La Sagrada Familia, the first thing you see are the bell towers and the Nativity Facade, which were designed and built by Gaudi. You walk around the corner to the main entrance and see the Passion Facade, which depicts several scenes from the life of Jesus. It was built in the late 1980s by artist Josep Maria Subirachs.

The Passion Facade is so different than the Gaudi style of the Sagrada Familia that my initial reaction was quite negative. The sculptures are blocky and angular and feel depressing and kind of scary. I was appalled that they would put in something not in-keeping with the style and spirit intended by the original artist. I learned later that the sculptures in the Passion Facade are quite controversial with many people for this same reason.

However, the audio tour has an in-depth discussion with Subirachs about his work on the facade and after listening to that, I had a change of heart. He says that he could have imitated Gaudi's style and put in the sculptural scenes as that man might have done. But he felt that above all else, Gaudi respected originality and unique artistic vision. He felt that it was important that he do the scenes in a style intentionally different than Gaudi's so that it would stand apart and continue in the vein of original, thought-provoking work. In fact, when viewed as a work separate from Sagrada Familia, the sculptures are quite interesting and emotionally provocative. I think it's interesting that Subirachs has taken a risk and come under fire for his art and unique style - just like Gaudi did in his time.

Drawing

Judas kissing Jesus

Knight on horse

Being sentenced

August 2, 2007 - La Pedrera

The original name for this apartment building is Casa Mila. It was built between 1906-1910 and is a complete departure from established construction principles of the time. The name "La Pedrera" means "stone quarry" and was an attack from Barcelona's intellectual community who hated this new style of architecture. I think it's interesting that the name has stuck and we all refer to this piece of genius as quarry.

The most remarkable area is the roof where you can see chimneys shaped like sentries and whirling domes and the undulating surface and balconies combine to make you feel as though you were out in nature. The Mila family had an apartment on the ground floor of this building and it has been set up as a museum so you can walk through and see what the rooms looked like when the building was built. In addition, the top floor is a museum that describes Gaudi's style and provides examples of how he is able to support the unique structure of this building.

Model

Chimney sentries

Inspiration

Looking down

Fabulous roof

August 2, 2007 - Parc Guell

Parc Guell is another Antoni Gaudi creation. I wasn't very impressed with this area. I didn't feel connected to any of the surroundings and thought that the space felt incomplete and wasn't planned well. Part of the problem was that there were an immense amount of people there. It's difficult to enjoy a park when people are trampling all over you. However, there are many parks that are set up so that they can handle a lot of people and still give you space of your own. There were some interesting things about the place, but overall, I think some improvements can be made in order to make it feel more peaceful.

Rock throne

Park cafe

Planters

Mosaic decor

With the dragon

August 2, 2007 - Las Ramblas

Las Ramblas is a famous boulevard going through about 2 kilometers of Barcelona. It has a wide central walkway lined with trees on either side and is packed full of restaurants, street performers, artists, caged birds (why?) and flower stalls. Tons of people flock to Las Ramblas to stroll along and see the performances or to sit and watch the world walk by. I wasn't so crazy about it because it felt like Fisherman's Wharf (in SF) - just a tourist trap lacking in culture and quality. But it was fine to walk down it one time and see what the buzz was about.

La Rambla

Street artist

August 3, 2007 - Alfonso

When we were in Australia, we met a group of MBA students studying in Sydney. Alfonso was one of those students and he lives in Barcelona. I kept in touch with him over the past few months and alerted him of our imminent arrival in his home town. He rolled out the red carpet for us and arranged a weekend packed full of activities.

We went out dancing both Friday and Saturday night and were glad that we had adopted the Spanish routine of taking an afternoon siesta because we stayed out til 6am both times. We were able to make it to the beach the next day for claras (beer and lemonade) paella and a nap. Alfonso and his friend tried to get us motivated to climb some rocks just outside the city, but we were so wrecked by the weekend's activities that we opted to just hang out and relax instead. It was a great weekend! It was delightful to be taken in hand by a local and to experience some Catalan culture.

Friend from Australia

Clara at the beach

August 4, 2007 - Looking with Two Different Eyes

Alfonso made a comment to me that I find intriguing and timely. He said that I was looking at him with my two eyes. This comment clearly bears explaining and this is how it went - he could see different parts of me looking out at him from each eye. So one eye was warm and open and showed a lot of emotion and the other eye was guarded and more observing than participating.

Fascinating observation. When looking at pictures of people, I have noticed that some people have one eye that looks different than the other. I haven't made the connection that Alfonso made, but it is something I've definitely noticed. Se below for a little experiment on the couch with Amy and Sarah. Can you see the two eyes? (It helps to cover up the mouth.)

This is a timely topic because the "two different eyes" theory seems to be shared by Picasso. Many of his paintings show eyes at different angles and with different emotions. In fact, we saw a photo of Picasso taken by David Duncan called "The Two Sides of Picasso" where you could clearly see this two-eye effect. In addition, a Picasso self-portrait that we saw in one of the museums has him painting himself in a fairly straight-forward manner (comparatively speaking) but with one eye showing emotion and the other eye more disconnected. Really interesting stuff. (Sadly I was unable to find images of the photo or the self-portrait online.)

Amy

Sarah

Leslie

I can really see the two eyes here!

August 6, 2007 - Update on the Cats

These cats are crazy. When we were at our lowest point of the trip (India), both Her and Stormy got sick and were near death. Couldn't have been worse timing (for us). Now it seems that they have both made miraculous recoveries. It's a mystery to me but it does seem to me that they were sick and near death when we were (in India) and then bounced out of it as soon as we did (in Switzerland). Strange indeed.

Her's story is that she weighed 13 pounds when I left and she dropped down to 8 pounds. She was diagnosed with most likely having cancer, but possibly have IBS. We gave her a course of anti-inflammatories and bought her some really yummy, fatty food and she's all better now. <shrug> I don't get it, but I'm quite happy about it.

Stormy's story is that she ballooned up to about twice her size but wasn't eating much. The vet was utterly perplexed as to what was going on but diagnosed her with most likely having cancer. A few weeks later, the vet decided to drain the fluid that was building up in Stormy's belly. After draining 1.7 liters of fluid (!) from her, Stormy was skinny and hungry. She's been doing well ever since and we've got our fingers crossed that she will continue as such.

Drained Stormy

Stealing Simon's food

Happy Her

August 6, 2007 - Casa Batllo

Casa Batllo is another Antoni Gaudi building and it is just as remarkable as the others we have seen. It is an apartment building and some people are lucky enough to live there today. From the outside, the building evokes a skeletal feeling and it is easy to understand why the locals call this building "casa dels ossos" meaning "house of bones".

Once again, Gaudi gets much of his inspiration from nature and has designed the building and the rooms within it in such a way that there are no straight lines to it. Pretty amazing, especially given that this was built in 1905. The roof of this building, like his others, is quite interesting with more of the sentry-esque chimneys as well as an arched area with tiles that makes one thing of a dragon. Another great building by Gaudi and yet another reason for me to respect his work immensely.

Front of the building

Sarah with the parabolic arches

Ceiling like the ocean

Skeleton-esque exterior

Dragon & cross

August 7, 2007 - Picasso Museum

I really wanted to see the Picasso Museum before we left Barcelona so we went over there on the way to pick up the rental car. We were greatly surprised to see a huge line of people waiting to get into the museum. It took us over an hour to get in and it was really crowded when we got there. I just had no idea that there were so many art lovers around. I think people are becoming more cultured.

One possible reason for the large number of people is because of the Lee Miller exhibition of photographs she had taken of Picasso. The exhibit focuses on both her professional relationship and friendship with Picasso, whom Miller took more than a thousand photographs of during their 36 year friendship. The exhibition brings together a selection of these photos, showing Picasso in his family and artistic surroundings and, for the first time, five of the portraits Picasso painted of Lee Miller dressed as a harlequin.

I thought it was interesting to see Miller's photos of Picasso after seeing Duncan's photos while we were in Lucerne. While I think Miller took some good photos, the intimacy I experienced after seeing Duncan's work didn't come through in Miller's. I think that in her photos Picasso is more posed and that definitely takes something away from them. I wonder if the difference is Picasso's inability to disconnect when he's around women. He was able to ignore Duncan, but I think Miller captivated him and I'm sure he was on alert when she was around.

As far as museums go, I was rather unimpressed with the Museu Picasso. I thought that the layout of the place was confusing and led to a non-fluid experience. In addition, there was so little information on Picasso, his work, his themes, etc that it was difficult to get much out of it by just walking around. An audio tour would have been really nice to help fill in details and provide much-needed background on this fascinating artist and his ground-breaking works.

Such a long line

Picasso Museum

Lee Miller exhibition

Picasso painting of Lee Miller

August 7, 2007 - Picasso - A Brief Study of Las Meninas

One of the most fascinating exhibits in the Picasso Museum was the Las Meninas study. In the late 50s, early 60s, Picasso did an in-depth study on some influential artists of the time (Velazquez, Manet, El Greco, Delacroix and Courbet). He analyzed their work and recreated several pieces of their art (in his own style).

Las Meninas was originally done by Velazquez and Picasso's rendition of the painting is amazing. You can get a really good feel for the differences in his perception, form, color, style and imagination. Below are some of the paintings to give you an idea of what we experienced with the Las Meninas study.

Velazquez' Las Meninas

Picasso's version

Close up of the girl

Another Picasso version

Another Picasso version

August 7, 2007 - Driving Around Spain

We wanted to take the train from Barcelona down south to where we are staying for the next few months. Unfortunately, all the trains were booked up for the next two weeks. We were going to fly but couldn't face paying for the extra baggage fees again. So that left driving. We decided to rent a car and drive down the east coast of Spain for a bit to check out the Costa Blanca area of the country and then head west into Andalucia.

It was really fun to drive and not difficult at all. They drive on the same side as we do in the US and the major roads are well-marked. Driving in another country is such a great feeling - you feel like a true local when you're driving a car. Not sure why that is.

We didn't do any research before leaving on the trip. We just decided to wing it and figure it out as we went along. Initially, we planned on spending the night in Valencia. However, it's a fairly large city and we didn't have a map or a hotel booked, so we thought we'd have better luck in a smaller town. So we continued going south and pulled off in a place called Gandia. It was a beach town that felt a lot like Orlando. That's probably all I need to say. Although it was getting dark, we decided to leave Gandia in hopes of finding somewhere with a little character. We stopped in the next town over, a place called Oliva. It was actually a cute little town with a main boulevard lined with trees, lots of cafes and people out and about. We got directions to the only hotel in town and they had a room for us. It all worked out fine.

The next day dawned and I was hoping we could stop along the way for some climbing. Alfonso had recommended that we go to Calpe which has climbing right on the water and is quite pretty. But Sarah was feeling anxious about getting to the house and we didn't have a guidebook with us (for route finding) so we felt it was best to head on down to Frigiliana. The drive through Andalucia was really lovely and we made it to Frigiliana that evening without any problems.

Unloading the car

Sarah checking out our view

August 8, 2007 - Beautiful Cortijo in Frigiliana!!

I am beside myself with excitement and joy because we are staying in such a fantastic place. We are in a little village in Andalucia called Frigiliana (pronounced free-hee-lee-ah-na). It's a white-washed town, meaning that all the houses are white, and it's up in the mountains so there is green everywhere. Walking through the town is so nice... there are little shops and restaurants all around and the people are so friendly. I know that we will be so happy here for the next few months.

What's more, our apartment is gorgeous. Everything is new and clean and there is so much light and space. It's wonderful to have space again. We get to unpack all of our belongings and we even get to have separate rooms. Oh joy! An even bigger joy is having a kitchen again. I've really missed being able to cook my own meals.

We have the apartment on the 5th floor so we have great views all around us. And just one floor up is the pool so it feels like we have that all to ourselves. We are going to have SO much fun here!!

Streets of Frigiliana

View from our window

Living room

Kitchen

Frigiliana at dusk

August 10, 2007 - Artists

We stopped in Nerja to pick up supplies and couldn't resist going into the art store. Sarah is an artist and she was very excited to get some paints. I love to create things as well, even though I don't have formal training. I picked up some fun chalks to experiment with.

It wasn't long before we were both working on our art projects. It felt good to get in touch with that creative side again. We'll have guests with us for a few weeks, but I'm sure that after they've gone, we'll pick up our paintbrushes again and see what comes out of us.

Artist at work

August 11, 2007 - Joy of Cooking

Sarah and I have been longing to cook our own meals for months now. One of the hardest things about traveling is that you have to eat out for every meal. That gets old after a while and you often end up eating more fatty foods because there are limited choices.

We went out and bought a Spanish cookbook and got very excited about all the new dishes we were about to make. We've experimented with loads of tapas, including serano ham, fritatas, chorizo, prawns, etc and have absolutely mastered the sangria recipe. We've also boldly tried paella,which gets better each time we make it. Besides that, it's just great to make salads and fruit dishes again. Oh the joy!

Learning

Chopping away

August 12, 2007 - Hiking the Axarquia

I decided to go for a little hike around Frigiliana since it's surrounded by a national park called the Axarquia. I wandered around and got lost several times but found lots of fun things. Frigiliana is such a charming town and it was nice to be out on foot checking it out.

Hiking trail

View from the mountain top

Local sculpture

El Ingenio

August 13, 2007 - A Typical Day in Spain

The days we have spent here in Frigiliana have been so wonderful. I wish I was independently wealthy so I didn't have to work and could live this lifestyle all the time!

We have quickly adjusted to Spanish time. We get up around 9 or 10am in the morning and make breakfast (almost always fresh fruit with granola and yogurt) and we linger over our coffee and the latest Economist.

We usually walk around town for a while to see what's happening and then wander back in time for lunch around 1 or 2pm. We usually just make a salad or sandwiches and have either sangria or claras (beer and lemonade).

Then we head up to the pool one floor up and laze around reading our books or having a bit of a siesta.

After that, we sometimes head into Nerja to buy supplies or just walk around or eat or go to the beach. Sometimes we just stay home and work on our projects - either art or computer stuff.

Then we make dinner and dance around to our music. We go to bed around 1 or 2am and then do it all over again the next day. Such a great life!

August 14, 2007 - Drifting Apart

Sarah and I have been drifting apart since we've moved into our cortijo in Frigiliana. I think this is normal and appropriate. Now that we have the luxury of physical space (we each have our own bedroom!!), we are feeling the need for mental space as well. There is so much to process from this trip - so many emotions and experiences to sort through - and we just need time to think.

It's amazing that we've gotten along so well these past 8 months. We've been with each other constantly - hardly a moment of separation. And it's gone so well. We are best friends and can always count on each other. That is incredibly special. However, we are independent creatures. We are used to being on our own and having more space. Now that we're in a place where we can claim that space, it's only natural that we drift apart for a while so we can get our bearings and re-establish our independent selves. I'm glad for it, but I have to say that I miss our closeness and look forward to the time when we come back together again.

August 15, 2007 - Run Leslie Run

I have been a runner for a while now. Nothing crazy. But I like to run 3-4 miles a few times a week and clear my mind, exhaust my body and relish the runner's high. But since we started this trip, I have only been able to run a handful of times. I'd say I've run maybe 5 times in the last 8 months.

I've really missed it. Running is personal time for me - a time to listen to my tunes and feel absolutely free. So when we got to Frigiliana, I started running again. And apparently, I can't stop. I go out as soon as it's cool enough and it's hard to come back in. It just feels so good to run again. Mind you, I'm an absolute piece of poo - completely out of shape and an embarrassment to myself. Huffing and puffing along with less-then-optimal lung capacity and stumbling down the trail with weakened legs. But it's great to be back! :-)

August 16, 2007 - Language Class

I have been excited about enhancing my Spanish language skills ever since we decided to spend 3 months in Spain. I took four years of Spanish in high school and it comes back to me when we go to Mexico for climbing trips and when I order burritos in the Mission, so I felt like I had a pretty good foundation for learning more.

Sarah and I signed up for a language lesson to gauge where we are and what we should work on. My teacher determined that I was an intermediate learner and spent 2 hours making me speak Spanish. It was absolutely exhausting. What I realized is that my 4 years of Spanish in high school only provided me with a rudimentary vocabulary and no ability to form sentences. Crap!

It was a bit discouraging, but just made me resolve to study more from the language book I picked up and sign up for a conversation class in September. That should be fun. We'll see.

August 16, 2007 - "Spanish Idol" Star Performs in Frigiliana

The day we rolled into town, our rental agent excitedly told us that the one and only David Bisbal was coming to our little village to perform. He was not impressed with our blank stares and promptly informed us that David Bisbal is the Spanish version of American Idol. He didn't win, but came in second and is very popular in Spain right now. We expressed as much admiration as we could muster and got another disdainful look and some under-the-breath comment that I felt best to pretend not to hear.

So the big night arrived and I couldn't believe how many people descended upon our tiny town. The row of cars went on forever and people were out everywhere. Apparently there were 7000 attendees. Very difficult to believe that they all fit in the outdoor stadium. We could hear the band from our rooftop pool area so we went up for a listen. It sounded fine but we quickly lost interest and decided to go skinny dipping instead. All fun and games of course until the neighbors decided to come up for a listen as well. Caught naked! They clearly couldn't have cared less. That's Europe for you. ;-)

Billboard at the traffic circle

Cars streaming into town

August 17, 2007 - Getting Connected

We were hoping that we'd be able to pick up a wireless signal from our apartment. But no such luck. There are plenty of signals in the air, but they are all password protected and none of my password guesses worked. So we decided to get a line installed so we could have internet.

It felt a little lame to do that but that's who we are. We have become completely dependent on the internet. We do all our research on it and that's how we stay in touch with our friends and family and do all our banking and what not. It might be lame, but I think that most of you who are reading this would do the same thing.

While I was in the internet place getting signed up, I decided to get a cell phone so I could keep in touch with friends and so we could do local transactions more easily. It is so nice to have a phone again. I didn't miss it at all these past 8 months because we weren't in any place long enough to make friends or need to do anything. But now that we are, having a cell phone just makes everything easier.

August 19, 2007 - Amy and Sandra Arrive!

Amy and Sandra spent a few days up in Barcelona and then took the night train down to Malaga. Sarah and I rented a car and picked them up at the train station. After hugs, coffee and croissants, we headed back to Frigiliana where we hung out at the apartment for a while and caught up on each other's lives. We spent some time up at the pool and walked around town a bit. Then we made tapas and had a nice meal together. It's nice to finally be together again. :-)

Dinner prep

Sharing a meal with friends

August 21, 2007 - Alhambra Palace

Amy had heard that the Alhambra Palace in Granada was really cool and since it was so close, we decided that we should all go check it out. Amy tried to get advanced tickets, but they were all sold out. Upon learning that they sold a couple thousand tickets on-site each day, we decided to risk it and show up without tickets.

We hauled ourselves out of bed before the sun came up and we drove over to Granada.... sans coffee :-( We got there and we were amazed at what we saw. There were thousands of people there waiting in line for tickets. And we were pretty much at the back of the line. Because we couldn't guess how many people were really in front of us, we decided to wait to see if we could get tickets. Four hours later, they announced that the tickets were sold out. We were 20 people away from getting tickets and they sold out. I can't even begin to tell you how discouraging that was.

But we managed to get tickets to see Generalife, which are the palace gardens. So we took those and checked it out. The gardens were indeed beautiful but we quickly tired of walking around (after waiting in line for four hours, it's hard to get up the energy to tour around gardens). We did our due diligence of walking around the grounds and seeing the sights and then we headed out in search of sustenance, alcohol and our beds. Sarah and I will need to come back here another time (when we have advance tickets).

Four freakin' hours

Amy taking in the view

Generalife

Four girls in the garden

Audio tourists

August 22, 2007 - Just Hanging Out

It's nice to be with friends and just hang out together. With Amy and Sandra, we can sit around and cook and eat and talk about so many fun, random topics. We're so lucky to have such dear friends and it's nice to be with them again after being so long without them.

Computer geeks

Reading the Economist

Making paella

August 23, 2007 - Tres Culturas Festival

Frigiliana had a 4 day festival called Tres Culturas. The festival is meant to celebrate the three religions common in this part of the world - Christian, Jewish and Muslim. They had booths set up all over the town square and music and dance performances went on throughout the night.

We strolled around checking out the booths and the people. We were drawn to the meat booth where they were slow-roasting pork and barbecuing ribs. We had to get some meat. Strange but true. We got our bucket of meat and went and sat on a bench along the street and proceeded to eat our entire bucket. It was great!

We got tickets to the Rosa Zaragoza concert and were really impressed. She had a group of musicians up on stage with her and they played several songs from each culture. There was a woman who came up and did traditional cultural dancing for some of the songs and she blew us away. It was a really well-done show.

Eating meat on the street

Rosa Zaragoza concert

August 24, 2007 - Climbing Videos

Amy brought along the latest Dosage video and we sat around watching Chris Sharma and Tommy Caldwell work their magic. These guys are so amazing. It's fun to watch them because they are doing nearly impossible things. But also because they are both so calm and collected. It's nice to see that. A lot of people let the emotion get to them, but not these guys. They are modest and respectful and phenomenal climbers. It got us fired up to get out on the rock again!

Climbing video

August 25, 2007 - Kirsten and Karl Arrive in Spain!!

The day has finally arrived ... we have been reunited once again. And it's just as great as it was before! Kirsten, Karl and I were practically inseparable before I left on this trip and I've missed them terribly while I've been away. I was happy to see that we picked up right were we left off and we still laugh at ridiculous things and have a ton of fun together.

They flew into Malaga and rented a car there. Sarah and I waited out by the Frigiliana traffic circle and generated some interest/confusion. We recognized Kirsten's hair as they passed by us and went running down the highway after them. It was a happy reunion and I was pleasantly surprised that they were fresh enough to stay up talking and drinking sangria for a few hours before conking out.

August 26, 2007 - Towed Car

We gathered our climbing gear and headed out for a day of climbing. You can imagine our surprise when we realized that the rental car wasn't where we had left it. It had been towed because we parked it illegally (due to a concert going on in Frigiliana the night K and K arrived). Luckily, they left a sticker where our car was and it had a phone number on it.

So I called and found that we had to go to the Frigiliana Town Hall to pay the fee and then we would get our car back. We were pretty lucky in that we were able to find the Town Hall, pay the ticket, find the police station and eventually find the car. After about an hour of jumping through hoops, the policia drove Kirsten to the car and it was right in the parking lot behind our house. If we would have been looking, we would have seen it right away and been able to just drive off. Oh well! Now we know in case we ever get towed again.

Karl's response to being towed

Kir with the tow sticker

Trouble with the policia

August 26, 2007 - Reconnaissance Mission

After all the time we took freeing up the car, we didn't have much time left for climbing, so we decided to dedicate the day to recon. Karl and Sarah had put their heads together and found a couple of spots for us to go to. They had a pretty good idea of how to get there, but a bit of exploration was required.

First, we went to El Torcal, a natural park outside of Antequera which is about an hour and a half from where we live. We walked into the information and were drawn to the climbing guide book as if it was a homing beacon. The book is of the entire Andalucia region and has lots of good information on the climbs.

The rocks at El Torcal are seriously cool. They look like stacks of pancakes. Limestone pancakes. It took us a while to get our bearings and figure out where the crags were located, but in the end, we found one that had lots of moderate routes on it and would be in the shade all day. It looked great and we decided to come back in a couple days to climb it.

We stopped off in the town of Antequera for a meal and then headed on to El Chorro to check it out. The drive was nice and we found the crag we were looking for with ease. All this recon got us excited to get out on Spanish rock - we've got some good fun ahead of us!

Gorgeous landscape

Good sign

Posing with pancakes

Route finders

August 28, 2007 - Caving on Kir's Birthday

Happy 35th Birthday Kirsten!

We went to the Nerja Caves today and were really impressed with what we saw. The caves were discovered in 1959 and are an archeological boon. Skeletal remains were found from as far back as 25,000BC and cave paintings exist from the Paleolithic period. There are some very cool stalagtite and stalagmite formations, including the world's largest stalagtite column measuring 100 meters long and 32 meters high.

After caving, we headed to Buriana Beach for some tapas and the official touching of the Mediterranean. Next we headed back to Frigiliana where I made paella and Kirsten made her own birthday cake. After dinner, Kir entertained us by trying on the gift Sarah and I got her - a belly dancing costume (including one for each of us). It really felt more like a present for Karl, but that's fine too.

Sangria makes you happy

Touching the Mediterranean

Nerja Cave

Making her own cake

Bday gift

August 28, 2007 - Newest ACTCM Student!

I did my phone interview with ACTCM as the final step in the application process (for the Acupuncture Master's Program). It went really well and I felt quite sure that they would accept me. Sure enough, when Kirsten got home, there was a letter dated August 28 congratulating me on being accepted to the program. Yay!

I'm quite excited about studying acupuncture and starting a new career, but I have to say that I'm a little worried about it. It's a three year program and I'll have to do almost a year of pre-req courses before I even begin the core program. That's a long time to not be making any money. I need to do some thinking about the best way to proceed so I don't feel so scared about money while I'm going through this program. I'm glad I have a couple months here in Spain before I have to go home and start "real life" again.

August 29, 2007 - On the Rock Again!!

We headed out for a day of climbing at El Torcal and were extremely pleased that our car had not been towed and no other major mishaps occurred. We arrived at El Torcal and headed straight for Sector Siete Vias - the crag we scouted out a few days previously. We strung up a bunch of routes - 7 in total. Kirsten and Karl were super-strong and were our rope-guns for the day. Sarah and I wept at our loss of strength and confidence that can only come when you've taken several months off from climbing. Despite the mourning of our former rock-star selves, we still had a great day. It's always good to be on the rock.

Karl and the hand jammies

Sarah on the lay back

Pancake rocks

Kir rocks it with pigtails

Leslie stretches out

August 30, 2007 - Alhambra, Take Two

Our trip to Alhambra Palace in Granada with Amy and Sandra wasn't very successful given that we had to wait in line for 4 hours and still didn't get tickets to see the palace. Therefore, we decided to do it a bit differently with Kirsten and Karl. We got advanced tickets. It all went quite smoothly and it was nice to see the palace. It was similar to the previous visit in that we were quickly overcome with exhaustion and didn't get to see the whole thing (this time we skipped Generalife).

We went into Granada for some tapas and drinks and found the fortitude to come back to Alhambra for a 10pm show. Sarah and I had found that they were putting on a dance performance of Poeta en Nueva York on the grounds of Generalife and we thought it would be cool to see that. We were wrong. The performance was atrocious. It was an off-off-Broadway quality production and there were many parts where I couldn't stop myself from laughing and/or closing my eyes in a desperate attempt to end the suffering. Oh well, it was worth a try. But a disappointment none-the-less.

Columns cast shadows

Sarah, Kir, Karl enjoying the view

Ornate details

Rounded edges, blue sky

August 31, 2007 - Sangria + Canasta = Happiness

We were all desperate for a rest day after such activity-filled days. We were therefore thrilled to stay home in Frigiliana and chill out. We made a few batches of sangria throughout the day and Kirsten and Karl taught Sarah and I to play Canasta - a card game made tradition by the Walsh family.

We had so much fun!! We laughed and laughed all day long and I was reminded of how much I love my friends. Sitting around talking or playing games and being entirely happy in each other's company is truly a gift.

Canasta King

Cool bull-butt cards

The joy of canasta

Sangria - the perfect companion

Canasta is a Spanish word!!