Iba a Espana y Robe Limones y Naranjas!

Yes, I did! And I ain't ashamed, mwaahahaha.

Okay, so I'm just going to paraphrase out of my travel journal because I have tons of work to do. So! In a nutshell, left for the Balearic Islands on Friday morning and managed to get back to the Castle in time for the last half of my politics class! Just had the most relaxing, adventurous weekend of the year!

We burst out of the airport in Palma and spent the late afternoon being absolutely amazed by the PALM TREES and sunshine, and took our time strolling down San Miguel (shopping street), took photos of the Catedral, and bussed to Hostal Tierrmar (S'Arenal) to chat the evening away over a bottle of Cava.

On Saturday, we took a bus that traversed hte entire island (we went coast to coast like buttered toast!) - saw teh shantytowns, rundown windmills, and clusters of rusty buildings and houses - to Cuevas del Drach. It was so Jules Verne-esque down there, with exquisitely-lit stalagtites and stalagmites all dripping into each other like wax, and with butterscotch-looking "flags" of minerals that had developed over who knows how many years.

Cuevas del Drach houses the largest underground lake in Europe, upon which a small ensemble gave us a hauntingly-beautiful mini-concert. They squished a pianist, a cellist, and two violinists onto one small rowboat, whose lights shimmered onto the black of the water while it floated in and out of view. Mommy and Daddy and David, I really wished you were there to see it with me!

Then we got to ride a rowboat across the lake - the first time I had been in a boat since summer at False Creek! It's crazy how in just a few months you can be in such a radically different place doing such radically different things.

Afterwards, we walked down to Porto Cristo to hang out on a beach that was totally deserted save for us crazy tourists. Katie and Kari build a Herstmonceux sand castle! Afterwards, we took a bus back to Palma, and came across a long row of tented booths - whcih turned out to be a SPanish Cultural Festival i.e. booths representing different Spanish provinces handing out scandalous amounts of food and alcohol. My propensity to grab as much free stuff as possible automatically kicked in (LOL yes I'm a cheapo! The Wellness Show trained me well, ahahahah), and before I knew it, we found ourselves shuffling from tent to tent with cups of wine and/or beer and/or gin in one hand and blood sausage or chorizo in the other. Bah. Free alcohol will be the end of me. HAHA. You NEVER see that kind of thing in Canada! Back at the hostel later that evening we couldn't get through our jug of sangria.

On Sunday morning we went to the Banyas Arabs to check out some 10th century-or-something Arab baths. Amazing how things can be preserved for such a long time. Afterwards we got lost walking through the quintessential winding tiny alleyways that I always dreamed about wandering through when I thought of Europe.

In the afternoon we took a historic vintage electric train ride to Soller in the north. It was amazing! The mountains were gorgeous, and so were the lemon and orange orchards, small towns, herds of sheep, etc. I ventured out onto the back of the train, where there was a kindly old Spanish man with amber eyes who helped us take photos (though I thought he was going to drop my camera) and gave us a heads up for te long tunnels we passed through. The tunnels were really thrilling - I thought I might die of a freak accident or something like that, because the motion of the train felt so much faster, and the wind so much louder The only comforting sight I could see was the flicker of the man's Marlboro cigarette in the darkness.

The town of Soller was like being in a whole other dimension - time felt like it moved more slowly there - and in a decidedly good way. Cacti, lemon and lime tries, friendly dogs, pathetically miniscule chihuahuas, Kelloggsy roosters, hiking trails, misty mountains looming up wherever you look, motorcycles and cars barely squeeing thorugh the rusty alleyways. We picked lemons where we could reach them, and had patatas espagnola for dinner.

Monday morning was SOOOOOO sunny. Not fari. Haha. I couldn't believe I had to go back to the castle, and to 3:30pm POLS110 class. And yet, even that in itself seems like such a gift.

Everything about this year has been so magical so far. I can't believe how lucky I am. The world is so rich and so vast - even on that tiny island there was so much to see and do and taste (and drink). I find myself spinning a mental image of a globe in my head whenever I daydream, thinking about all the places I still need to visit, and about how limited my time is to do it all.

Well, gotta go back to work now! Enjoy the photos!

---

---

---