What a week...

2005-07-29, Alicante, Spain

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Here are the pics http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9AZtmblk5cPaA

Hi Everyone! What a week it has been. Last time you heard from me, I was in Lisbon seeing the sights and taking care of some family business. Well, on Monday I decided to head north of Lisbon to Porto and from there take a bus from Porto to Viseu which is the town from which my grandfather is from. No big deal, just a 6 hour trip which isn´t that bad. Well, let me first say that still I am not use to the food over here. I just cannot get my taste buds around it. About two hours before my train left, I found an italian food restaurant in the restaraudores area of lisbon which basically is the main area for restaraunts (go figure). I had a really good torolini meal and a glass of portuguese green wine that really resembles a light chardonay. The day was decidedly overcast and pretty windy. I made it to my train on time and began my trip. I made it to Porto in a few hours and found my bus. As soon as the bus got underway, I started feeling a little queezy. Soon I was sick as a dog. I got a really bad case of food poisoning and had to have the bus drop me off at an earlier stop so I could let it all out. Very disturbing I know but its part of the story. Okay, so there I am with my big pack in some place I didn´t know where the hell I was but was sick to my stomack, and every muscle in my body hurt..and too top it all off, I started running a fever. The next bus came two hours later and I was on it. I didnt throw up on the bus thank goodness but I was really really sick. Finally we got to viseu. It was about 10 pm and right when I got off the bus, it started raining. The good news is that I brought an umbrella (see my list of items brought), the bad news, is that I forgot I had an umbrella. Hahahaah....yeah real funny. So if a tree fall in the forest and nobody hears it fall, did it really make a noise (julia?) and if I brought an umbrella but forgot I had it, did I really have an umbrella (julia?) In both cases the answer is yes...I´m not getting into the reasoning. Anyway so there I am staning in the rain, sick as I can remember being, in a small place I have never been, in the late hours of the evening, and I have no idea where to go. It seems that this area is not often travelled by tourists and unlike the other areas I have been, there were not information booths or things of that nature. So basically I ended up finding a hotel and paid 50 euros for a room for the night which was find by me cause I just wanted to sleep! I awoke the next day feeling achey and feverish but my stomach was much better. This town was small and I didn´t find one person that spoke english. I only stayed for that day as I was running into problem after problem communicating, getting around..pretty much with everything.

I decided that after all that, I really needed to relax a bit. I took the bus back to the train station and got on a train back to spain. It took me almost 20 hours but finally I made it to where I am which is a resort style beach city called Alicante. I really like it here. Its warm, fun, not many americans, lots of beaches and a great night life. Think of the downtown of santabarbara, san luis obispos and san diego wrapped together with the beaches and water of hawaii (minus the waves as there seem to be none), and the people of spain. Its pretty sweeeeeet. So I got in and found a hostel near the beach and crashed out for a while. I hadn´t been to the beach since barcelona and thought that it would be a good idea to chill out in the sun, get a nice tan, and enjoy the warm waters. Sooooo....I had a great idea. I would take a couple of pictures of myself before I go to the beach and then take some after the beach just so I could see how much darker I got. I never planned to post the pics, I was going to delete then but after the result, I had no choice. When you are traveling alone, you find the strangest ways to entertain yourself . I took the pics and headed out. The beach was great! Sand was soft, it wasn´t overcrowded, people walk around selling drinks, food, massages, anything that is legal, they are selling. I had a couple beers and kicked back. Next thing I know, I´m waking up! Yeah, I fell asleep...real smart. To prove how smart I am, I immediatley turned over on my stomach to protect my back from further exposure and well.....yeah....I fell asleep again. Oh man...I must have really needed the sleep. So you will see that even with sunblock, I got burned to a crisp. I put lost of aloe on though and am okay...so don´t worry...you can laugh at me. Anyway, Im having fun in Alicante and will be here through Saturday. I think it would be easy to get stuck here as it is really a leisurely place. My next move is uncertain. I really want to go to Greece but I think it might be too expensive. The flights out of Spain are not cheap and my other option is to go to italy and then take a flight. I also want to make it to Morrocco and Im so close I might do that. I have to decide today though and make my reservations tomorrow.

Im having a good trip in case you were wondering. Other than being sick, from which I am now better, I am meeting a lot of fun and interesting people from all over the world and am really taking in the sights and culture. Traveling alone is very different. While you do meet a lot of people, you also spend a lot of time by yourself and are able to pay close attention to whats going on around you. When you don´t have any plans and are only accountable to yourself, it makes your trip that much different. My spanish has come along really well. Its amazing how quickly I recall all that I learned in school. Anyway, I’ll write again soon. Hope everyone is doing well