Finally I'm...

... able to breathe normally again? The days of anxiety and panic attacks are over? I'm back home.

Anyways, after a couple of days in Madrid looking for a solution to my problem: how to get back to Guatemala. The solution came in the form of my friends. You know who you are. Thank you. Really, specially you who have been by my side since last year.

I found a ticket to Guatemala through Colombia. After checking, double checking and triple checking the fact that I don't need a visa the ticket was booked. I spent 4 days in Madrid. It was a long flight but the plane was comfortable. It was actually the nicest plane I have ever flown. I think it was the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

A friend of mine was waiting for me in Bogotá. After telling her that I had a layover, she invited me to stay with her. With directions in hand I left the airport and took the bus to her flat. We waited 5+ years to have a couple of beers.

The following day I had the flight to Guatemala at 14:20. I had several hours to kill. Decide that I couldn't leave Colombia without having an arepa so I embarked on the quest to find one. I Spent two weeks in 2012 so it was not really a must to go sightseeing. I had my important shit with me so I decided to play it safe and eat at the first restaurant I saw.

After eating, I went straight to the airport. I still had like 3 hours left before the flight.

After clearing passport control and the X-Ray machine a policeman told me to go where he was. "We are going to do a routine drug test". Dafuq!? I started to panic. After bitch slapping myself (mentally of course). I sat and thought "why the fuck are you scared about? you don't have any drugs on you. Chill". Then another policeman asked me to walk with him. They put me through a fucking X-Ray machine to see if I had drugs inside my body!? Cunts. And to put the cherry on top, they made put my stuff through the X-Rays again! Like after being always surrounded by policemen I was going to smuggle anything inside. Idiots.

2,5 hr flight and I was back in "The Land of the Eternal Spring". It was sunny and warm. I wore a polar to cover my arm tattoo. Realized that the stigma of a tattooed person is nothing nice in Guatemala. I had to fill out a form upon entering right? Country of provenance: Colombia. I had to write that because I left the airport, otherwise I would've written Spain. There is this traffic light, you have to press a button. If the light turns green, you are obviously free to go. If it turns red, well, customs have to check your luggage. The guy saw that I was coming from Colombia and immediately told me to go left (where you had to go if the light was red). Finally I made it out. I just needed to wait for my big brother. He told that he would pick me up.

It's nice to be back, except for the stupid jetlag that it was hard to get rid of. Now I can't seem to get a brake, now I have insomnia! I barely sleep. I'm sleeping like 4-5 hours a day best case scenario.  Am I still stressed out, maybe. Although now is for different reasons.

For a reason, I always have a tough time when I'm back home. Circumstances. I hope I can change them soon... very soon. This time is different though. I've gone out and met many wonderful people. Haven't met many of my friends, except for a handful. I guess that they all have a busy life and just can't make the time. It's understandable, besides I have been back for less than two weeks. I'm going to give myself time to adjust again to the Guatemalan rhythm of life.

I feel the pressure in my chest  building up again. Fuuuuuuuuuu...

Guess what I'm listening at the moment? yup, Vodka Juniors. I'm only missing the litre of Alhambra...

How Granada has “ruined” my life forever

I have been living in Granada for almost a year (in total). I left for three months which ended up being a short holiday in Eastern Europe (specially Poland and the heart shaped country, Lithuania), which is no secret that I love it there.

These are (some of) the reasons why living in Granada has ruined my life forever:

• It’s cheap as fuck.
• You can walk everywhere.
• Thank God for chinos. Small Asian owned grocery stores that are open till late and where you can buy 1€/litre beer.

• Tapas. Tapas can be a small meal while drinking. And best of all… they are free!

• The (Mediterranean) Sea is only a bit more than an hour away.

• The (Atlantic) Ocean as about three hours.

• The Sierra Nevada is like less than  an hour.

• Cheap alcohol: a small beer (33cl) in the supermarket is only 25cents

• I have my own shot at my favourite pub, Hamelin.

• The servers at my favourite café already know what I’m having: full English breakfast.

• More tapas!!!

• Nightlife starts after midnight.  Going out for tapas is going out for a drink before going out drinking.
• Amazing and cheap breaksfasts!

• Magnificent hikes that you can do on your own for free!

• Nature, nature everywhere. 

• Unfortunately, dog shit as well.

 

• Free Spring rave-ish music on the hill behind Granada, a.k.a. Perdiz Tropical.
• Another free rave in the (super) close town of Santa Fé, a.k.a. Dragon Festival.
• Lovely weather even in February (sorry that my friend is in the screenshot).

 

• Lack of appropriate heating and insulation but then again, there are only three months of winter.
• Impressive Game of Thrones-ish like castle: Alhambra.

• Kebab shops. I don’t know, there might me some debate here. Berlin’s kebabs are also very good, specially the one that is close to that U-Bahn station in Neuköln. Over here they are known by their Arabic name: shawarma. The one in the photo is called tarrina: it’s kebab meat with chips and shawarma sauce. Perfect drunk/hangover food.

 

• More nature.

• ok, this is mostly not nature but it was fun to go paragliding.

• Joe Strummer lived here and has his own little square.

• Free live music.

• Impressive sunsets...

• and even more tapas! 

So peeps, those are some of the reasons why Graná has ruined my life. When I hitchhiked to Lithuania last year, I was in Bilbao ordering a beer with my friend and the first thing I noticed was there was not food coming with the beer.

I was on the quest to find my happy place. I thought I found it when I spent an awesome year in Estonia but it was not until I came back here that I realized that this is the place that makes me the most happy in the whole world. Estonia was and is a very special place for me but this small city stole my heart from day... 54

hahaha

part IV, all roads lead to: Granada

It took me a while to write because I was writing some shit for my friend's website. What do you know, I'm going to paid to write. I'm actually will get paid to write some shit about my traveling experiences. Eventually tho. Don't get upset at me, finally I'm writing something to keep you busy for a while.

I had a volunteer position lined up in one of the top rated hostels in Granada. It was going to be only for a few weeks. 

What can I say about Granada. My expectations were really high thanks mainly to Christian. He told all kind of marvelous things about this town that I was expecting only the best. Don't get me wrong, the city is very nice. 

There is an old neighborhood, Albayzín. It's the old arabic neighborhood situated on a hill overlooking The Alhambra, which honestly didn't amaze me at all. Both Albayzín and The Alhambra are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It's actually not the first time that I'm living in World Heritage Site.

Since I started traveling I have been having snowy and non-snowy winters. This year's turn was not snow. I have to be honest tho, I really miss the sound the snow makes when you're walking. I miss a lot of things about winter. I was talking with my friend and she told me that she's a "north person". I think I'm also one of those weird people that likes cold winters. I miss Estonia. I miss the short winter days. I miss freezing my balls walking to Rimi to buy a frozen pizza. I miss going to Kodu. I miss you.

But Granada is also the shit. As much as I miss all those things, including the snow, I'm also enjoying very much that I can go for a walk wearing havaianas and wearing only a sweater. There's also snow and mountains! Yes, real mountains. And guess what, you can ski up there. The Sierra Nevada is covered in snow year round I think. I have to start getting fit, because I owe Justyna a hike to the mountains, but living in Albayzín will for sure get in shape... or kill me!

One thing that I can rally get use to is the whole tapas thing. The other night I went to a tapas place and with every beer you get to choose between 18 different types of tapas! You can order a different one each time you order a beer! One thing tho, the beers in this part of the world a cute: 20-25cl. I would rather have more alcohol than food but still, it's a fair offer.

So fellas, this is the place I'm going to be living for the next few months. Not sure how long I will stay. I mean, I wouldn't like to be here for summer. Like I said before, I more of a north person and I've heard that summers here can be quite hot ~45ºC. That is just too much for me. But then again, it's only january to be making future decisions. We'll see (with your lovely accent).

There is a street with my surname and a hotel and a restaurant!

And the streets are full of dogshit!