Granadadada

Just like nothing 3 months had gone by. Three months I have been living in Granada. It took me a while to finally get used to it or actually to adjust to this new country. As weird as it may sound, one of the reasons why I couldn't quite adjust was the language. If you know me, you know that I'm weird so this shouldn't come as a surprise. Nevertheless, it took me about a month to accomplish what it took me more than 6 months in Estonia (even tho is no secret my love for Estonia).

I no longer live in the hostel, which is good. My flatmates are cool. I live with 3 girls. I have a super cool group of friends in which I'm the only native Spanish speaker.

Another interesting fact is that in these three months I had more friends visiting than for an entire year in The Black Hole. And a couple of more are coming in the next few weeks. I guess Spain is more "central" than Estonia.

All in all, life is almost good here. I mean there are a couple of things are not quite alright but I guess I can live with them. At least for the time being.

I wish that 9gag didn't exist. I need to spend less time browsing through all the crap people post there. But it's funny. That, and the fact that for some strange reason I cannot get online at home make very difficult for me to write new stuff. But there has to be a solution no? Maybe I could write a word document and then copy and paste it onto the blog? I could try that. This post won't have pictures in it. I don't know where my memory card reader is.

I went to Nerja again. This time I camped on the beach. There is a hippie beach 5 seconds away from what I think it's  the guiriest beach in Nerja. Just walk around a big rock and you are in Playa Chica. I didn't feel welcome there. I felt a bit of aggression while being there. The same kind I felt when I went to the Dragon festival, a free hippie rave in the nearby town of Santa Fé. I wanted to take shitloads of photos of people but nope, I didn't. I didn't want to get my ass kicked. It was a very interesting festival. I'm not an expert when it comes to festivals but I thought there was going to be a central stage where DJs where going to play their (strange for me) music but no. Anyone could just set up a tent with a sound system and voilá! I was having a lovely time when suddenly a generator was started followed with horrible music. Killed the mood. There was a tent that was playing good music but I only stayed for one night. My parents raised me as a responsible boy, didn't even go out that night. I tried to hitch back to town but no one picked me, bastards. The police were checking for drugs, they were checking people going in and coming out:
- policeman: "where are you going?"
- Ron: "home?"
- policeman: "do you have any illegal drugs on you?"
- Ron: "no. I don't do drugs" (?)
- policeman: "where are you from?", while holding me by the arm
- Ron: "Guatemala"
- policeman: "do you have hash in Guatemala?"
- Ron: "eeer, I don't know". I actually don't know,
- policeman: "and coke?"
- Ron: thought about telling him that we also have Pepsi and a few other colas but decided not to, he seemed that he didn't have a sense of humor. "coke is from Colombia. Besides, coke is everywhere"
- policeman: "alright. good-bye"
- Ron: ?. "ciao"

Spring should here. During the day it's warm and sunny, except when it's raining. The other day it was and I went to the shop wearing shorts and jandals... some people even looked at me angry! It was not that cold, nothing I couldn't bear. I probably looked very guiri.

I think Granada is drunk: warm days and chilly evenings. Oh well, beer and drugs are cheap around here... probably that's the reason.

still roaming around Andalucía

It's been over a month since I wrote something. I had so many friends visiting me that I haven't found the time to write.

One thing that maybe some of you might already know is that Granada is growing on me and it's doing it fast! The moment that I immediately started to really like it here was one sunny saturday afternoon a few weeks ago. I was cooking in the hostel when my friends Marie and Felix showed up. The weather was superb, they literally dragged me out to catch some sun in one of the many parks in Albayzín. There we met with other people and in the end we were a small group of about 8 people drinking, chatting and listening to music. From that moment onwards I started to really, really like Granada.

I had a few days off in a row and my friend was flying into Málaga so I decided to go. Málaga is a nice city, not sure if I would go back, maybe yes, but it was nice. Weather was awesome, it was more than awesome! Tshirt weather. There is some kind of fortress on top a hill overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, going up there was not fun at all but the views from up there made all worth it.

After sending a few unsuccessful CS requests we decided to drink the night away, going from pub to pub until well, a new would arrive. Probably this plan would've worked out on the weekend but it didn't work on a monday. Málaga doesn't have as many chinos (Asian owned open till late convenient stores) as Granada. To find one it took us about an hour but we found it and bought the precious wine to celebrate Justyna's graduation. We drank it by the boardwalk. Then we started our plan: first pub told us they close at 23:00, we only had time for one beer. We found another one, the bartender told us that he was going to close at 3:00. It was 2:00 when he kicked us out alleging that his boss called and told him to close due to the lack of patrons... we were the only two customers. The bartender told about a bar that was open until very late so we decided to give it a try. We even took a power nap there! We were kicked out at 4:00. What now? We found an open underground parking garage and decide to go 4 floors below ground level where there were almost no cars parked and was dark. Amazingly I slept quite good, the floor was hard but it wasn't very cold.

Maybe I need to see more of Málaga. Maybe I need to go back. Maybe.. it was a good decision to go to Nerja. It took me several days to finally be able to say the same correctly but I finally stopped calling Renja.

Without a place to stay we explored the town, which is a guiri town but still very nice. The last time I saw (didn't even touched) the Mediterranean Sea was when I was in Barcelona in 2010, almost four years ago! Wow, how time flies! After wondering around town I saw someone that reassembled the CS  guy but he wasn't. His name is Aleksi and is from... Estonia! After talking to him for a while he invited us to sleep in his cave. The caves in Nerja, unlike the ones in Granada which are man made, are natural. Perhaps in summer is super cool to sleep in caves but in February when it's pouring outside it's not fun. It was an interesting experience though. Oh! and the cave wasn't his, it was his friends' cave! Aleski just left us there after sharing some boxed wine with him. The cave was very damp and very cold. Around 5 the real tenants of the cave woke up, well two of them, German and Dutch guy (the other two a Latvian and a Czech). They were really friendly.

The idea was to skinny dip in the sea but due to "safety reasons" (the water was super cold!) the idea was abandoned. Tried to hitch back but was impossible, not one single car stopped. Ended up taking the bus back to Granada.

photo by Justyna

photo by Justyna

photo by Justyna

photo by Justyna

I don't know why I wrote Andalucía in English (Andalusia) in the first post of the "roaming" series...

dreadlock city

I don't think I've been to a place and seen so many people with dreads. In the 50s or 60s the ad campaign for VW in North America was something like "not a minute go by without you seeing a VW Beetle". Well the same happens in Granada: not a minute goes by or you cannot walk more than one street without running into someone with dreads. Some look and I have to be honest, bad! Some others look good while some girls look abso-fucking-lutely  HOT! Twice I tried to let my hair grow in order to have dreads and twice end up a complete failure. The last time I ended up with a off-centre greenish mowhawk.

The other day, a friend of mine wrote to me: "go out, make friends... Tallinn is in the past". Later that day he sent an email telling that he was joking. Maybe he was but I couldn't stop thinking about it. Is it really time to move on and "explore the world"? I like Tallinn and Estonia in general, that's no secret but at the same time there are so many places left to go. After traveling Latin America with my SO of the time and ended up completely worn out, I decided to change my mindset about traveling: no more hurrying to place to place. For the time being, I'm going to stay here for a while. Fuck knows what I'm going to end up doing. We'll see. I'm not going to worry about things that are not happening yet but can't get them out of my head. I'm starting to meet new people, at least I have that part covered.

I always like to meet other hitchhikers. I met Vine in Sevilla where we hung out. Then he came to Granada and we hung out more! He's hitchhiking round the world. He told me he's going to do it for about 4 years. I say he's going to take more. I have been on the road more than 4 years and still haven't even been to half of the world! 

It's very easy to get lost in the narrow winding (and steep) streets of Albayzín (or Albaicín). All street look the same! I think it's going to take me a while to remember the shortcuts to some places. I'm going to stick to the streets I know so I won't be late to wherever I'm going.

The days are getting chillier. I think february is the coldest month of the year. The good think is that days are getting longer. Spring will be here soon. I wish I'd brought another pair of shorts.

roaming around Andalusia

I'm in Spain for fuck knows how long. I want to explore the region I'm in: Andalusia. In the month I've been here I have only been to two places: Úbeda and Sevilla.

Spain is alright. Maybe is just that I'm used to Northern/Eastern European countries for so long that I feel like I don't belong here. I even feel more comfortable speaking English than Spanish.

There are three things I will never get used to it while I'm living here. The first one are cañas: who the fuck drinks a beer so small? In what kind of parallel universe I ended up that they don't know what a proper beer is? The second thing being the fucking siesta. Sometimes I have a few things to do and go to some place but by the time I got there is past 14:00... and they stay closed until 17:00. I don't have the mood to stay walking around for three hours waiting for the damn store to open! And last but definitely not least, they don't know about the existence of proper heating and insulation. It's not as cold as other places I had been but it feels like it's even colder. In those other places they do have proper heating and insulation. You could walk naked inside if you want to!

Alright, enough complaining. Like I said, Spain is alright. I went to Úbeda the other day. It's a small town about 150kms North of Granada. It's a small cute little town of about 40000 people. One of the notable Ubetense people is famous singer songwriter Joaquín Sabina. Famous at least in Spain and Latin America.

Didn't know what to expect from Sevilla except that I was going to meet with some people there. I was told that it was bigger than Granada, that it was warmer, that it was this, that it was that. It was alright. I like Granada more but I like the fact that it's flat and not hilly like Granada! Also no dogshit but in some part they have horse shit! 

I said it before and I'll say it again: it's not about the pretty sights (although the flat part I loved it!) it's about the people. In the hitchgathering FB group I agree to meet with a guy named Vine. It's always nice to meet other hitchhikers and we both met with a Croatian hitchhiker living in Sevilla, Alica. 

And while still in Granada I met Natallia, Viktoryia and Stephen. I met with them again in Sevilla. It was brilliant! I just wished we had more time together over there. I know we'll meet again, I'll make sure of that. They're not still not that far away, not just yet at least. Until next time I ask qué hora es?

Coming back, Granada welcomed me back with rain and cold. It's still cold but at least it's sunny. 

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!