Blessing in disguise

Picture this scenario:

You are living somewhere, you got offered a job; excuse me, a shit job. Why shit you ask? well, shit because not only it was insulting (325€/month, my friend's room was 400€/month for fuck's sake!) they even charged you if you wanted to live in! I have a bit of self respect and ignored the offer.

Things gets better. You got offered a job in the South. Faro, a city in which I found a bar that sold 70 cent beers. You moved there with all your hopes and dreams only to be told while having a pizza that you are only going to get paid a minimal fraction of what you were offered during the message exchange. Then, you even got locked out of your previously agreed upon accommodation and a day later actually got kicked out.

But then, things actually got better. Aced an interview to move back to the place I had been wanting to move back for a while. After three weeks of "training" in Lisbon I learnt more Portuguese language than all of my prior years living there, so I'll take that as a very positive experience. Four stars, I'd live in Lisbon again. I had a very small but very, very nice groups of friends. Normally it takes me a while to get on the swing of things when I move to a new place, this was not the case in Lisbon.

After those three weeks in Lisbon, I finally moved back to Ericeira (from now on just E). Then things started to not get better anymore. I mean, I was living in paradise but felt going to jail instead of work. The first few weeks I was living in the hostel, not because I wanted to but because I had to.  Anyone who has lived in Portugal know how difficult is to find a room and how ridiculously expensive is rent. Two months into the new job and my friend told me I looked miserable behind reception. Maybe I did. I was back into the corporate world. One of the main reasons why I fucked off from Guatemala was to leave that stupid world behind, to not be part of the system, to not be just a number, not to make money for someone that didn't give a fuck about and didn't even know me. But there are always two sides of the story? No, wait. That's not it. You use that sentence for something else. While living in E, I had my own life outside of the hostel. I have only managed to do that two or three times so far. I got to eat pregos any day I wanted. Well, except Sundays but you get the idea.

Work environment sucked so much and I was to blame for so many stupid shit that I started to take photos of how I left the hostel before leaving because, since the kitchen and common areas were not locked at night, any-fucking-one could come at whatever-fucking-time and do whatever they fucking wanted and leave said fucking kitchen and fucking common areas completely fucked up. Of course, it was my fault because I was the last one to leave and there was no one staying in the fucking hostel working the night shift...

When my contract didn't get renewed, or in other words, when I got fired. I felt like it was the end of the world, like I was completely fucked. Maybe I was but then I started to see the broader picture. I started to think outside the box. I was miserable there. I didn't enjoy working there. My colleagues didn't like me and I didn't waste my time not liking them back. I just didn't care. For them, I was doing a lousy job but guests thought otherwise. I had reviews mentioning me by name praising the good work I was doing.

But hey, it was not only shite. I was living in motherfucking paradise! I rediscovered surfing. My flatmate told me after a session "I have never seen you smiling this much since you moved back". I couldn't stop smiling that day. It was amazing.

It was the first time I truly enjoyed summer. The first time since the summer of 2012, when I was in Colombia. I celebrated my birthday in Cartagena that year. Last summer? my colleagues "forgot" that it was my birthday... lol. I don't care. I don't need an excuse to go out.

So, like I said. First time in 7 years that I was able to enjoy summer again. I went to see my friends in Sagres, I wanted to check out the hostel I used to work for because they changed name and image. Jesús, the owner, did an amazing job. Go and check it out: The Lighthouse Hostel (this was not paid advertisement).

I went to Lisbon to see my friends there countless of times. I hung out with new friends made in E. I finally got see Porto! Two roadtrips (Galicia - Portugal - Andalucía) and already a few years living in Portugal and never made it up there before last summer. Verdict: I will go back! I did a small roadtrip from E to Peniche with a friend of mine and her friends. I was thankful that I had a good sleeping bag, we slept at the beach but it was fucking cold!

All in all, it was a great summer. I wouldn't change anything. Met so many new people, disconnected from others but that's the cycle of life.

Summer was coming to an end. I didn't quite looked for a job because I was busy enjoying life! Besides, to find a job during the peak of summer you have would have to be very lucky because every business have to be already prepared for the season. Unless some emergency would happen, there were no openings.

I sent emails to hostels to many cities in Portugal and a few in Spain and I only had one reply. Actually, it was not a reply. 2 minutes after sending the email, I got a call from the owners.

I was still in E. I couldn't afford to pay rent anymore if I had none of the monies coming in. I decided to move to Sevilla, Spain and 2 days later I was on my way here, where I'm writing these lines. Sitting on your couch, craving a beer and surprised why I'm even inspired to write without alcohol! Maybe is because you are sitting next to me, doing your own thing but next to me.

That's why that after all the shite I had to go through, that brought me here, allowed me to meet you. And that's a blessing in disguise.

A lot going on lately

As some of may know, I'm about to go back home. It's been a while therefore I have a lot of things going on my head. A lot. 

I don't think I have been this nervous or anxious or stressed before. I had to take care of a lot of shit. I was supposed to fly on the 10th of this month but I had to change the flight. Twice. I was supposed to be in Mexico with someone I love. I told her I would take care of her, specially when she needed me and I my stupid job got in the way. I let her down. I tried my best to be with her in the distance, I swear I tried.

A couple of years ago I made the promise to keep out personal stuff from the blog. I tried but I was going through some rough time at the time. Writing help me vent what I'm feeling at the moment, which is a log. While writing the blog back in 2012 I was listening to Vodka Juniors (some of you might know that it's my favourite band). Now I'm listening to their new triple album.

I still can't believe that I'm going home. I will be able to hug my mum for the first time in three years. I don't know how things are back home. I'm not the kind of person that look at the news online. Although this year I made an exception as I was following the election process and... well, no comments. I didn't vote, I get no opinion.

There is so much stuff I would like to write inside my head that I don't know what else to write. 

At the moment I'm in Granada where is still warm and sunny. I'm going to rainy season in Guatemala. Luckily one month left of that. Most of my friends that used to live here are gone. But I'm staying with one of my best friends and that is nice. This past few weeks I was also lucky to meet new people, the sad part is that I met just before I'm leaving.

I already started the job hunt in Guatemala, Mexico and Panama. 

Holy fuck, I feel the same pressure on my chest I felt exactly three fucking years ago. Breath in. Breath out. Hahahaha. I am actually behaving exactly like I did three years ago. And there were also a few time zones in between. Not hahaha. But is changing. Right fucking now! I'm going out for a walk.

I'm going to see my mum, my brothers, my nieces, my nephews, my family, my friends.  I'm actually already invited to my high school class reunion, a stag party and a bottle of Argentinian wine. Last time I was back I only met a handful of my friends. I hope this will be different. I really hope so.

Sorry that from now there will be no photos. My phone was robbed in Portugal along with my SLR camera and I gave away the small digital. Eventually I will get either a smarthphone o camera although it's not my priority. My priority is to be with that someone I love. Not sorry if this sounds cheesy. But what the hell. It's what I'm feeling, It's what I'm writing. It's like my fingers are possessed. I can't stop writing! Words are coming out quite fast. Unlike in other occasions. I remember that once I wrote one line in two days. I did eventually write something on the third day.

I got to say "see you later" to many of my friends hitchhiking back from Lithuania as I have already set the goal to go back home before the end of the year. I still have a few days left, perhaps I get the chance to say it to a few more. The thing is that summer just finished so people is barely coming back from holidays.

Holidays. Some people have told me that my life is like a big holiday. Maybe it is. On holidays you are always happy. There has been times that I was definitely not.

I watch The Motorcycle Diaries last night. There was a quote from the scene in the mine that caught my attention:

- Buscan trabajo?

- No, no buscamos trabajo.

- Entonces, por qué viajan?

- Viajamos por viajar.

- Benditos sean

It's something like this:

- Are you looking for work?

- No, we are not looking for work.

- Then, why are you traveling?

- We travel just because.

- Bless you.

PS. I am looking for a job.

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

Alive and kicking (part 1): Leaving Granada - BXL

That’s right, I’m alive. My life has been intense since the last crap I wrote. Met some wonderful new people that I wanted to take with me. I met someone very special the last weekend I was in Granada. I am indeed the King of Bad Timing. I spent more time in my second home (or first?), oh yeah, that place is Hamelin. That pub became a very special place for me. The barmen became my friends, I did some crazy shit there. I slept at the bar more time than I would like to accept. I would be in a position to deny that but unfortunately there are a few photos of me sleeping. Since I started traveling I don’t listen to radio and I don’t what to look for on youtube, I mean new music. My music library has grown very, very slowly. But despite that fact along the years I managed to came to know some really great bands. I’m not sure if I knew them before but in Granada I became a fan of The Black Keys; and I specially like one song: Lonely Boy. I’m not sure who was it that changed the name of the song to Lonely Ron but I liked it. From then on I sang that song, let’s say a lot.  I even managed to get a shot named after me… yup, you guessed it right, the name of MY  shot is Lonely Ron. The last beer I had there, the Sunday before I left was very, very emotional.

 (photos courtesy of Syrmo Kyrstopoulo)

photo by Cristina

I needed to be in Paris fast and given the fact that hitchhiking in Spain is utterly unpredictable, I decided not to hitchhike whilst still in the country. I found myself in Bilbao 12 hours after leaving Granada. I had been there before, 4 years prior. In Bilbao I met with my friend Cristina. She spent 5 years in Australia. I haven’t seen her in the same amount of time. We talked about of love stories, about traveling, about traveling and love stories. We had a lot to catch up… a lot! Although, 3 days was not enough to get up to date for the last 5 years, but we have an idea of what we did in that time. Sometimes some people tell me “life has taken us different ways, you are traveling the world. Distance tends to drive people off". Not in this case, I felt like the last time I saw Cristina was a month ago (a 5 year 30 days ago, if that makes any sense. It does in my head).

The route that lorry drivers take from Portugal/Spain to Northern Europe “goes through” San Sebastián. So there I was, at 6 in the morning looking for a way out. I decided to share a ride to the first petrol station on French soil. The driver didn't charge me... it ended being sort of hitchhiking. Once there, 5 minutes later I was inside a Portuguese lorry on my way to Bordeaux. I think that Granada turned me uglier. I spent 7 hours stuck in that damn petrol station! Nothing was working. I was asking people near the pumps. No one was going to Paris. In December I was on the other side of the road, going to Madrid and I found an straight ride after less than 30 minutes (we had breakfast in those 30 minutes of waiting). Why on this side was different? Dafuq should I know! I just knew that no one was picking me up. I was desperate. I was anxious. I was hungry. I only had one apple, one peach and one pear in my stomach. Finally, by 17:00, a Belgian car drove me to Paris… super fast! I was very scared but I didn’t care, I was finally going to Paris, for the third time.

Paris, the City of Light. Twice before I had been there and twice before was nothing special. In fact, I’m not a big fan of Paris but I was supposed to meet someone there, someone that never came. Therefore, third time was not the charm.  I met some nice people there so it was alright. I met with my good friend Lempi and everything was alright.

Leaving Paris is always a major pain in the ass; this time was not the exception. The distance between Paris and Lille is not that much so I decided not to start as early as I normally would. After four hours of sharing the spot with four other people, I finally left and was having a beer with my friend Chloé by 17:00. The first thing I noticed when I saw the beers on the table was, where the fuck is the food? Oh yeah, I was not in Spain anymore. Summer of 2013 I met a nice Moroccan in Tallinn. A year later I was meeting Abde in Lille for a coffee.

I was standing in the entrance of the motorway. A place I had been standing twice before. The first time I was there I was going back to Belgium and I found a ride straight to BXL. The second time I was going South, I was going to Saint-Loubès and found a ride to the first petrol station on the motorway. Both times it took like maybe an hour or two. Both times I was with a girl. This time though, I was alone. This time it took me I think more than four hours. Not one single car even stopped to ask me where I was going. I didn’t remember that hitchhiking in France was that hard. I saw a lorry with Belgian number plates and immediately showed him the “BXL” sign I had been using. Suddenly, the unexpected happened: the driver agreed to take me! After introducing myself and talking for a bit he told me that he was not going to BXL but to Antwerpen through Gent… Fuck it, I was on my way to Belgium, I didn’t care. As long as Belgium was still as easy to hitch as it has been in the past, I could be anywhere and still make it before dinnertime to my destination. He offered me to take me to Antwerpen (it would’ve been as easy to go there and hitchhike down to BXL but why bother to add an extra 100ish Km) but I asked to be dropped off before Gent, right before the crossroads on the motorway leading to BXL. 10 minutes went by and I was offered a cigar whilst being driven the petrol station on the motorway. There I asked a few drivers but they were going not quite to Brussel (by the way, for those of you who do not know: BXL = Brussel = Brussels). Finding a ride in 10 minutes is super cool, especially after being stuck for 4 hours in the same place. Belgium is the country where I had the most rides in luxury cars. I saw a fancy MercedesBenz S-Class, the driver looked (and was) a businessman. He changed his name to Dries when he converted to Islam, over 20 years ago. He used to hitchhike and told me that Spain was once easy to hitchhike and that Guardia Civil had always been assholes. Oh yeah, he told me this while driving me to BXL.

what's next?

Exactly! And I don't know.

I have three weeks left in Spain and I have no idea what to do and where to go. I don't think I have been this confused about this. 

It all started one day when I was having dinner with my friend Julia back in the hostel. A week later I received the news that I had to leave. It felt like the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge... or even worse. Yeah, maybe worse than that.

That was over a month ago. At the moment I felt that the world was crushing me. I didn't want to leave. I almost cried. As much as I love Granada and actually, almost became my new black hole, Estonia is still very deep in my thoughts. I started again with the "when I was Estonia" stories.

Days went by and not only I started to accept the fact that I couldn't stay but I started to embrace the idea that I had to leave. The more I thought about it the more I wanted to leave. Maybe it was a sign from a superior being that I needed to move somewhere. That I needed to pack my stuff. That I needed to get going. That I needed to start using my thumb again because it's getting rusted because of the lack of hitchhiking. But where to, Germany? Poland? Lithuania? Russia? Back to Estonia? Finally leave Europe and go East? Pavel is already in Iran and Matthieu is hitchhiking to India very soon...

Some of my good friends left. I don't know if I'm ever going to see them again. I sure hope so! I still have good friends here but we don't hang out as often as before. There was a very special group of volunteers working at the hostel but they are all gone. Then two more came but they soon will be gone. I, soon, will be gone too. The hostel way of life: people coming in and out of your life. But some, well, they a leave a mark on you. Really looking forward to meet with the little one, the curly hair one, the skinny one and the Swedish looking Aussie guy really soon.

I'm starting to think and to "plan". That is not good. Never works out. I have my life "planned" for the next month. I mean I do like how this plan looks like. No, I love how this plan looks like but what if doesn't work out? You see, I'm thinking too much. I don't like to think this much. I even thought about going back home. Home as in Guatemala. Stop traveling for good. Or go to the forest and live a naked life. The naked part seems interesting but I need internet to keep writing crap, crap like the one you are reading right now.

My room is a mess. I need to clean it up. I'm leaving this flat at the end of this week and I have no idea where I'm going to move in! I will be literally homeless for two weeks. Maybe I could camp in Sacromonte?

Anyways,  I'm back to where I started, asking myself what's next? I guess the answer is that I'll see what happens next...

Note to self

I always tell myself NOT to plan. Most of the times I listen to myself. But it has happen that in a few particular occasions, well... I don't.

Most of the times I listen to myself and just go with the flow, no plan. It has worked for almost 5 years, except in four occasions. The latest one was a couple of days ago. I planned to stay in Granada for an indefinite period of time. I came to like and the love this city. For the first time I found a place I could stay for long. Well, second time. Tallinn was the first one. And then, after the planning, the shit came in! YAY FOR ME!

"Here I am. Life has taken an interesting turn". I found this quote last year. Now, I think that life is playing its "funny" tricks on me once again. Life indeed has taken a quite interesting and specially unpleasant turn. Shit happened and now my days in Granada might be very limited if I don't come up with a solution. My mum always said that things happen for a reason.

"My past known". I have been living in Granada for the past six months. And I love it here, I don't want to leave but...

"My future unknown...". Should I swim against the tide? Should I hit the road once more? I have no idea what to do. I wish my dad was still alive, I could really use his wisdom right now.

"The present is up to me". But he's not here. No one is going to help me solve the crap I'm in but me. "I took a shot to the chin" by some motherfucking cunt. But I managed before. I know I will now. I know me. Time to pick myself up off the floor, shake the dust from my trousers and find a solution, regardless of what that may be. I still have more than a month. Anything can/will happen in this time.

As I was finishing this post, I was about to click "publish" when this song came on iTunes:

Hang Tough by 80s glam metal band Tesla

Took a shot to the chin.

Looks like you just can't win

In this do or die situation.

And it's harder than it seems

To survive, keep alive and make your dreams,

Make your dreams all come true.

You gotta, you gotta give it your best shot.

Give it everything you got.

Oh, you gotta hang tough.

Hang tough. Hang tough.

Sometimes love can make you blue.

A heartache made just for you.

But you can't let it bring ya down.

If you should stumble, if you should fall,

Pick yourself up off the floor.

Fight for what's right and stand your ground.

You gotta give it your best shot.

Give it everything you got.

Oh, you gotta hang tough.

Hang tough. Hang tough.

When the goin' gets rough.

Hang tough. You got to give it all you've got.

Hang tough. Keep your head above the ground.

Don't you let it get you down.

Oh, you gotta hang tough.

Hey! Oh! Hey! Oh!

You stay locked away inside your room

'Cause you don't know what this world is comin' to.

Hummingbird hums 'cause he don't know the words

And the piper will play 'cause he don't know what to say.

He's alot like you, yeah. Oh, he's alot like you, yeah.

He tries hard ev'ry day to be free and fly away. Yeah!

Hang tough, oh, when the goin' gets rough.

Hang tough. You've got to give it all you got.

Hang tough. Keep your head above the ground.

Don't you let it get you down.

Oh, you gotta hang tough.

Hang tough. Oh, you got to give it all you got. You gotta

Hang tough. Don't you let it get you down.

Hang tough. No! Oh, you gotta hang tough.

Hang tough.

Hang tough!

One thing is sure: I'm not ready to go back to Guatemala...

Granadian? Granadese? Granadino facts!

These are some of my facts I came up with and some of the things I think about Granada.

- People with dreadlocks in Granada are as common as people with noserings: you can see them everywhere! I'm no longer crazy about girls with dreads. Pity.

- I loooooove girls in tights/leggins. Never seen so many like in the South of Spain. You looked so good in them!

- Guys with beards are also quite common but I'm not going to shave tho. I shaved not long ago. I'm starting to think that I do it once a year.

- Awesome free tapas is a Granada thing. In Cádiz they were not free nor awesome, they were actually quite expensive. In Madrid there was only one place that had great tapas but the drinks were quite expensive.

- Most things are more expensive than Estonia but the few "important" things (if you know what I mean) is way cheaper!

- I don't think I will ever go to Alhambra, at least to the paid areas. The Spaniards spent 800 years trying to get rid of the Arabs and now they are making a (huge) profit with what they left behind? This is not to open a debate. If you don't like this, keep it to yourself.

- It's painful to walk on the cobble stone street with shitty jandals. Even with Chuck Taylor's is painful.

- I will NEVER get used to going up and down Albacín. NEVER!

- Who the hell had the idea of putting slippery stones on the sidewalks, even if it's drizzling it's super slippery! Don't even think about going out wearing jandals... or be prepared to spend most of the time either on the floor or walking funny. 

- The weather is as crazy as all the women in my life. During the day can be really warm and at night can get chilly. Then it was warm throughout the day. Now it's chilly throughout the entire day! WTF! Granada., you're drunk!

- Did I mention the tapas... Oh my God. They're great! The other day me and my friend went to this restaurant and for only 1€ we had a 3-piece (?) tapa!

- It's a hikers paradise. There are many hikes to choose from. Too bad that's not my strong.

- With the exceptions of Poland and Estonia, where I had a bunch of local friends, in Spain all of my friends are not Spaniards and I'm the only whose native language is Spanish. But I ask ask them quite regularly how to say some things in Spanish...

- Outside sitting is called "terraza" (terrace) but a "terraza" is also a real "terraza".
- There are many things that are quite similar to Latin America, for example: you can buy movies on the street. Or sunglasses. And while you drunk a beer in some pub you can see a guy selling roses inside!

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.