Dusting off the Pasaporte!

When I left the field of international health, I assumed I wouldn't get any more cool trips. But in May and June, I had three trips. The first was to Philadelphia. I got my cheesesteak fix taken care of. Then I was off to Chicago. I went shopping on the Magnificent Mile. Then I was off to Spain. And as an added bonus, I got a few days to play. And Dave came along too!

So just to recap the higher points from Spain, here's my top ten list:

Number 10: Experiencing the joy's of Czech auto engineering

After some time in Madrid, Dave and I rented a car to head towards Barcelona. The rental car guy said "it's a Skoda Fabia." I had to have him repeat it several times, before I said, "I don't think we have that car." He just shrugged.

The Skoda is cute. It doesn't feel real safe, and didn't fit both of our bags in the trunk, but whatever. It functioned and Dave enjoyed driving stick shift. We held our own against the European drivers.


Number 9: Spanish Style

Most of our friends who Dave and I have spoken with already already know of our amusement with Spanish style trends. Basically, if we use Europe as a harbinger of what is to come in the fashion world, the what we will be seeing with be a really scary 80s flashback. It will include:

• Mullets
• Rat tails
• MC Hammer pants
• Bright colors (as in fluorescent)
  

Indeed, a little disturbing, but amusing to see nonetheless. Not all Spaniards were dressed this way, but the trend was noticeable.


Number 8: Eating enough cured pig products to ensure that I myself will be well-preserved for years to come.

Two words: Jamon Iberico.

I had it for the first time at the conference in Madrid, and Dave knew about it from the exorbitant prices of the stuff that the one guy has at Eastern Market. So the night that Dave arrived in Madrid, we went out for tapas and sangria, and found a place that sold it, basically, by the plate. They do thin strips, and it is so rich, we couldn't finish the whole thing. Dave also got to try a "vermut" or glass of sweet vermouth wine that is a very popular drink in Spain.

Everywhere you went though, there was pork. It was not uncommon to see a ham hock just hanging from the ceiling, waiting til it's time to shine arrives. And shine it did, whether it was by itself on a plate or in a croquet or in sausage form. We had breakfast one day with a spread that included at least 6 forms of the stuff. I have photographic evidence! At dinner the night before, one of the dishes we split had 3 or 4 types. Who knew a pig was so multi-purpose?*


Number 7: "Clubbing" in Barcelona

I put "clubbing" in quotes because I don't know if what Dave and I did could really constitute clubbing. We eagerly stayed up past our bedtimes (even on a Saturday night), and arrived at Club Moog at 12:30am. We were the first ones to arrive. The bartender said it usually didn't pick up til about 2am. Lucky for us, all of the other tourists who had read about the club in the Lonely Planet guide showed up around 1am. Because you know the Spaniards weren't there. We passed them all on our way out of the club around 2am. They were ready to start their evening, while we were ready to get our lame American arses to bed.


Number 6: Modernista Architecture.

Architect Antonio Gaudi et al did an amazing job creating a very unique Barcelona in the early 1900s. We visited (and heavily photographed) several sites, including the famous Casa Batllo and the unfinished Sagrada Familia cathedral, and the expansive Park Guell in Barcelona. If only someone would renovate a DC condo building to be as unique.


Number 5: The Spanish Parador System; or, spending the night in a castle

Yes, we spent the night in a castle, overlooking the town of Alcaniz, which is roughly halfway between Zaragoza and Tarragona on a Spanish map. It's a small town with not much, but a good sized castle sitting atop a hill.

A website about the Paradors describes them in this way:

"The hotels in the Parador Group were set up by the state to use quality tourism to act as guardian of the national and artistic heritage of Spain and to assist regions with fewer economic resources. "

They are scattered all over Spain, and oftentimes are built from castles (like ours) or monasteries, and are really really nice. I highly recommend them on your next trip to Spain.


Number 4: Art

Well, that's easy enough, isn't it?

I'm not a very high-brow art appreciator, but I remember reading about Picasso's Guernica in college Spanish Class, and I felt like I would have failed something in life if I came to Spain and neglected to see it. It is housed in the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid, which also houses lots of other cool stuff (Picasso, Miro, Dali, for example) so it was a no-brainer.

I also spent some time in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, which is a good sized private collection, which has some cool stuff too. I did not see the Prado while in Madrid. I know that sounds shameful, but in general I much prefer smaller museums when I hit these different hot-spots anyway.

In Barcelona, we went to the Museu Picasso, which basically had everything in it that Picasso ever drew that did not become famous. I guess that's not fair. There was some cool stuff in there, but going back to how I'm not a high-brown art-appreciator, I don't have the same interest in the sketches that someone found in picasso's closet that he did when he was 9. Sorry.

And we walked all over Miro... on La Rambla. :-) Joan Miro did a cool, very "Miro" styled mosaic on the main pedestrian thoroughfare in Barcelona.


Number 3: Churros y Chocolate

Ahh the humble churro. All you are is fried dough, but pair you with thick, European-style hot chocolate after a night out on the town in Madrid, and you are something as exquisite as the art I discussed in item number 5.

That is really all I can say.


Number 2: Vino y Queso

Spain is a big wine country, and we were driving right through Cava country. Cava is the Spanish equivalent to champagne. It's light and bubbly and refreshing. Tempranillo and Albarino grapes make really nice red and white varieties as well. We tended more towards the rather informal sangria during a lot of meals, but split a few bottles of white and red here and there too. I had checked into trying to do a vineyard tour, but it didn't work out this trip. A good reason to go back.

Then there was the cheese. From my experience here, Manchego and Idiazabal are both commonly known Spanish cheeses, but we had dinner one night at a restaurant (practically our only non-tapas meal) and we got the Spanish cheese platter as an appetizer. There were ten cheeses on it, and most of them were REALLY good. Our main problem was, we couldn't get any of the wait staff to be able to tell us which ws which, so we will forever be left wondering what it was that we ate.


Number 1: Outdoor dining, Spanish Style

You can't beat the climate. We had left DC in an awful heat-wave and arrived in Madrid with very nice weather, perfect for spending almost every night eating outside in a plaza somewhere. Everyone has outdoor seating, and the weather works well for it. And most of the eating areas were in cute little plazas/courtyards, with mostly pedestrian traffic, and not loud cars or trucks polluting the setting. It almost didn't matter what you were eating - the setting was such that every meal was perfect. Though since most meals involved a pitcher of sangria or a bottle of wine, that may have figured into it too...


So it was a great trip and we saw a lot for the amount of time we had. We also walked a lot. Every town we stopped in was extremely pedestrian-friendly. So in spite of the fact that most of my top ten list is food related, I did not gain a bit of weight since we were walking so much. I definitely hope to go back, but will wait til I have more time and the dollar is doing better against the euro. Even still, I expect that Coca-Cola will always cost more than wine in Spain, but I can handle that.


* Vegetarians, please accept my apologies, but I really can't help it. No tofu-derived product could ever convert me after these experiences.

No passport required...Part 2

So, we landed in Fajardo, which is on the east coast of Puerto Rico and hopped in a cab to the Hotel Gran Melia. Notice I have not added a link for the Gran Melia. I just wouldn't want a link to be mistaken for an endorsement.

I should be nice. The Gran Melia had some things going for it. First, it's in Puerto Rico. Second, it has a pretty kick-ass pool complete with swim-up-bar and lounge "chairs" in the water.

Well, it has two things going for it.

Here's the thing - and believe me, the five of us have analyzed the crap out of this whole experience - in my mind, we were paying a lot of money, but apparently, as far as all-inclusive resorts go, we were actually going a bit cheap as it turns out. The Gran Melia is a family friendly resort - which means screaming children, loud music, annoying activity coordinators trying to get you to happily participate in things like dance lessons, and poolside quiz games, and yoga at the wedding chapel every single second you are there. It's not that relaxing, unfortunately. Everything about it is just mediocre. The food. The service. Even the phone system was mediocre. We escaped to San Juan on Sunday night for one last hurrah before we left and we were all as giddy as little schoolgirls. We had a fabulous meal at Tantra (see- now that place is worth a hyperlink), and a few drinks, and then negotiated a cab ride home.

And then about halfway into the 45 minute trip home, with five of us crammed in the car, the cab lost it's transmission in the middle of the highway, and we came to a screeching halt off to the side of the road (thankfully).

You have to laugh in these situations. There we were on the side of the road around midnight on our last night in Puerto Rico, waiting for the poor cab driver - who is looking at a huge repair bill - to call a friend of his from a town 15 minutes a way to come and pick us up. And pick us up she did, in her tiny little Corolla, with a lifesize baby doll in the trunk, which we all spotted when she opened the trunk to throw some stuff in, and caused a moment of startled confusion. Just a moment though, until we realized quickly that she did not have a real baby in the trunk of the car. She got us home in one piece, but it was a challenging trip, considering how we had to again cram into a car too small for 5 passengers, and considering how the road in and out of the resort had so many speedbumps that it warranted a four-wheel drive vehicle just to adequately travel the terrain.

I'm not saying we didn't have fun. I think the five of us will always share some sort of bond that will have us joking about the pilates chapel, the Activity Czar, and the dueling DJs for years to come. But at the same time, I think that given a choice, I would much rather vacation at the no frills beach with the barbeque put and some snorkeling gear to keep me entertained over the all inclusive resort any day.

Having said all of that, one of the coolest experiences of the entire trip was going to Bio Bay. But just to be clear, this was NOT associated with the resort. This was a kayaking trip we took one of the nights we were there. You start on the open water right on the ocean and in kayak pairs, following a guide, we paddle in a group through a small channel flanked by mangroves. The channel opens into a lagoon that is one of 5 places in the world inhabited by a plankton or algae (maybe they are the same thing) that photosynthesizes and gives off light when disturbed. The paddling of kayaks disturbs these little guys en masse, and the effect is so wild it's hard to describe in words. When you put your hands in the water, they basically glow. If a fish swims by, you can see a trail of light behind it, and you can see the trail of the kayaks and oars as well. A once in a lifetime experience, no doubt. I highly recommend it.

So that was our little wintertime jaunt. I highly recommend Puerto Rico as a travel destination. I'm hesitant to recommend Culebra because it still seems to be pretty sleepy and less "discovered," but considering only my friends and family are probably reading this blog, I guess it's okay to mention it. Especially because I'll be bugging people to go back when we make a return trip.

No passport required...Part 1

This is embarrassing. It's MAY and I still haven't posted about my vacation in February. It's almost not even worth posting only because everyone has already heard about it, but since this is a travel blog and the trip counts as travel, I have to at least document it before I got on another trip. So if you already know all about it, humor me and relive it for a few moments...

Dave's friends take trips together every so often, and we did some talking back in November about a beach vacation. We settled on Puerto Rico, "Island of Enchantment." I can tell you that most of it was, in fact, enchanting, even the parts of it that didn't work out so well. But I'll get to that later.

Dave and I left before the rest of the party (there were five of us involved in the planning - myself, Dave, and Dave's friends John, Jill, and Clay) Feb. 20. We decided we wanted a slightly longer vacation and were interested in going off the beaten path. Just a little though. Not like trek-the-Himalayas - style off the beaten path, but just something a little different. We decided on Isla Culebra, a smallish sounding, less developed island off the east coast of Puerto Rico. It claimed great beach-front, easy-to-reach snorkeling, and bare necessities for food. That's all we really needed. We had a few hours to kill in San Juan when we arrived, so, laden with luggage, we taxied to El Morro, one of the forts built by the Spanish to defend Puerto Rico against the English and the Dutch (or "The Hollands" as out slightly English-challenged cab driver cum tour guide described to us during a later jaunt to Old San Juan).

After an hour or so checking out El Morro, and in general basking in the warm sun, we stopped at a Wendy's for lunch (I know - roll your eyes at the predictability of Americans on holiday), and headed to the junior airport in San Juan to await our Vieques Airlink flight to Culebra.

The logistics of landing in Culebra after 5pm makes things a bit difficult because many things have closed at that point. Accompanied by a woman from New Hampshire who was planning to camp at Flamingo Beach, we found our way into the "town" to look for transportation. A kind fellow who was chatting with two of approximately four policemen on the island called a taxi driver friend of his, who promised to finish his dinner quickly and meet us in 15 minutes. The details on getting us to the Culebra Beach Rentals are boring so I won't go into it.

We arrived at Playa Flamenco - Flamingo Beach - before it was dark, which was nice, because we could get really excited about what we were in for the next day. The beach was long, deep, and had the softest white sand I've ever felt. The first night we were there, we got to see most of the lunar eclipse, however the clouds rolled in about a half hour before it was full. I'm guessing some higher power was just jealous that we had found our way to such a beautiful location and didn't think it was fair to everyone back home. But we didn't mind.

Once we got moving on day 2, we headed to get a taxi back to town so that I could rent snorkeling gear, we picked up important provisions for the evening (rum) and headed back to the beach. Dave had figured out how to get to two prime snorkeling destinations, both just a 20 minute walk away from where we were. Neither beach could be accessed other than on foot, which meant that they were pretty untouched. The first stop was Playa Tamarindo. It took us a while to find the reef, but once we decided to pay attention to the obvious (dark spots in water=coral), we came upon it pretty quickly. And how cool it was. Fish everywhere, several types of coral, and even an octopus! There's nothing quite as relaxing as snorkeling on a beautiful day. Playa Luis Pena was the second one. The coral wasn't quite as nice but we had a very unique experience with some fish escorts (about five or so unidentified fish were more curious about us as we were about anything else going on and would not leave us alone the whole time we were in the water). There was something very "Disney Movie" about being followed around by these fish. It's like they were trying to tell us something.

We spend the rest of the day either laying on the beach or swinging in hammocks. Seriously - can you beat that? Don't even try. Then when we started to get hungry, we fired up the barbeque pit and started grilling. We finished the day with a beach bum gourmet meal of grilled BBQ chicken and veggies with saffron rice on the side, not to mention a few Cuba Libres.

The next day, we woke up, and did some snorkeling around Playa Flamenco, our home beach. Again, it took us a little while to find the coral, but once we found it, it was (similar to our experiences the day before) really cool. Our cool sighting of the morning was two little squid pushing their way through the water.

We checked out around late morning, and headed for Dewey, and the ferry back to Puerto Rico.

That ends part 1. I really felt like I had to separate the two sections of the trip because they were, just seriously, incredibly different.

Drum roll please...

The painting...

My first piece of real art.

By "real" I mean expensive.

Next to my computer, this is the most expensive material object I own.

Yes, yes... I just looked around my apartment. It may very well be worth most of my other belongings put together.

But when you see something that moves you, even if you can't explain why, and it lodges in your mind and won't go away, sometimes a dollar amount doesn't matter as much.

Here's the artist: http://www.keikogonzalez.com/

Painting up soon

I'm such a slacker. Two people (at least) were interested in seeing the painting that I bought in Bolivia, oh, six months ago. I have thought about taking a picture of it several times since, but it's usually at night (like now) when the lighting is bad. I promise to post one before the end of March.

I haven't been doing much traveling recently because in September I quit my job in international health and starting working in the domestic world. The most exciting travel I have lined up for that job will be 4 days in Philadelphia in May. I promise to post my best picture of the Liberty Bell for everyone. I did go to Miami for a weekend back in October for my goddaughter's first birthday, which was fun, of course. Dave came with me which was great, and that became beach trip number two for us (I went with him to his family beach trip in Nags Head in September). Beach trip number three was much more blog-worthy so I will write about that next.

But I promise...the picture...soon.