MAD HOSTEL!!!!

The name of this hostel in madrid was not kidding...this place is freekin madness. The common room is continuously echoing at a decibel level of approximately 110, part in parcel to the dozens of drunken california people and loud, loud pop music (though I did just rock out to dreamlover by mariah carey and ironic by alanis morrisette in quick succession...how I heart the 90s!) Basically, this place isn´t really the ideal living situation...with me waking up on the lower bunk of a bed this morning with approximately 8 inches of room between mine and the next bunk wondering HOW AM I GOING TO GET UP?!?!?! But you know what? Spain is freekin sweet, so I suppose it makes up for it.

We´re in madrid now, and have been since late last night. Before that was barcelona and LET ME TELL YOU I AM IN LOVE WITH THAT CITY. Gaudi´s house and the surrounding park high above the city was pretty much the most gorgeous thing I´ve ever seen, even if I did have to climb approximately 98723254203 stairs to get there. There are actually escalators in the middle of the street all the way up there, but our group is FAR too hardcore for that. I raced Lulu, her on the escalator and I on the stairs, and she only beat me by about a quarter of a second. If I go to the gym now, I could get on the stairmaster and completely kick its ass.

Barcelona is amazing for many reasons. The beach, at which we spent 2 out of our 4 days, was lovely (despite consisting of a little more dirt than sand) and the water clear and beautiful, as it has been throughout our experiences on the mediterranean. There are so many freekin vendors heckling you, the scarf lady´s voice bearing a striking similarity to the yowl of a dying cat, but our favorite was certainly the donut man. Running and dancing around the beach with a tray stacked high with an AMAZING PYRAMID OF DONUTS, he sang songs to us and we fell in love because he was soooo darling! I will also let you guess as to who out of our group went topless on the beach...although it may or may not be a trick question. It´s so natural here...I only wish it was so socially accepted in the US, and wouldn´t cause such a stir! I saw so many boobs on this trip, I will never be surprised by a wardrobe malfunction as long as I live.

Barcelona is also amazing because of las ramblas, a happening street full of vendors and street performers. I can´t even describe how elaborate their costumes were, although there was a hulk hogan esque character dressed up like disco fever, complete with disco ball and lighting. Pictures will certainly be posted on facebook. Musicians abound throughout the city as well, especially jazz which I have been enjoying quite a bit. One night in our barcelona hostel, I was actually able to jam with some jazz musicians from cincinatti and it was sweeet ass! The people in our hostel were so great, we met plenty of great friends and went out to some craaaazy clubs until very early hours with them. All in all, we´re officially facebook friends with a whole host of new people, so I consider the trip a success.

By far, our favorite part of barcelona was the food market off of las ramblas. Joe promised to blog about it because he was OBSESSED...but I´m not kidding you kids, above all, it was one of the most amazing things I´ve seen on this trip. SO many booths with the most fresh food you´ve ever seen...fresh fruit juices and every fruit, veggie, meat, egg, cheese, pepper, spice, delicious organic dish you could EVER WANT. The sheer color of the food was astounding, and coming from a colorblind person you know it must have been gorgeous. If only they had such places in the US, for I have certainly never seen anything like it.

We will come back here someday (perhaps open a hostel like our hostel owner in barcelona, Fefe. Yes, his name was Fefe and he was ridiculous, please inquire for furthur stories about this delightful character), and we will be happy. I will be home in 2 days...madrid has been lovely with nice rowboating in the park and exploring the city. Tomorrow we go to toledo, and then 3 out of the 4 will come home, with Lulu continuing on to other adventures. I´m sad but...also relieved. Traveling is exhausting, but I´m so glad to have had this trip and learned so much..seen so much. I need to see more...someday I will make it happen. Thanks all of you who have been reading...and I´ll see you when I´m home!

Lovelovelove
Kris