what an awesome hostel!

Well, let me tell you, if you ever go to Spain you MUST not only come to Granada, but you must also come and stay at the Oasis hostel. What a cool vibe! And the staff are phenomenal... I have met more cool people here than I have on my entire trip!

Yesturday I woke up just in time for breakies feeling like a piece of crap on the sidewalk that has been smooshed to a disgusting mess that people have walked on and sworn over. I decided to go for a walk around the city with my friend Kat. It was beautiful outside. I bought some multi-colored yarn and she wrapped a few of my dreads last night at the bar over beer and "smokes". It was great! Met some awesome people and got pretty drunk. I plugged in my iPod to the bar speakers and shared some sweet tunes with everyone. I even played Ani DiFranco's Dilate album! We talked about love, its meaning individually speaking... we talked about music and these 2 dudes from Vermont were so surprised that I had Delani cuz they are good friends with them and couldn't believe that anyone outside their area even knew of them. That was neat for sure. I love talking about love and music! We were up til about 4am or so...

This morning, I woke up again just in time for breakies feeling surprisingly good! Musta been the beers and the tequilla shot... heehee I wrapped one of my dreads in hemp, tying macrame knots to give a spiral effect. It looks cool! My hair is colorful now! So much character! Haven't done much else with my day, except I ate 3 delicious home-made waffles with butter and brown sugar...mmmmm! We're going for chinese food later with the manager of Oasis (she's very cool, lived in San Fransisco for 7 years), Maddy, and a few other people including Monique of course! Yay!

Dudes, I am so excited to be leaving for Bangkok on Tuesday, but I am really going to miss this place. I am so attached to so many of the awesome people staying here. I think that's the one thing I have a problem with as far as the travelor's life goes: that you meet so many interesting people and you might not ever see them again. Just people that are a part of your life for such a short time, with whom you share as little or as much about yourself as you like (and vice versa) and with whom you share some pretty cool memories. Truly going to miss this place and all those who have come into my life... I'm truly going to miss travelling in general for this reason. I say that's my only problem, but I wouldn't have it any other way. It is as it is. I've learned so much from those who've crossed my path and walked a short distance with me. They'll always be part of my memories, a part of the path I've walked. This life is incredible. This life is not something I'll never know again for it's too precious and beautiful. You'll never imagine how much you think about everything so differently when you're out and about and seeing different cultures, countries, and towns all over the world. This was the best thing I could have done for myself in the life I once lead. I love everyone on a different level. I appreciate all of you with new eyes. And I'm far from being done experiencing!

So keep checking here for more updates cuz I am about to embark on a whole new adventure in a part of the world more wholly different than anywhere in Europe and North America. I am eager to share as much as possible with all of you.

Take care and spread the LOVE!

keepin' it REAL

Wow. Tired today! Big day! Full of sweat, and sore muscles, and awesome scenary, and succulent food... mmmm... Heck YES it was a good day! I asked myself as I was scaling the mountain just outside of Granada, I wondered why the hell I choose to do these damn hikes hungover?? Ever single time it's been that way, although keep in mind I've only gone on a major hike about twice this trip. heehee But still. My statement is well-founded.

TAPAS
So, uhm , I was gonna tell everyone about what a Tapas is. A tapas is when you order a beverage of any kind, though it usually contains alcohol, and you get a plate of food for FREE! What a brilliant idea! And you not only get a free plate of food, but you also get to CHOOSE (in some cases) what kind of food you want! The first place on the tour last night incidentally was a tapas bar that was recommended to us by a pair of aussies we met at our hostel in Killarney, Ireland. This bar in particular gives you quite a large portion of food. We had the tortellini in a white sauce... mmmm... very good. With our next cervesas (beer in spanish) we tried the spring rolls. Stuff like that is usual for tapas. And fries with a garlic mayo. After the 3 tapas bars, one of which was a shot bar filled with americans studying abroad who were spending their last night getting loaded before going home for the holidays, we went to a salsa club and I got SCHOOLED! I had never danced salsa in all my long years circling this lovely sun of ours. The dude had mucho patience that is for certain cuz I just couldn't get the steps!! He was doin the fancy moves too apparently and so taking that bit of information into consideration, I certainly wasn't an abomination nor detestation, more a toleration than anything. But he was smiling! haha Worked up a sweat too! After a night of drinking, eating, and dancing, we went back to the hostel - our oasis - which was at about 2am or so, stayed up til about 4am "talking" with our posse... where large, hearty laughs ensued. ;-) Where the term "keepin' it REAL" originated from, well, at least it's been our inside joke all day. haha And speaking of big laughs, one of the dudes from last night - Simon from Victoria living in London - out of nowhere starts singing "knights in white satin..." and we just about lost our whits and everything about us. I mean, when was the last time anyone has heard that song?? Seriously! I told him I was gonna write about that in my journal and so, as Moses once said: So it said, So it is written!

THE HIKE
Well, considering how late I went to bed and the amount of smoke I inhailed, I didn't think I was gonna keep my promise to myself about taking this hike. No way, josé. At breakies, I was a hurtin albertan for certain. But, I asked myself in an inside voice "why not go on this hike? What the heck else are you gonna do with your day? You might as well get off your fanny and actually go out see this city in which you are calling home for only another 2 nights!". Of course, this inside voice is usually right, and not to mention a little intimidating at times, so I took the pep talk into consideration and decided to go with it. I am so glad I did. It was so GORGEOUS!! The sky was clear, albeit a little hazy, but the visibility was still pretty incredible considering I had never seen anything like that before. Each country has its own distinct beauties and these mountains were definitly no exception. And yes, I took many photos. Yay! The hike itself was excrutiating at first, out of breath and sweating, straining muscles that hadn't been worked in quite some time. But it felt so good to be outside and doing SOMETHING! I mean, how many people can say they woke up after a night of tapas and laughs and took a 4 hour hike in the mountains of SPAIN??? Ya. So, ya. It was definitly worth it. The view from the top of was of course breathtaking, with the valley down below and the white caps in the distance... We got a great view of the Alhambra (an old muslim castle, huge) and the city surrounding it. The walk down was much more enjoyable. haha Stopped into a tapas bar with a wonderful young aussie named Kat (we met the night before at the hostel, had both gone on the tapas tour the night before) and our hike guide. Kat and I then decided to go for some hubbly bubbly and good conversation. She is only 19 years old but has lived such unique life full of amazing life experiences. It was awesome getting to know her! I love this life of moving and meeting people, creating a circle of friends for the short time we stay in any given place...

MY NEXT BOLD MOVE?
Well, I have no clue really. Maybe it'll be me hitting the sheets early tonight when I know people are staying up and will miss my awesome presence... I'd say that counts for boldness! heehee I kid, I kid. Naw. I would like to go to sleep soon and wake up refreshed, eat breakies, go and walk around this place cuz I guess it's known for it's cool graffiti art, buy some colored yarn and wrap a few dreads... add some spice, if you will! But who knows. Chances are good I'll hit up another tapas bar at some point tomorrow, not to mention there's another tapas tour planned! And I think there's a concert outside the city in the caves where the gypsies live... flamenco dancers and music! I'd like to do that for sure. I'll have to write another entry, but I'll likely wait til my last day in Madrid, Monday evening, since I'll be leaving for Bangkok on Tuesday!! Crazy... Oh, and so you know, we'll soon be adding another album to the yahoo collection illustrating our time here in Spain. This will happen before we leave the country so make sure you tune in!

Here I am at Camp Grenada

Well, coming from the city of Barcelona to the Island of Ibiza to another city called Valencia to where I've currently set my pack down, has been quite the journey in itself. haha So maybe I'll say few words about each of the previous places before I describe this pretty cool place. Oh ya, if you have no idea how to visualise geographically speaking, check out the "map of Spain" link to your right... maybe that'll help you!

Barcelona
Flying into this Olympic city after having spent a little over a month in dreery Ireland was a definite treat! Let me tell you! Palm trees! Warm weather... I whipped out my flipflops and haven't done that since Turkey! We met up with Monique's best friend Erica from Calgary and she travelled with us for about 10 days. We spent about 3 nights in Barcelona... the first night we met a woman named Michelle from NYC who was travelling alone. We spent the evening out on the terrace, drinking wine and talking. 2 other dudes from I can't remember where joined us and we all had a blast until 3am when we were warned the neighbors were gonna call the cops on us. haha So, needless to say, we called it a night. Went to the Aquarium the next day, hungover, but still had a wicked time... there are some crazy fish in the sea! The shark tank was the coolest and the biggest... you stand on a moving walk-way and the tank surrounds you! the sharks and eals and manta rays are swimming all around you! That night we decided to drink beer and again, stayed out on the terrace quite late having a grand time indeed! ;-) We did a hop-on/hop-off bus tour of the city the next day and got to see alot of the Gawdy (not sure on the spelling at the moment) architecture... WOW. That was really cool. So unique. I have pictures, don't worry! But overall, Barcelona was cool but not really my kinda place.

The Island of Ibiza
We took a ferry out there, ferries are expensivé! But since we were 3 and it was low season, we stayed at a beachfront hotel for like 14€/night! It was awesome! We were there for 3 nights. We went to that big time European night club called Pacha where you definitly have to drink BEFORE you go cuz beer and water there are like 9€! Insane. The pub where we pre-gamed was cool and owned by a dude and his husband. We have a cool pic with the 3 of us with them behind the bar. They gave us free shots. mmmm... We went to Pacha at 3am and got home around 5:30am and then slept til about 2:30pm. Ya. Right off day for sure. The day AFTER that day, we rented a car for about 10€ each and drove around most of the island! We got to see it from a different perspective and at our own pace... it felt so good to drive again! AMAZING place... I can't wait to upload those pictures... I would like to go back some day during the summer for sure.

Valencia
Now this was a cool city. Our hostel was located in such a prime area too! Our very street was one of the places recommended to check out cuz of the old architecture, the old buildings, and the HUGE wooden doors, so skillfully carved... We did a lot of walking around that area, it was hot in the sun. We visited the the Space and Science Centre which was way more fun when I was a kid... as in, that's what I realized. The imax film was a highlight though! We had to wear head gear! Hilarious. El Mysterio del Nilo was the title. I recommend it to everyone. The park that runs through the city used to be where the canal divided it until it flooded once too many times a while back and killed some people so they decided to move the canal and convert the space into a pretty cool giant green park. Fully equipped with a large fountain which is situated just in front of the music hall and at night they play classical music, light the fountain up, and the water squirts out to the tune of the music! A neat thing to see. Just a really cool city to visit if anyone is thinking about going to Spain.

Grenada
Well, after an 8 hour train ride from Valencia that didn't even leave til like 1:30am, we were quite pooped upon arriving. However, we got to our hostel, Oassis, and fell in love with the atmosphere here!! Free internet, free breakies, free welcome drink, free tapas tours every other night, 3.50€ gets you a 3 course meal which is offered every other night as well, free spanish lessons from what I hear! And there are tonnes of people still here even in low season! We did a bit of walking along the cobblestone streets after waking from our siesta. I think I'm really gonna like it here. I can't wait to wake up tomorrow and take our own little tour of the city. Oh, tomorrow night is Tapas tour night and so you can be assured I'll be recounting the events here! haha Ya, Grenada. Awesome. Very cool shops, very cool vibe. And most importantly: VERY CHEAP! If anyone isn't familiar with what a tapas tour is, you will find out soon enough... it's brilliant!!!

Well, I'm tired. Happy reading!

A FIRST ENTRY...

Well, what can I say? I'm on the last leg of my "European Tour" and lemme tell ya: it's been a wild ride! I've seen so many beautiful cities, experienced such wonderful cultures, and have met some pretty awesome folks along the way. I've learned much about myself over these past 3 months. I've really gotten to KNOW myself on a profound level because I've had a lot of time to think... all those bus and train rides... It's truly amazing what the brain will come up with if you allow it some time to ponder in silence and tranquility, without the day to day, mundane stuff it's grown so accustomed to. I'm impressed with my brain! haha So, my brain is impressed by itself? My brain is self-impressed? I don't know how to put that since I'm talking as though "I" am a seperate entity from my brain... Ok. I can't think about such things right now. Maybe I'll come back to that, maybe not. But ya.

Where have I been?
I've been to Yack n' back! haha Seriously, we - my travelling companion, my partner in crime: Monique and I - departed Toronto on Septemeber 11th and landed in smoggy Athens, Greece. We spent 2 weeks touring mainly the islands of Santorini, Naxos & Mykonos. We ferried our way to Turkey where we spent 3 weeks with Monique's bro Jean-Paul. What a country! My favorite country thus far FOR SURE! Flew out of Instanbul to land in a pot-smoker's dream city: Amsterdam, Netherlands... spent a full week (minus a day) there and indulged ourselves quite chronically. ;-) On to Berlin, Prague, Munich, Frankfurt, Dublin. Spent a whole month (plus 3 days) in Ireland, stayed a while in Greystones with some funky fellas: thank-you Stephen and David Flynn! and toured around down the east coast, to the south, then up the west coast and back to Dublin where we flew to Barcelona on Dec. 4th. We met up with Monique's pal Erica and spent 3 nights there, moved on to the island of Ibiza, to Valencia, and tomorrow we're off to Grenada! yay! We will be there til Sunday before we overnight it to Madrid, our final Spanish destination before Monique and I part ways: she's off to Canada and I'm off to Thailand!!!

Where am I going?
I never really know where I'm going, or, at least, I have learned to play it by ear. Never plan anything, never have expectations, go with the flow and it'll all work out for the best. This has been one the major lessons I've learned on this trip. Not to say don't have a "game plan" or anything! I mean, I always have a general idea of where I want to go and sometimes you have to knuckledown and book a hostel, a train or plane ticket in advance. And as for Thailand? Well, I'm meeting up with a lovely lady named Carly and we'll be spending the holidays together since we're both on our own and out of the country this year. I'm not telling the whole truth about that since Carly is much more than just a pretty face... And if this is about where I'm going, then I'll be talking loads more about this incredible and inspirational woman in the near futur. I'll be back in Canada around V-Day, but until I am back, there is so much more to experience on this excellant adventure and I'll be documenting as much of it as possible.

Awesome. Let's see if this works. All the commands and everything are in Spanish since I've started this blogger here in Spain. So I'm not completely sure of what I'm doing at the moment. This is a test of the emergency broadcast system... heehee

Buenas Noches!