Documentación, por favor

So I like to spend my free time in this LOVELY park near our piso called Viveros Park. It is so gorgeous with this rose garden and fountains, and Norita tells me that there used to be a castle there! How cool. So yes, I spend lots of time sitting in this park reading, picnicing, and people watching.

Well, yesterday was not such an enjoyable day at Viveros. First, I should have realized the warning signs ahead of time- seeing my Valenciano professor right beefore (eeeek!)

Anyway, so I decided to venture out past the Rose Garden today, maybe to a different spot in the park. So I find another cool fountain to sit near. So I'm sitting on the little bench, reading my Kindle (Let the Great World Spin) and this man passes me, and sits at the bench next to me. Now I like to sit directly facing the sun, so I was relieved that when I thought I heard him whistling at me to get my attention, that I couldn't look up without blinding myself or making a goofy face.  So I continue reading. And the man continues to sit there, doing nothing, for 20 minutes

The Lovely Rose Garden at Viveros Park

Then, clickaty clackaty... over gallops two police officers on horseback. I think nothing of it. Here to protect and serve-right? Well, the police officers ask strange man on the bench for his ID. Then they gallop over to me!!!! (the english version)
Policia: Hello, documentation please
Me: Well I only have my drivers license from the US with me
Policia: Thats fine... Are you studying here?
Me: Yes, well, sort of. I have a Fulbright grant (name drop whenever possible) and I am here teaching English for the year.... I am going to the Oficina de extranjeros tomorrow to finish my NIE paperwork (making me a legal resident... dropping this piece of information for fear of being deported!!!)
Officer: Great. How long will you be in Spain?
Me: 10 months
Lady Policia: Chelsea, what are your parents names?
Me: Karen, and Scott Dixon. S-C-O-T-T
Lady Policia: And where do you currently reside?
Me: Calle Reverendo Jose Maria Pinazo, numer 14, puerta 4, in Benimaclet
Lady Policia: thank you, have a seat, this will take a few minutes

So i sit down, and think about how im going to tell everyone I know that I got kicked out of Spain. The thing is, I wasnt sure if I should ALWAYS be carrying my passport, or if my NIE process has been taking too long!

Then I perk up my ears... they're calling my name over the radio.. spelling it out using those police terminology like "Charlie, Hank, Eduard, Larry" except it was more spanish of course...

Then finally... after 5 more minutes of sweaty palms and evaluating my plan of escape... the man policia trotted back over on his horse and gave me back my license and said have a nice day.

What else I was thinking was "this can't be legal! it isnt legal in the USA! A police on horseback cant just come up to me in New York and ask to see my documentation!"

But then I remembered I'm in Spain

What occurred to me this day,  not only made me fear my Spanish life, but also made me realize I was racially profiled!! Its because I'm blond!!! If I were a brunette this would not have happened to me. Oh well, Im still happy to be blond, even if I get racially profiled as being an illegal immigrant!

What an experience and story to tell!

What's Cookin' Good Lookin'?

There is ALWAYS something cooking here in our cocina. Whether it be Margaux's tasty tostadas, Addies Avena (oatmeal) or fish, or something random Ive decided to stir up- our stove and cutting knives definitely have their work cut out for them!

And for those who don't know, I not only LOVE food, but I LOVE cooking food! I love looking up recipes and trying new things! I find a lot of joy and comfort and energy in cooking and preparing meals.

Here in our Piso, we had to obviously find something amueblado (furnished)... but we didn't realize until after we moved in, that the kitchen was not very well equipped. We are lacking cazuelas, good knifes, cups, cooking utensils, and.... measuring cups!

Because we're in Spain, all of my new recipes that I want to try, measure in grams and liters. Awesome.  So since we don't have Spanish measuring cups, I spend a lot of time online doing conversions, just to get an idea of what I need. I also spent a lot of time reading jars and containers in our fridge, trying to figure out exactly how many garbanzo beans amount to 175 g, or how what 250 ml of olive oil might look like.


But thank goodness that I taught myself how to cook before I came to Spain! Because from all my recent experience cooking for my parents at home, I can kind of eye ball measurements. But I've also realized, it doesn't really matter. Just throw it in there, it will eventually taste good with some work!

Here are some of my recent makings, made without measuring cups or scales.

forget the name, but its tomatoes, green olives, capers, artichokes, celery, onions and should be pine nuts, but i used sunflower seeds

Arroz con garbanzos y pasas (raisins) so delish!!

For our American dinner for our friends, I made a homemade cole slaw! mmmmm and also some garlic and onion burgers off to the side. Also baked fries, they did not make it to the pic

Sick days and Spanish Docs

Well, because I am just the luckiest gal in Europe, I have fallen sick again. This time on a Saturday leaving me quarantined to my bed Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, my three days off from work. Awesome. Basically, what I thought I had was the flu, but I think i nipped it right away Saturday with loads of liquids, spanish poweraid, chicken soup, and some concoction from la farmacia.
By monday, I was feeling better, but not really up to par. After speaking with the English teacher who I work with, she advised me not to come in, and to take a few more days of rest. Plus, they don't want me infecting anyone, and the classrooms are REALLY COLD (c'mon, where's the heat!?!?- if anyone knows me, they know I do NOT do well in cold)
Anyway,  I agree to do the lets not go to school thing.  So I continue sleeping in late, sipping my cafe on the couch in the morning while listening to Shakira, and other assorted sick day activities. Now, keep in mind im on day 4. And for the most part I feel better, im just worried about my Lymph nodes and some bacterial deposits on the roof of my mouth (hey, i spared the details until now!) So anyway, by day 4, laying in bed all day and not leaving the piso gets old. So I decided to venture out into the world again.
What a beatufiul day it was! I ended up fixing my bicycle subscription to VALEN-BISI, the cities bike rental system (more to come!) and riding the 3.7 KM to the beach (taking it easy of course, dont want to overexert myself here) and catching up on some journal writing.
The next day, I walked to the park to catch some sol (sun) and do some reading.

Then I went to the doctor. I hate going to the doctor. First of all, although I worked at a medical office, I hate going to the doctor and waiting for ever and being touched and having to answer awkward questions about myself.  I hate paying a co-pay just to be told "everything seems to be in order".

The payment was the real issue. Here in Spain, health care is free! (who knew that was possible!) All doctors visits and prescriptions are free. Everything. Unless you're an extranjera like myself. As Fulbrighters/foreigners, we are required to pay out of pocket, and cash up front. Now one doctors visit could run you 40 euro. Now if you're as lucky as Nora and need bloodwork done, you're shelling out 150 euro. We will receive a reembolso (reimbursement)... everything but 15 euro, or dollars, for co-pay. 

 Now I was peer pressured by my mother and English teacher to go to the doctor. Finally, to please everyone, I agreed in spite of my fear of needing to get bloodwork done and finding out I have some disease which needs medical attention in the States. So I took my English teacher's advice and went to the doctors office where her sister works, it was very close to my home, and he spoke some english.

It was actually nice. The doctor himself took me into his office and I sat in a nice comfy chair and we spoke in spanish about what was going on. Thank goodness I took Martínez' Spanish of the Professions course and Im familiar with my medical vocab!

Then, he took me into the exam room and did an thorough exam. And yes, we all know Spaniards are touchy feely.... but to listen to my lungs, the man unhooked by bra! And then did not even have the decency to re hook it for me when he was done!
He also used this other tool that was very funny to me. It was to make sure that I still had a sense of feeling. It kind of looked like a nut cracker, and he would bang it against his wrist and it would make a piiinggg sound. Then he'd lightly touch the end of it to my arms and legs, to make sure I could feel the vibration. I thought it was the coolest thing ever and kind of couldnt stop laughing when he used it.

Then, I got a sonogram. I really hate when doctors make me feel like Im pregnant. But this time, the sonogram was of my lymph nodes in my neck to measure the size of them to ensure they're normal and not cancerous or what not.

So at the end, after washing off the sono goop and rehooking my bra. He tells me that yes, I had a virus. I need a few more days to get over it. I have normal symptoms and reactions to a bacterial virus. Stay home from work the rest of the week, stay away from people who are smoking (aka dont leave the piso) and if it doesnt get better, fill this prescription written on what looks like a scrap piece of paper.

Just what I suspected. Spent my valuable 40 euros to hear that I WAS sick and I need rest and liquids.  I think I should be a doctor.  Too bad I dont do blood/needles otherwise I'd be there

Madrid Forever Has My Heart

 Its funny to me how I feel about Madrid vs. Valencia. Madrid feels so much more like home to me. It kind of feels like I am in college again, living in Valencia, and get to go home once a month to Madrid. I have such love for the city, and nothing can be wrong with it in my eyes. And no matter how long I leave for, it still feels like I know it like the back of my hand, better than I know Valencia where I now permanently live. I feel a sense of comfort being in Madrid, even if I'm alone.

So it was about that time again for me to visit home. The girls and I packed our bags after the Nou d'Octubre celebration and headed over to the Valencia Airport to hop on our cheap flight to Madrid.

In regards to Ryanair, you get what you paid for. You stand around forever with your overpacked 1 piece of luggage within a small size limit, not your standard carry on. They then make you shove it in this little rack to make sure it meets requirements. Then your flight gets delayed between 30 minutes and 3 hours (Margaux and I got lucky with a 40 minute delay while Nora was stuck with a 2 hour delay).  Then, you try to sleep on the plane, but the crew are walking and talking advertisements for everything from snacks and drinks, to cigarettes, lotto tickets, and cosmetics. Next, you have to get off the plane and walk through the rain to the terminal. How nice.  Also, if you for some reason cant print your boarding pass, it costs 40 EURO to print, 40! I paid less than 40 for the whole trip!!!

Anyway, we get to cold rainy madrid, and this is not something Im used to! I am used to sunny never rainy madrid, with desert like weather conditions! But what can you do besides get out your umbrella and run through the puddles?

That night the girls and I went out to one of my old favorites: El Chapandaz, where the leche de pantera falls from the ceiling and the music is awesome!
Of course, I did not take pictures of this again, but here is one from last summer of magic in the making

Here is one of the shots a photographer took of the gang upon arrival and completion of our leche

We danced the night away. And then my madrileños made an appearance: Esteban and Juan Luis! I always love to see them, and it is has been almost a year since i've last seen Juan Luis! But 2 hours was not enough!

As promised Esteban- a special Shout out to my number 1 reader!

Sleep did not occur until about 430 that morning, and rise and shine was at 9 am to hit the rastro where I purchased a sweet pair of shades, a fancy ring, and a pretty scarf! I thought because it was not tourist season anymore that the rastro would be calmer than what I remembered, but I was wrong.
After the rastro, we met back up with stephanie and ate at Museo del Jamon, a touristy must-do!  And horray for our friend Chris the researcher meeting up with us!

Afterwords, it was siesta time for myself while Margaux and Stephanie went to the Museo del Prado. And as much as I love Las Meninas, I've been there done that, and big classical art museums overwhelm me. And siesta was much needed!

Later we ate at a great famous restaurant called Casa Mingo, which is a traditional Asturias restaurant where the staples are Sidra (hard cider/beer) and their roasted chicken- it really was the best chicken I've ever had.

Sidra at Casa Mingo- so delicious!

Later, Esteban picked me up and him and I went into his neighborhood Barrio el Pilar, where there was the Festival de Pilar, to celebrate Saint Pilar. What was going on was like a carnival, but better because it was Spanish! There was a concert, paella, tapas, chocolate con churros, mojitos, and standard carnival games and rides that everyone likes to walk by, but not ride/play for fear of your life. Something that also amazed me, right in between some carnie games, was a bingo stand! Spaniards sure do love their bingo (and not just the senior citizens!)

The next morning was another rise and shine morning, with less shine, but high hopes because we were on a mission for Chocolate con Churros from the famous San Gines chocolateria!  With the thickest chocolate and the freshest churros.

After filing up on the breakfast of champions, we headed over to my favorite Madrid Museum: La Reina Sofia where you can admire the works of Dali, Miro, and Picasso as well as many more. The highlight of the museum is Picasso's Guernica. I could sit and stare at Guernica for hours, but because I only had about 1 at the museum, I bought a copy of the print in the book shop to hang in my room!

All in all, another successful Madrid weekend! Can not wait to go back again when more friends will be around for double the fun!

me being a tourist in my fly sunglasses- in the center of Spain

La Feria de la Tapa

One day last week while taking a stroll to the local gorgeous park, I noticed a sign on the side of a bus station: La Feria de la Tapa
I pause... I re-read the sign and think to myself "oh my God, a fair dedicated to tapas!?!? How wonderful!!!"
Some may be wondering- what's a tapa? And for those who don't know, you sure are missing out!
A tapa is one of the great commodities that defines Spanish culture. It all started because as you may know, Spain can be very dry and desert-like. Deserts have sand and dirt. Spaniards do not like sand or dirt- especially in their beer! To prevent these particles from getting in their drinks and ingesting them, those always thinkin' Spaniards decided to put a piece of bread on top of their glass to protect their precious cerveza.
But what to do with that bread? Eat it of course! But some found it to be dull- why not jazz it up with some queso (cheese), jamon (ham), patatas (potatoes), tomate, or anything else delicoius!?!?
So now we have our tapa. Some delicous spanish food usually on top of bread. But throughout the years, different regions evolved or expanded their tapas, and each region has a different type of tapa. For instance, in areas closer to water, tapas consist of more seafood, where as Madrid sticks with meat products. Some tapas have removed the bread all together and may just serve a plate of frutos secos (nuts), aceitunas (olives), albodingas (meatballs), chicken wings, chorizo, and croquettas (fried ball of potatoes and meat/fish/veggies)

Back to my Tapas mecca.

This fair was held at Valencia's Port in a Tinglado, or big open platform that they enclosed with their own canvas type walls. Inside were 26 booths, each representing a different restaurant in Valencia. Each restaurant brought with them 3 different Tapa and each tapa cost 1.20 euro.

How it works is you go up to the Taquilla (ticket counter) and you tell them how many fichas you would like (coins). Each ficha is 1.20 euro. So therefore if you want 5 tapas, it will cost you 6 euro for 5 fichas.  Then when you order your tapa, you hand them a ficha rather than 1.20 euros. It speeds up the process immensly.

I was lucky enough to go to this event twice!!! First with my friend Andrea and her friends Vanessa and Maria. (Andrea is the teacher of english's daughter!). We sampled many delicious tapas and then danced it off in barrio El Carmen until 3 am

The next day I made Nora and Margaux go again (although it did not take much convincing).  Friday night was much more crowded than thursday night.

The event ran from 12pm-430 pm, and then again from 8pm  until midnight. At around 10pm friday night, there was a line out the door waiting to get in!

Here are some of my tapas that I ate. My favorites were tied between the moussaka with goat cheese, and the prawn "lollipop" in mushroom cream sauce, and the cod croquette with curry sauce, so nice to add some spice to my palate!

Mini veggie mussaka con goat cheese, covered in honey

Prawn "lollipop" with mushroom and cheese dipping sauce

Shrimp ravioli with something like a sweet/sour duck sauce on top

Cod croquette with curry sauce- this one required a strategy to eat it because of the round ball on flat bread!

Octopus and Garlic over mashed potatoes

enjoying the american tapa of gigantic hamburgers... between the 3 of them there were about 7. These hamburgers were the size of the plates and the stand always had the longest line!

Tail of a bull over avocado and fried plantains

dessert: grahm cracker smothered in chocolate

note**** my dessert the previous night was much more delicious, but there is no picutre... but it was a "Super korn" brownie (yes, corn kernels, perhaps fried?) smothered with white chocolate and vanilla ice cream!!!!!!!

All in all: La feria de la tapa: hard to top that!

(get it?... top that?) hahaha

Nou d'Octubre- Día de la Comunidad Valenciana

So this weekend was a very exciting one for Valencia.  The entire Community of Valencia (including Castellón, Valencia and Alicante) celebrated what is comparable to American's Independence Day, or some other day of pride.

The day commemorates when King Jamie I entered the city October 9th, 1238 and conquered the Moors. Now, the Moors and Christians had battled for Spain for many years and in 1238, the area of Valencia was under Islamic rule for 5 centuries now.
After Jamie I of Aragon's takeover, the city was based on the Christian religion which allowed for rapid development of holidays, customs, language and of course, taxes.

Now years later, the 9th of October, the entire Valencian community celebrates this day with dancing, singing, flag waving, marzipan, fireworks, moors, and christians. Later in the day of the 9th, there is a parade and reinactment of the Moors vs. Christians debacle which I missed because I was en route to Madrid, but I know there are more later in the year in other cities I am determined to get to!

In schools like mine that still speak only Valencian and have a strong sense of Valencian pride, there is lots of fun in store!

Rehearsal and preparation for the festivities starts weeks in advance. Murals are constructed, projects are made, reports are written, stories are told etc.  Here is the banner I spent a lot of my 16 hour week working on (ok, so i just painted some of it!)

 

Now, the students have been preparing dances and performances for weeks now. They use props, and they dance to this semi obnoxious instrument called a Doçaina which is the popular Valencian instrument. This instrument looks and sounds somewhat like a bagpipe, without the bag. You will be able to sample some in the following video
                                   

5th level students dancing to the Valencian Doçaina

Group of Doçaina's playing for our schools' celebration

5 year olds dressed as Moors and Christians

 

 

 

The following as a compilation of videos I took during my schools' fiesta that we celebrated on the 8th because the 9th fell on a Saturday.


On Saturday, herds of people gather at the Plaza de Ayutanamiento (city hall) for the annual ceremony. We arrived at about 11:30 am to try and get a good spot before things kicked off at noon. The Spanish Army marched out, along with the Spanish Army band. Then the mayor made her appearance outside. However, the main attraction did not start until the clock struck 12, literally.

When the clock struck, the mayor and her helpers wearing white gloves, carefully lowered the Senyera (Valencian flag) over the balcony. This flag is very old and must be handled with care. I am told that it could be the flag Jaime brought into the city in the 1200's, but we might have just made that up.

Afterwords, there are explosives, and parades. And it seems like anyone can join. Everyone proceeds to the Plaza de la Virgen (everyone except us, because we have a flight to catch)

 

But wait, what would a holiday be without food!?!?!?!  The celebratory 9 de Octubre snack is something amazing called Marzipan. Why marzipan and what is it?

Well, when Jamie conquered the city, the citizens were so grateful that they offered him all they had: fruits, veggies, and bread.. wrapped in what else but a scarf!

Now, the 9th of October is also St Donis day in the Catholic world. So now marzipan is associated with St Donis as well and people give Marzipan wrapped in scarves to their loved ones on this day (St. Valentines day anyone?)

Now because we dont have loved ones here in Valencia, we all put in some money and got ourselves some delicious Marzipan from our local Pasteleria which we ate for breakfast and post drinking snacks.

Here is a recipe I found for Marzipan. I can not vouch for how good it is. I will have to ask my school for their recipe!

3 cups whole almonds, blanched and ground
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
3-4 Tbsp. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
In a saucepan, heat water and sugar until sugar dissolves and mixture begins to boil. Let it boil steadily without stirring the temperature reaches 230-234 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat and beat until mixture turns slightly cloudy. Stir in ground almonds, egg whites, and vanilla. Cook over gentle heat for 2-3 minutes or until mixture pulls away from sides of pan. Turn mixture onto a surface that has been sprinkled with some of the powdered sugar. Knead the mixture until smooth, working in the rest of the powdered sugar. Pull off pieces and roll into balls or olive-shaped pieces. Wrap in foil or wax paper and store in airtight container.


P.S. my school also of course joins in the Marzipan fun. Here is one 1st grader REALLY loving the process!!!

El Palmar and La Albufera- Un dia perfecto

Well after about 2 weeks of not doing anything touristy, I promised myself last weekish, that I would do at least one touristy thing per week.  (Last week Margaux and I checked out El Museu de Bellas Artes, Valencias fine arts museum)
Well this week, we opted for a day trip. After researching a highly recommended website, Hola Valencia we decided to check out El Palmar and La Albufera.
La Albufera is the main attraction, a lagoon (lake/bay?) about 40 minutes outside of Valencia. Its adjoining town is El Palmar, and it is rumored to be the birthplace of Paella (but then again, every pueblo in Valencia also makes this claim)
We followed the recommended itinerary from the website, and for the most part it worked out perfectly (except we did have to wait an extra hour for the bus there which we filled the spare time with a coffee at a cafe... and one other setback i will get to later)

Anyway, after a nice 45 minute bus ride, we arrived en El Palmar. We learned very quickly, that there really is not much to this town besides Paella, and Boat tours of La Albufera. We decide first, lets scope out this little pueblito (this took all of 20 minutes to take a complete tour of the town!)
One of the main attractions are the Barracas.
These houses are the original houses of El Palmar and Valencia, with roofs of straw, where the entire family lives in only 2 rooms!

I believe this may be the oldest Barraca in the neighborhood! What is very typical about most Barracas, is that you will usually find crosses on the roofs. This is because when the Christians invaded Spain and took over, they demanded that all Moors convert to Christianity. The way the would know is if they bear a cross on their house. If there was no cross, it was implied they refused to convert; and as a result, the Christians would burn your house down! Pretty serious stuff!

a survivor!

After marveling at the Barraca and the tiny town with nothing much more to see, it was time for Almuerzo! (occurs at 2 or 3, and is the largest meal of the day)
We chose a restaurant on the main road that had a lot of people sitting there. This is how we usually choose our restaurants: whichever has the most people sitting outside eating must mean its really good, so we'll join too!
This decision did not disappoint! We were served peanuts and olives, bread, and a plate of fresh tomatoes drizzled with olive oil (how Mediterranean! however we later learned this cost an extra 5 euro, a minor price for such delicious aperitivos!)
We opted to order a nice bottle of white wine, gambas al ajo (shrimp in garlic sauce) and two paellas to split between 4 people.
Now, there were so many paella choices, and it was a tough decision because this town claims to have birthed Paella- the national meal of Spain! But we went with our guts and chose two must haves!
Margaux was insistent on Paella Negro, and it was most of our first times trying this. Paella is usually a yellow color from the pricey fancy spice, Saffron, but this Paella is black from the ink from squids! So naturally this Paella also includes some delicious calamari.

Our next choice was a must have since we are on the Mediterranean: Paella de Mariscos (seafood!)
This includes shrimp, muscles and prawns and is much more salty than the other. It comes with lemons to garnish and compliment the seafood flavor. (the only setback is how messy you can get trying to get the meat out from the exoskeletons- but trust me- its worth it!)

Whats great about paella is that the flavor does not leave when the chunks of goodness leave. All of the rice keeps the flavor of its ingredients, making it delicious to the last drop!

After our delicious almuerzo, it was time for a relaxing boat ride on the Albufera, the large beautiful lagoon. We met Luis who offered us a good time on his Barca for 4 euro per person!
This was well worth it because it also included a glass of dessert wine-Moscatell (which was very very very sweet!)
Luis and his partner from Brazil took us out on the boat, and Luis even taught us how to "paddle" this large boat with this large piece of bamboo. Here is what you do:
Stand up straight and tall, one foot in front of the other to keep your balance. Hold the bamboo stick at your side then release quickly to allow the stick to dig deep into the bottom of the lagoon. Then, maintaining your erect position, move your hands upwards on the bamboo while pushing it behind you.

clearly a professional!

After our private lesson, we just relaxed and enjoyed the scenes of La Albufera, where you can see lots of different birds and fish

We decide today was a great day, lets head out. We had back to the bus station, and wait about 40 minutes and we realize somethings up. After much research, we learn that the next bus wont be coming for another two hours!!!!


We refuse to wait, so we go into town in search of other methods for getting back into Valencia. Looks like our options are try to squeeze 5 in a cab and pay 30 euro (we paid 1.75 each to get there) or, hitchhike (hey, lots of people hollered at us from their cars driving by, maybe someone was serious?) We weighed the options and decided risking a hitchhike was better than waiting 2 hours for the next bus.
Luckally during one of Addies expeditions, she asked a small group for change for a 50. They were so generous and worked it out for her. We found them again on accident, and they noticed our worry and stress. They asked us what was wrong, and we explained the situation. And just our luck, they have a FURGONETA and will take us back to Valencia, they have enough room! (furgonetas are always saving the day!)
It gets better, they have a YELLOW furgoneta (van), and I mean BANANA yellow! Wait, in the back there is a fold down bed!! Our new friends are quite the travelers and sleep in this van when they travel around the country! The only rule: shoes off!

our new Israeli friend Eyal who we like to call THE SITUATION due to the resemblance

Gonzalo, owner and captain of the yellow furgoneta

Although we could not talk to our new friends during the ride, we made the best of it when an American song and dance party. We sang hits that consisted of T-Payne Buy you a drank, Im in Love with a Stripper, and lil Mama's Lipgloss

You will all be very happy to know that I am writing this blog as a survivor of hitchhiking. I did not become a victim to some freak accident. Spaniards are all genuinely nice and helpful!


They even dropped us off right in our neighborhood! We promised to meet them later for Chupitos de Amistad (friendship shots!) Which were postponed until the next day due to Margaux leaving her phone in the back of the furgoneta! But Im sure this was not the last we will see of our friends of the yellow furgoneta