Granada

Without Julia and Gustav Granada felt far bigger and far more intimidating. I had become used to being with people who I could trust and I lost some of my confidence without them. For some time I retired to my hostel room for some time, a prisoner of my own fears.

For a while I found excuses for myself. Blog posts to write, which I obviously didn't write, friends and family to skype with, and books to read. However, after twenty four hours without human contact I decided I did need to get off my ass and go out again. Checking through my books I found mention of a small bar that was supposed to have amazing Salsa nights.

The bar turned out to be right around the corner from my hostel but it took my almost thirty minutes of walking to find because it was hidden halfway down an alley between two buildings. It was worth it.

I have never found such amazing music before. They were not playing salsa but jazz, with instruments from India. There were two women sitting on the ground playing something akin to giant guitars (Yes, Aydin I know you told me the name but I can't remember it.) There was also a man with a flute and a man on small lap drums. The music sounded like it was from India and at first I thought they were playing from memorized music but as I watched the two men watched each other and lead the melody on a merry dance. The music rose and fell and jumped and skipped and everyone had a marvelous time.

When the concert was half way through I took a break from the sweltering heat. The bar was built entirely of stone and I believe was partway underground as it had to windows and only the one door. With so many people inside it was exhausting. Outside I met the bouncer, Miguel, who was very tall and very handsome and spoke English. Our flirtation continued until I went back inside for the rest of the concert.

After the concert was over musicians began to arrive to play impromptu salsa jam sessions and locals arrived to dance. I considered going back outside to flirt some more with Miguel but on the way out I stopped at the bar for a beer and met this older English gentleman who began engaging me in a spirited discussion on politics and society. Of course given the choice between possible romance and a discussion in politics I chose the politics and so my short romance with Miguel came to a close.

This man was a musician and seemed to be a bit of a local legend. Everyone at the bar knew him and greeted him as an old friend. We talked for hours outside the bar. We covered everything from history, to politics, to Spanish culture and music. I had an absolutely fabulous time.

As the bar closed we started walking back toward my hostel. At the corner where I would turn down the street toward my hostel I was completely caught off-guard when the man asked me to come back to his hotel with him. At no point the entire night had any subject relating to sex been brought up. I sort of thought he was joking at first so I smiled as I said no. When he asked again with a, "come on" as if we had both known this was where it was going I said no again and this time I was not smiling. He accused me of leading him on and said, "this is the problem with Americans." So I stated a very firm good bye and wished him a good night. Alone.

I got into my hostel quickly and found myself very thankful for the two heavily locked doors and a long stairway between my bed and the street. I was also very very angry.

How dare that man assume that just because we engaged in a conversation I was looking for sex. It is one advantage that men seem to have over women when they travel alone. They have the freedom to engage anyone, male or female, in random conversation without the other party assuming that they are going to have sex with them. Such an ending seemed to cheapen the entire night and I found myself critiquing my every action of the night, looking for anything I might have said or done that would have "led him on".

I spent half the next day sulking before I shook it off and headed out again. I found a park and drew people and ate pasta for the first time in weeks and I bought my bus ticket to head south again for Estapona and a couch surfer's house.

Granada

The next day Julia, Gustav and I walked back up the huge hills of Granada to Alhambra, the most well known sight in Granada. It is the ruins of what was the old fortress that the city of Granada was built around. Once kings, warriors, and great nobles walked the pathways of the now crumbling stone paths.
The tickets to get inside the main part of Alhambra cost 12 euro so we decided not to go deep inside but even the outskirts of the city are beautiful. From Alhambra we walked further up a hill to a grove of olive trees and past to the very top where there was an old restaurant owned by a husband and wife and nearby an old stone wall where we sat and listened to old jazz on my iPod and watched the sun set over the city.

The next day followed the same pattern. We walked back up to Alhambra, we found an open terrace on a hill filled with vine wrapped columns. I painted the city and we talked and enjoyed ourselves. Sunday and most of Monday were also filled with lazy enjoyment, laughter, and fun. We walked most of Granada those few days and I couldn't have asked for a better time.

Monday afternoon Julia and Gustav grabbed a bus for Madrid and we said our goodbyes. I miss them and I am really looking forward to visiting them in Brazil as soon as I get the chance.

Granada Day 1 + 2

There is something about traveling by train that makes the whole world look new. It goes by so fast, yet you can see for miles and everything always looks fresh and green, you can almost pretend its unmarred by humanity. Sitting in our couch seats on the train on the five hour trip to Granada; Julia, Gustav and I had a blast. Our conversations ranged far and wide and we talked most of the five hours to Granada. I came to appreciate my pee-buddy once more when it came to the train toilet. Always remember when traveling through Europe to carry a spare roll of toilet paper and do whatever you have to not to touch the toilet in any way. I'm surprised I didn't get a life threatening disease.

This was the first time that my guide books came in handy. Let me explain first my travel strategy involving guide books. The common guide book is large, thick and obtrusive. I find the them annoying, cumbersome, and a blinding red target of TOURIST for thieves, crooks, and scam artists to try something as I carry it through a new city. My solution was to use an exact-o blade to cut out all the pages that related to things that I found important then rolling them all together into tubes. The resulting pages can still be easily read but I can also pull out only the four or five pages I'm interested in and read them from behind my sketchbook or in my lap. So Gustav, Julia and I unrolled my guide books for Granada and started reading through them. We found the names of several hostels and a map of the entire city along with some good recommendations for Tapa bars and clubs.

After arriving at the train station we walked with our large backpacks through the town until we found a hostel we liked for a good price, 20 euro for a single room with a personal shower. Really nice. We showered and changed clothes after our very sweaty day of walking and then hit the town for some tapas. I think we found the absolute best tapa bar in Granada, it was small but not seedy at all and had locals of all ages mixing with a few tourists. Their beers were 1,20 euro and each came with the most delicious variety of tapas I had my entire time in Granada. They were amazing and it was just around the corner from our Hostel.

I could direct you to it with a map but sadly I never learned its name.

Comfortably tipsy and laughing after our marvelous evening we fell into our beds at about 1am, early in Spanish time.

The next morning we took our time getting out of the Hostel. We slept late and woke around 11:30. Leaving our big bags behind we ran a few errands than as the city began to shut down around 1pm we began to walk north away from the city center into the steep hills guarded by a stone wall. The walk was nearly vertical and absolutely lovely. Even in the corners of the is little city you could find passion and heat. Graffiti layered the walls around us but it was beautiful, the act of true artists, not just names scrawled in spray paint.
Weaving our way through residential streets we found ourself at the very top point of Granada, a small courtyard surrounded by bushes and looking down, a steep downward drop back into the cathedrals and markets below.

We sat up there for quite some time. Breathing in the flowers and enjoying the breeze that must have come down off the cold mountain peaks covered in snow we could see in the distance, I soaked up the sun and the beauty around me. I could see my new friends talking together, close lovers and friends, this was the experience I had been hoping for when I decided to make this trip.

Later we made our way down the hill again back into the city. There was a game that evening between Brazil, the record holding world cup champions, and Netherlands. Of course, being with two people from Brazil where, I was told, people are exempt from work for football matches, we had to go to the game. We found a small pub and ordered beers to watch the match. Brazil's loss was a savage blow and so of course what choice did we have but to console ourselves in a beer and tapas.

On the town that night we met two cool guys from England. Who were quite fun to talk to for a while. I got into a long conversation with them and Gustav and Julia said they were going to head back to the hostel. I waved goodbye, intent on my conversation.

It really is these sorts of split second decisions that get me into trouble. It was only after my friends left that I realized I wasn't entirely sure where I was, I didn't remember the name of the hostel, my friends didn't have a cell phone, and was a fool.

To make a long and ultimately boring story short. I met two very nice Spanish people spoke very little English but who walked most of the way across downtown Granada with me, I met the Granada police who didn't speak a word of English, it was suggested that if all else failed I could spend the night in the Granada jail, I walked passed the hostal twice and finally found it almost two hours later laughing with my new friend at my foolishness. We waved goodbye, Gustav and Julia were asleep, it was almost 3am and I went to bed.