Espana

Man, you know you're sick with the "travel bug" when you're perusing the internet for snapshots of your favorite places, constantly looking at old pics, and chatting away about past trips with your traveling compadre! Since I backpacked through Europe, I think about my trip EVERY day. Really.

Two summers ago, I spent a month in Europe with my best friend, Megan. And we had the time of our lives! Together we charged through the streets of Spain, ran through the cities of Italy, and finally relaxed in Paris, before heading back to our beloved city of Barcelona.

One of my favorite memories is our adventures in a little town called Figueres, Spain. It's claim to fame and ONLY tourist attraction is the famous Gaudi Museum. However, we decided to make the trek there from Barcelona and spend only a few nights until it was time to catch our flight to Venice.

First of all, getting from the train station to the actual hostel is a trek. We, along with our huge backpacks, walk slowly through the town, using all that we have, a handy "Let's Go, Spain!" guide book. We arrive, after a few miles, at the hostel, only to find no one there. We stand there stunned for a while, thinking, "OH NO! The place is closed and we're tired!" Turns out, after calling the owner on a pay phone (first we had to find the phone and figure out how to use it) we get in. And luckily, our room is more of a hotel room than a hostel.

Our hostel owner suggests that we go Calella de Palafrugell on Costa Brava (see picture above). He claims that it has the best beaches around. So, since we are kind of close, we decide to take the bus to soak in some rays. It took about an hour to get to get there and once we see the beach, we are awe-struck. The weather is so warm and the water, so clear...it was the most beautiful day.

And this was my favorite moment:
We lay on the beach, and notice that here, going topless is no biggie. So, we do it. Big deal? Well, to us it was at the time. Living in the US, topless is considered "indecent exposure," so the minute we could do it, the tops came off. At first we were a bit shy and then we got very comfortable. We stroll down to the water, boobies bouncing left-right, up-down, and walk into the cold sea.

But you know what it's like to get into a cold body of water. Sometimes you need to work your way in slowly. Sometimes a little bit of jumping up and down until full submersion, really works. So, we do the latter. Yes, we were trying to get used to the cold water by jumping up and down. Are you picturing the jiggling? HA! When we realized how funny we looked, we began to laugh psychotically. We were really in hysterics- from the silliness of the situation, and the liberating-ness that we were feeling.

After warming up, we decide to swim to the shark nets. Now, ladies and gentlemen, for all of you who really know me, I RARELY swim in the ocean. I like to go in, but actually getting my feet OFF the ground, is very unusual. So, my dear friend convinces me that we swim to the "shark nets" and back. I'm feeling incredibly safe. No sharks! Phew! So we swim and swim and swim (we can still see the bottom of the ocean floor) until I grab onto the net and look down into the water. I was expecting to see the net skim the ocean floor. I was expecting to see a net. What I had grabbed on to was a rope. With no net.

I let out the biggest scream, "OH MY GOSH! IT"S NOT A NET!"

Megan, shocked that there was no shark net, begins to scream as well. And we turn around and head for the beach.
Only too bad for us, getting back to the beach was harder than getting out. I was swimming my brains out, kicking with all of my might.

As I was plowing through the water, I was concentrating on not getting my ears in the water. Because when you have your ears in the water, you can hear what's going on in the ocean. And you might hear the sound of sharks coming ::plays Jaws music:: to get you. Seriously. That's how I think.

I continue to swim, I growing more tired with every stroke. I keep looking at Megan and think, "Thank goodness she's okay. If she's not tired, I know I can do it!" I watch as she rolls onto her back and begins the backstroke. I try to do the same and then my ears go in the water, so I have to roll back and do some freestyle.

Well, needless to say, we make it. And, breathing heavily, we literally crawl back to our towels on the beach. After a few quiet moments where both of us are just gasping for air, we turn and look at each other. Megan is the first to speak, "Wow, I thought I wasn't going to make it coming back. I was trying to keep up with you."
I stare at Megan in disbelief, "ME?? I was trying to keep up with you the whole time!!!"
And then, the laughter begins again.

So, that really was one of my favorite moments. And actually as I was typing this, Megan called me and we laughed about it some more. And you know what? I decided that it was probably one of the happiest days of my life.